Yay! That's a handsome boy!
DAILY BUTTERFLY PICS Page 81
ID?
Milkweed Tussock Moth.
thanks Mrs Ed
You're welcome. I only know because someone here IDed them for me 2 years ago! Ha.
Common Buckeye.
I had rechargeable batteries with another camera and they went "deader" faster. I don't understand why the batteries go dead as fast as they do. My husband got a whole package of batteries last night, so I should be set for, jeez, at least a whole week!
Speaking of my husband and seeing that fuzzy caterpillar up there, we were just talking about the fuzzy caterpillars we used to see as kids and don't see anymore. What ever happened to all those fuzzy caterpillars and what the heck were they?
Those black & brown ones??? Just saw one this morning crossing the road! We see lots of them out here. Lots of white/cream ones too!
Seems like they were all sorts of colors. Not on the same caterpillar, different caterpillar had different colors. I just remember picking them up and "petting" them. I hope I didn't harm them in any way. We never squished them, just petted them. So fuzzy! I haven't seen one in years! They were always crawling up the trim on our garage doors. Don't know where they were going.
I still see the brown and black bear caterpillars from time to time. I think they are from moths, and maybe more noctirnal?
I remember seeing them, probably getting close to dusk. Just crawling around, usually up the trim by the garage door. Seems they were always around. Seeing the one above, the Tussock moth (which sounds dinosauris or something), I figured what we saw were moths. Where do you see them? Anywhere in particular? I'll go stake out someplace to see if I can see some...lol...
Oh, and Sheila? I think my Monarchs have left. I saw one this morning, but I haven't seen any more all day long. In fact all I've seen are...the white ones. My brain. It's hurting from thinking. I can't remember. It's food. It starts with a C. CABBAGE!! Good golly Miss Molly. All I see are Cabbage Whites. (really, don't mind me)
Saw several monarchs here today. I couldn't help but wonder if this one was my new guy I released.
Cute skipper....
Send all those Monarchs my way....I am going to catch, tag and release as many as I can.
Monarch in a field of Coreopsis. There were a lot of them there.
That is gorgeous!!!
jmorth, I noticed that in a lot of your butterfly pics, the butterflies are on one specific plant you have that kind of looks like a mint plant or herb of some sort. What exactly is that plant that attracts so many butterflies??
Nanny, my one daughter has had a lot of bad monarchs hatch this year. Many were deformed too. It's really too bad.
J, lovely! I just saw a bunch of those coreopsis down at the slough and decided that I should have some in the garden, even though they are tall! If anyone knows the variety, I'd be interested in knowing. I took pictures that I'll put on the ID forum if not.
How tall is tall? 4 - 8 feet? It so, and it's a native coreopsis, then it's Coreopsis tripteris, otherwise known as tall coreopsis.
I thought the Monarchs had left, they haven't.
I should have said it's probably Coreopsis tripteris.
I also happened to catch this while trying to get a picture of a Sulphur. I'm not sure what it is.
Looks like it's probably a painted lady.
Yah, I think it was in the 4-6' range. I was going to Dmail you with a picture, but I had not converted it yet.
Here's a fuller shot - quite dense
I don't know. It doesn't look like any of the Coreopsis that I'm familiar with. The leaves are throwing me off. The flower part looks more like a Helianthus, but the leaves don't match any of those I know. So I don't know. You think that was a Painted Lady, huh? That was the only glimpse I got. It flew off before I even got the camera down. I haven't seen it again.
Another Meadow Fritillary?
Terry..I agree with painted lady...did you maybe post the wrong picture? It doesn't look yellow at all.
Yup Jack, those I saw were really full too…
Edited to say that someone on the ID thread thinks it is Bidens aristosa, Tickseed sunflower.
Wet meadows, self sows and on Kentucky's invasive list.
errr, probably too dry in my yard.
This message was edited Sep 14, 2010 7:19 PM
Yellow? You mean because I was trying to get a picture of a Sulphur? If so, the Sulphur flew off and the Painted Lady was in shot. The sun was in my eyes and on my screen, I thought I saw something in the screen, but wasn't sure until I downloaded the pictures.
Here's the Sulphur. I could zoom in pretty good on to ironweed on the bunch it was on, but then it flew off before I got my shot and landed on a bunch in the back. My camera doesn't zoom that much, so this is the best I could do.Our backyard faces west. I'm dinked most of the day trying to take pictures. I just can't see the screen.
Mrs Ed,
The selected ID may be right, I looked it up and the two share many characteristics, the difference I noted was bloom time, the resources indicated wild Coreopsis ceases to bloom after August but the Bidens were in September. The stands I saw were situated in Sanchris Lake State Park. We were there Sunday photographing Monarchs and checking out the geese. Here's a pic I posted in the photos forum of some pretty strange birds:
hemlady, it is a mint, which one I don't know, its got a pretty pungent smell when crushed; spearmint is also a good attractor.
Thanks jmorth. I thought it looked like some sort of mint.
My chocolate mint does a good job of pulling in some of the smaller butterflies, along with Cabbage whites.
Hmmm....Bidens aristosa isn't on the IL wildflower list. I've never heard of it before. No wonder I couldn't ID it.... :p Tickseed is the common name for Coreopsis, but this isn't one. Both are in the Aster family though. Interesting.
Do the leaves look like these? http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/bidensaris.html
I have 2 Monarchs still here, but I didn't have the camera out with me today.
Pearl Crescent
Time for a new thread!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1128979/
oops wrg thread....
This message was edited Sep 16, 2010 1:21 PM
Well we pulled in 60 monarch cat's ! ...LOL...I was going to let the stay on the plants, ( actually there's at least another 30 out there.) But we've found cat's and chrysalis 30 feet away, and we are having alot of company this weekend, and I was afraid they would get walked on or driven over........They have litterally eaten 4 potted milkweed plants today !
I may actually run out, and I thought I would have enough to get me thru and for any stragglers and migration time. Hopefully they will start forming their chrysalis pretty quick, a lot of them are big..............and their making alot of caterpillar poo !!!
mj
wtg mj!
Hi mjsponies, I was curious to know where you get your milkweed from or any of your plants. Is there a nursery near you?
Dawn,
I grow my own, either from cuttings or seed. ( it's easy to root) I have 3 plants in the ground that are several years old and if it wasn't for the Monarch's I'd have to cut back twice a year as they will get 5 feet tall, and I keep potted plants as back up....only thing is I'm running out of both the one's in the ground, and back up.
I'll try to get pics tomorrow, I've just been so busy, that I just keep dropping off the groceries to them.
I went out and cut some stalks off one of the plants and when I turned them over there were two more cat's on there...so in they came too. It's taken 3 years to get to where we have this kind of population....so be patient, keep the food around. Even if you have to cut your plants back some the first year. And keep the wasps away !
This message was edited Sep 16, 2010 7:59 PM
mjsponies, This is my second year raising any cat I find on the numerous host plants I have in the yard. I have many, many milkweed plants in the ground and a bunch in pots. When they eat all the leaves off and there is a bare stem, I cut it into chunks and root them. And of course they re-seed themselves everywhere. I was just curious if there was a nursery near you that you went to. Thanks, Dawn
Sorry, I just realized that I interupted this post, I guess I should have d-mailed mjsponies. I am reading everyones posts just about everyday and love all the pics and info. Sorry for the interuption. Dawn
That's interesting about cutting the milkweed into chunks and planting. I am thinking about that for my passion vine too. It is getting late in the season..
love all those pictures