Daily butterfly pictures #89

Marna, I wished I could go and monitor those with you. The next best thing is to see the pics. Thank you. Ah, the look-alike! Or mimicry in the world of butterflies kingdom! What do we look for to know it's a real mccoy versus a viceroy? lol

Here goes, this is a brain-teaser for BCH, lol Can you find the Ruby Throat Hummingbird in this photo? lol Everyone else is also welcome. ^_^

Saw this beautiful butterfly on my swamp milkweed today. Not sure if its a monarch though. The butterfly was flying between my common and swamp milkweed....maybe laying eggs?

This little guy was loving the butterfly bush....not sure what type of skipper he/she is though.

Finally found it--just to the left and down a little from where the basket is hung :)

I agree, that is where I found it. Just to the left of where the 3 chains come together at the limb.

Couldn't believe I had a Red-spotted Purple flit right by my and land on one of the hostas this morning. We were just heading off to the hospital so I didn't get a photo of it tho. :( Nice to see Mrs. Ed had one too!

LL, I'm not sure you would really want to monitor with me. I got dehydrated (says my Dr. Margaret) yesterday and really sick into the evening. Even with everything I drank. Ah well. Not as young as I used to be.

The Eastern Tailed-Blues are out and about now. I love how they sort of rub their wings together. If you've never noticed before, keep an eye out. I didn't know they puddled.

Here's a second skipper I have to ID. It was tiny.

And my last two, two different variations of the common Wood Nymph.

And the second with eyespots on the lower wing.

I went to Reiman Gardens in Ames IA for the first time..and I'm in love with it! Beautiful flowers and saw several butterflies while there. They also have a Butterfly Conservatory and wow..saw some I've never seen before :)

This is a butterfly that I saw outside, so of course I have no name for it lol.. The Gardens are having a photo contest and I entered this picture in the contest.

wrong picture LOL... a closer picture is what I gave them

Now see what I saw inside the visitor center..

Nice Chris! love all the chrysalids lined up.

Very nice! I'd love to see something likes that. Christine, I like the way you presented the picture as well. Nice job!

Great pic to enter Chis. The pic in the visitor center is AWESOME!

TST on Black Knight-

glad you enjoyed the exhibits Chris

Very deep purple bloom of Black Knight butterfly bush, BCH. Beautiful contrast in color b/w the TST and the flower inflorescent. I'm not sure if this is a RSP or a TST, or could that be an EST. One moment it was there, and gone the next.

Finally, the streak ends!

Caught this pipevine on the lantana this morning.

Russell

Lily, that's a Spicebush Swallowtail.

Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com

Whoa! Dale, would you please accept me as your student? I'm so confused and lost when come to these black forms butterflies. Spicebush, pipevine, female TST they ALL look alike. Oh and thank you.

One male and one female released today

OK, so the TST looked so good on the Black Knight I thought I would pose my newest model--she cooperated nicely

By the way I googled a map of alabama and showed them before I released them

Nice pipevine Russell!

I saw a Buckeye this morning. It was liking my zinnia's. I made a couple 'fake water puddles' in my beds for the b'flies out of plastic plant saucers and put them down in the ground a little bit. That way it doesn't just soak in the ground since we are sooooooooooooooo dry.

This is what we are living with here today. This is my thermometer this afternoon. It goes up to about 110.5 when the wind isn't blowing through on it.

LOL, lol with you and BCH Sheila. Goodness! it's hot here too but Crit that's HOT!!! Thanks BCH for mapping out the way for the Monarch.

Absolutely Beautiful pictures everyone!!

Lily - I just spotted your "Brain Teaser". That's an easy one. The hummer is on the second branch from the right. (The first branch is at an angle and the 2nd branch is straight up and down...north/south.) The hummer is also straight up and down with it's back to the camera . . .it's a little to the left of the chains on the basket and just to the right of the vertical black metal rods.

I tried to take a picture this morning of a BF and there was so much humidity that it kept fogging up my camera lens.

This is one of the pictures I took this morning when my lens kept fogging up from the humidity. This is the best one. The others are so foggy it's hard to see anything.

Is it a Swallowtail of some sort? I think I'll head on over to the Bug Files to see if I can find out. Anyway, it was very beautiful. I wish it had stayed long enough for my lens to clear.

Edited to say: Okay, I just checked Bug Files & I'm thinking it may be an 'Eastern Black Swallowtail'. . . I guess they're very common (if you know anything about Butterflies...which I don't).

I Love DG "Plant/Bird/Bug Files" and this wonderful thread!!

This message was edited Aug 2, 2011 2:56 PM

Well, at 4 we were at 112*, with the high of the day usually between 5 & 6. Have the sprinkler running on my front shaded flowerbed and it is alive with birds and hummingbirds. Sadly, no butterflies to be seen. :-(

Nutsaboutnature -- That's actually a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. They can be a bit confusing at first, but hang in there (and you too, Lily). It gets easier with practice.

Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com

Dale, you are a plethica of information and so glad to have you around!

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH, DALE!!!

It's so great to be able to get info from someone who really knows his stuff and is so willing to share it! I'm going to label that pic with the correct name so (maybe) I'll recognize it in the future.

Edited to fix my typo...

This message was edited Aug 2, 2011 7:53 PM

TST (male) on Black Knight--they are all loving this plant

Monarch (male) on A incarnata aka swamp milkweed

My black knight just dried up and died on me, even though I have it planted in the ground and watered deep every other day. I was just sick. It had been doing fine then BLAM, all of a sudden! Unless that stupid mole/vole/critter that keeps making trails in my back yard had it's roots for a salad.

Thank you all for sharing the lovely pics. Crit, it's a bummer when we lose priced prized plants in the garden. I had my share of that, so I can relate. I lost a Yoshino cherry this year. And now, my Golden rain tree is on its way out. Yours maybe transplanting shock, but mine are well established plants that got stressed! Yep stresses. Burrrrrrr.

Thank you Dale, for all your help. And believe me, I'm hanging. lol

BCH, love those TST and the Monarch pics. I'm puzzled with one thing. I planted an A. incarnata in the front garden. For couple of years now, and they didn't make any flowers???? My green thump is turning brown! Help!

On the positive note, I saw two males TSTs on my butterfly bush, quite a few of yellow sulphurs on the field, and others, and hummingbirds coming and going. I think hummingbirds are traveling about and hunt for bugs rather than be drawn to nectar?

This message was edited Aug 3, 2011 5:51 AM

those plants you see are all several years old--some of the new plants don't bloom initially--show us some pictures of them--they might just need another year

Dale,
A friend posted this on another thread and I thought you would know for sure what it was. Another friend thought it was an Imperial Moth. Is that right?