DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 74

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1069797/

I've been in hibernation due to all this cold weather here. You know we had the most days in a row where it didn't reach 70 degrees since like 1920-something? Below 70 is when Floridians start to freeze, LOL!

Seriously, I'm also on medical leave as my job has stressed me out so much I was having anxiety attacks at work. And my blood pressure was up. So I'm doing as my psychiatrist ordered and taking my meds and getting lots of exercise - by chasing butterflies and looking for caterpillars, of course!

I haven't been able to get too many pictures since all the butterflies seem to be on the move. They aren't laying many eggs either, darnit! A couple of weeks ago I was working in the yard and I swear nature was mocking me. I walked around the back of the house and saw the familiar blue flash of a Pipevine ST! I was so excited. A bit later, something caught my eye so I looked up to find a Tiger ST flying over me! At that point, I was like, you have to be kidding me! But it got even worse. I was washing my car and a Zebra ST flew over! By then, I was yelling at the sky and telling them to come back here. Luckily, no neighbors to witness my meltdown. And even after that, I drove up to McDonalds to get lunch and saw another Tiger ST up the street!

I've also seen a Phaeon Crescent, and a couple of unidentified skippers in the yard. Oh, and the Cloudless Sulphurs are flying around but they have yet to discover my cassia.

Knowing that the Zebra ST were flying around, I went hiking and picked some eggs. There were lots of butterflies but they were on the move. Oh, I also saw a few Palamedes while I was out there. I always see those guys where I hike but they rarely stop for photos.

I also visited the "used to be vacant lot" which has a half-built house on it. As you may recall, it's one street over from me and there were lots of pawpaws growing on the land. They've destroyed most of them, but I found a few and gathered two Zebra ST eggs. I didn't realize how many cherry trees they had and was super excited to find a Red-Spotted Purple cat! Actually, I found two but the one was no longer of this world.

My Zebra ST chrysalises that were overwintering at the museum decided to come out. I hate to think how long they'd been in there. I mean, they over-summered, falled, and wintered!

And someone must have caught the Painted Ladies I saw because two mysteriously showed up in the flight cage.

We may have lost all our tilapia and plecos but I did find this neat toad in the museum garden. And I actually picked it up with my bare hand! I figure since I can't pet anything fluffy I might as well make friends with the non-fluffy animals. This guy was really cold so I held him for a bit and then placed him in the sun. He wasn't an evil Cuban frog so he got to live. This year I'm 2-for-2 with killing Cuban frogs. Dad actually did the honors on one.

Another hiking trip and I saw, and got a picture of, a Phaeon Crescent. After I saw that one in my yard, I made Dad promise not to mow for another week or so. The grass didn't need it but there were lots of weeds that needed knocked down - except the butterflies were nectaring on them!

This Checkered Skipper was nectaring on these violet-things that if I remember correctly, are edible (for people). I only see these guys a few times a year and I thought it was interesting to see one so early as usually it's summer before I see one. For some reason, they like the grass underneath Dad's Canary Island Date Palm.

And here's a Gulf Frit doing its thing.

I don't have huge hands - this caterpillar is just that small! This is a newly hatched Zebra ST. I'll have to get some more pics as they've gone into their second instar now. They look so velvety black; I just want to pet them!

The Dainty Sulphurs have also started showing up.

Today, Dad and I saw either a Giant or Tiger ST fly over the house. All we saw was yellow and black but it was too far away to tell the ratio. I keep waiting for the Checkered Whites to come out, but at the same time I want to finish harvesting my cabbage before they do.

Now, since I can talk about caterpillar poo here with people who understand me, I have to mention something. When cats poo, they kind of turn their anus inside out a bit and you can see their jelly-like insides. Mostly, the insides match the caterpillar outsides. However, I've been watching my Red-Spotted Purple (who is brown and white) and when he poos, you can see his insides are bluish-green. It's really weird. I'll have to try to time it so I can get a picture.

My duskywings are also back! They're my dependable friends - when I have no other butterflies around, I'll have Duskywings. I think this is a Juvenal's DW, but I'm open for suggestion.

And lastly, I saw bunches of these caterpillars feasting on lupine. Have no idea what they are but thought they were cool.

Melanie

Oh Mellie... how wonderful!!! ..I mean to see all those butterflies..not that you are stressed out. Butterfly watching will DEFINITELY calm you down!! hahahahaha

I am excited as hubby & I are off to our first field trip with the Dallas Butterfly Society tomorrow...THEN after that we head to the Fort Worth Botanic garden for the butterfly exhibit!!!
Thanks Sheila..I did get your d-mail & will certainly ask for you!!!! I am hoping to get lots of pictures.. but being the "die hard" film person that I am I won't have photos until the film is developed! hahahahahaha

Well...I found my first cat of the year! I'm quite confused, because I haven't even seen a VF butterfly yet this year. And I found the VF cat in an odd location...on a Lace Cactus plant to the back of my shed...maybe it was confused also? And it's not exactly small, this cat. And yes, I do have some flax plants growing right now in my yard, but good grief, it was on the upper slope outside my yard, quite a long ways from any of those plants!

On Saturday when we were on our field trip with the Dallas Butterfly Society, we saw 5 species of butterflies.. & even saw a pair mating.. sorry, I can't remember their name!! hahahaha Not a swallowtail.. but we did see plenty of Tiger ST.

Yeah, I've been seeing tigers, one that I'm sure was the regular Tiger Swallowtail. They never stay still long! Then they're gone. I've been seeing dark butterflies when I've driven around here and there.

I had my first hummingbird sighting of the year yesterday. Surprised the heck out of me! It was headed straight for my lavender, but I moved and it got scared and flew to the oak tree. In fact, it flew to the exact same place in the oak tree that the hummingbird used to sit in last year. Could be the same one?

Mom saw a sulphur fly over me as I was gardening, but otherwise it was a little too windy for the butterflies today.

Melanie

Saw 3 ETS within the last 3 days.. of course camera was not around my neck. Have to keep checking my beautiful cherry tree. The always seem to love it.

Mellielong.. it is possible that "your" hummingbird could be the same one.. they remember where they can get food & shelter, etc & return every year. They are amaxing little "guys". :0)

Well, where are my little hummers, then?? lol My red buckeyes are just beginning to bloom and that's when I first see them.. have to change that water again..
I was outside on the cell phone yesterday and a butterfly tried to land on my arm, then my head. Think it was an American Lady. Maybe liked my sweat. Since we went straight from winter to summer. 87 here today. So much for starting seeds indoors.

Hmm...maybe they could market something that would attract butterflies that way! I have a VF that pupated the other day and two eggs so far on my Hop Tree! Things are picking up!

When I was gardening today I saw a few butterflies.. I think one was a Monarch, though it was too far away to tell for sure it was large & orange.. the other was a small orange one that could have been a fratillery. I am sooo happy!!! I have planted my milkweed seeds, both swamp milkweed & tropical. I also noticed that my tropical milkweed from last year is starting to come back! whoo hoo!!

No pictures, but I had a Cabbage White this afternoon. Was never so happy to see a CW as I was today!

Yay! I'm happy for you! The season's really progressing here....I raised a VF cat that I found crawling on a Lace Cactus (weird, huh?). It ate mostly flax. So now it's a butterfly! 4 eggs were on a Hop Tree and one hatched...looks like a two-tailed tiger cat! Here April is the most amazing month and you wish it would last for two months!

Linda.. georgous butterfly... the tiger swallowtails are being seen a lot here lately.. a friend of mine saw one in her back yard!! I am hoping to convince more people to grow milkweed, etc.. my friend has larkspur growing so I know that's why she has the tiger!!!

Keep up the good work y'all! hahaha

My first official Butterfly in the garden:

Here is my first official visitor. (OK he isn't MY visitor, I ran into the neighbors yard with my cell phone to snap his picture.) He did fly into my yard after, so I guess he is mine ; )

One of three little cats that hatched, this one is the largest one. Since they were on my Hop Tree, I think they are probably Two-tailed Tiger Swallowtails.

Yep, it sure looks like this picture from Wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eastern_tiger_swallowtail_caterpillar.JPG

Okay, have found 2 cats on my Stinging Nettle! Yay! Except now I have RA cats and can't touch the cuttings they're on without my gloves! And I brought home a cat I found...along with the plant I dug up so I could cat-nap! The plant might be cudweed...which would make the cat an American Lady...I think.

Congrats!

I've been seeing more and more cabbage whites.

I'm excited to say that I'm going to be doing volunteer butterfly monitoring for the state. I have to get my route in place, but I'll be monitoring at Nachusa Grasslands, a nature conservancy property.. I'm really excited!

Congrats everyone on your sightings!!
Mrs_ED I have been thinking about volunteering for the Texas Discovery Gardens.. I received an email that they need volunteers to be at booths throughout the area & one is very close to me.. I don't kow if I can take the outdoors though for 5 hours straight.

Wow, I keep meaning to post on here but then the cats have got me so busy the time just flies by!

The once vacant lot one street over (where they're building this monster-size house) yielded me a Red-Spotted Purple cat! I actually found one more but he was dead and being eaten by ants. What I hate about them building on this lot is that they've destroyed a lot of the pawpaws on the property. There are still some - I've managed to "catnap" five Zebra STs.

Mom and I went outlet shopping and the RSP came along since it looked like it was going to eclose. Sure enough, it did and that's why you can see Mom's dashboard in the background, LOL!

I came into the museum one morning to find a big ol' moth in a tank. Turns out it was a Polyphemus. I didn't know until I checked the bug files that they don't eat once they're an adult. I felt bad for it and put some flowers in the tank for it; I was wondering why no one had given it food. Silly me! I did notice all these little pellet-like things and I figured out this week that they must have been eggs since we now have a tank full of the eggs. I'm not really a "moth" person so I don't know as much about them. But this one is definitely a cool-looking dude.

I have a new friend at the museum named Dominic. He's in 2nd grade and is 8 years old. I let him touch the butterflies because he's raised them at home before and knows how to handle them. His dad brings him by nearly every weekend. He actually helped me spot my first Polydamas of the year this past Sunday! I brought in my Zebra ST cats so he could see them; he was very excited. I also brought four Giant ST cats from my house to donate to the museum since we haven't had much variety lately. Dominic really wanted to see them but I told him they had only hatched two days ago. I brought one out and he told me I better put it back before I lost it because it was so little. He also helped me capture four Gulf Frits for the flight cage and I let him take home some Gulf Frit caterpillars after he assured me he had enough passion vine. I told him to come get more at the museum if he ran out.

Here's a pic of one of my Zebra STs getting ready to molt. Notice how the head capsule is sitting really low on his head - that's a sure way to tell one is molting. Remember, do not move a molting caterpillar! They will not be able to complete the molt and will die.

Someone mentioned earlier how popular their phlox was, so when I saw some on sale at Target I scooped it up. Now, I've got these little Skippers flying around it.

In non-pictured news, I spotted a Red Admiral! I've been digging through the pellitory in my neighbor's yard to no avail. We've also had some Painted Ladies (more on that later). I've got a Giant ST that I think is a male on patrol. Dad and I watched it making circles through the neighborhood the other day. It went right past my rue and I don't think a female would pass that up. It's blooming now and is super stinky - the bees seem to like it, though. Like others have mentioned, this seems to be a good year for Tiger STs; I've seen a bunch!

Oh Mellie... how beautiful!! I wish I could "raise" ST's.. but the kits don't come in single "size".. I'd have to buy 100! hahaha.. more for a school project.

I am still looking for a Monarch kit... again..just a few, not 100!! I know I can get the Painted Lady in stores, etc but I want a Monarch since they are endangered!!

Your phlox is going to spread!!! hahahaha... hope you don't mind! I want to get something similar to a pincushion plant as I know the ST love them.. hubby had one land on him when we were at the Fort Worth Butterfly exhibit..he was wearing light purple, the same color that the pincushon was & a ST was feasting on it so mistook hubby for one also!! hahahaha..he loved it!! ( hubby that is.. as it was his first experience with butterflies!).

The USF Botanical gardens had their spring plant festival last weekend and it was crazy! Lots of people trying to find good deals to replace all their plants that froze. The FL native Plant Society booth almost sold out; I heard a lady say it's never been like that before! Granted, some of those plants can be dug up from the side of the road, but if people want to pay for them, that's their right and at least it goes to a good cause.

Speaking of digging...I acquired some Blue-Eyed Grass and Spiderwort (Trandescantia spp.) one day after my psychiatrist appointment. It was along Dale Mabry Hwy which is a six lane major road in Tampa (the Bucs stadium is on it). Now, I was quite a bit north of that but I still found it funny that no one stopped to question me or even honked. Free plants rock!

For some reason the butterflies haven't been laying eggs at the museum, but I found lots at USF. Particularly, the sulfurs; I haven't seen a single egg at the museum but I liberated about two dozen cats from USF. I also "liberated" some Monarch cats. The aphids have been a real problem on the milkweed considering it's so early in the year.

Here's one of the many Cloudless Sulphurs I saw at the plant sale.

I hope the phlox spreads! There's a guy down the street that lives next to the interstate. He threw out a bunch of phloz and blanket flower seeds years ago and now they cover his front lawn and are making their way down the embankment toward the interstate. I think it's beautiful!

I anticipate the Swallowtails will visit more once the plumbagos start blooming. They love those things but they froze down to the ground this year. They're coming back but I think I might have to give them a good heap of compost to speed things along.

I also saw some butterflies in the parking lot of the plant sale. I thought this was a Dainty Sulphur but once I got the pic up on the computer I can see the black that makes me think it's actually a Barred Sulphur.

I also saw a Phaeon Crescent but I got a better picture of one in my neighbor's yard while I was searching his pellitory and cudweed.

Just wanted to add that this Crescent is on frogfruit which is a host plant but I couldn't find any eggs or caterpillars. I may try again later in the week.

This message was edited Apr 13, 2010 9:02 PM