yah! I'd like to have some of those beaities too please. Nice pix J.
Daily butterfly pictures #90
Love the blue Jay!
I saw a fresh looking male Monarch yesterday! Hopefully it is the first of many.
One more.....
Most of the Queen cats had been attacked by parasites and have died. One made a chrysalis but it was so tiny I doubt it will be viable. The cats just quit eating and fold in half then get leaks...off to the freezer they go to kill the parasite and end their suffering.
ok its been a while but here I am. Work has kept me away for far too long. My garden has gone absolutely nuts, but in a good way. I have many pics to share and lots to catch up on. Hairstreaks and many new skippers have made thir way to my garden this year, here are a few.
I have not even looked all these up in my guide yet.
Peacocks are one of my favorites.
Not sure.
I wont complain that my first copper is so raggedy!
last one for tonight. I will try to post a few more tomorrow.
Hi Viceroy....good to see you posting again. Soooo glad you guys in FL are doing good on the butterfly front!
Nice ones Victor....was wondering where you were!
Great setup, BCH.
JMorth, glad you showed the Eastern Tailed Blue, with wings open. Pretty butterfly!
Sorry to hear about the Queen cats, Sheila. Nice to see the Monarch.
Viceroy, you have a nice assortment of butterflies! I would love to see so many.
I had a Question Mark visit today, after I brushed on the brew, on some old dead branches. Thanks for the recipes guys.
With closed wings.
I put brew out several days this week and only got loads of bees, wasp, and one lone Hackberry Emperor. Nice QM Burn.
Nice pics! Don't forget you can submit them to BAMONA for identification at www.butterfliesandmoths.org I had the first of my Eastern Black STs emerge today. I'll post the picture once I upload my camera.
Melanie
I captured this cute little butterfly the other day. I have not seen one like this before and was wondering if anyone here knew what it was.
Hemlady, that looks like a Checkered Skipper.
Here's the Black ST I released. I released two more today; they took off flying right away!
Great pics. everyone. Viceroy, very nice assortment of butterflies. Burn, love that Question Mark. hemlady the Skipper looks pretty too. Congrats Melanie on the BST!
OK....Hate to post the ugly after the beautiful but......
I had brought in about a dozen or so Queens and they made it fine until about the third instar. They quit eating and slumped, folded, or fell to the bottom of the cage. I put them in the freezer to destroy whatever parasite was the cause. However I just want to show you what they looked like. It appears they tried to make a chrysalis at the last to avoid dying. The same thing happened with the first batch of Queens last year also.
poor babies. It's just so sad. I had to stop raising monarchs because they just kept dying and I felt terrible.
Terrible ailment, whatever parasistic disease that may have affected them. I saw my first Monarch in the garden last week. But haven't seen any eggs or cats. on the MWs yet.
I had a male Monarch but no females as yet. Still hoping.
Just posted a couple pics on the wrong thread. Got a Gulf Frit laying eggs....to end on a positive note.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=8769545
I went looking for butterflies Saturday, and only found some Cabbage White, and a Wood Nymph.
The Cabbage White.
Great finds even so!
I was out in Albuquerque for nearly a week. And all the butterflies I saw around were TigerSwallowtails. But not much else. :((
We got a parasite called OE that infested all our community raised monarchs--I had to destroy about 200 in different stages along w/ the wooden cage because it couldn't be sterilized-we had about 30 cats in separate containers that we are raising to adulthood, and then we will check for the spores. Hopefully they will be clean so we can release them. No more communal raising of monarchs for me--next year it will be no more then 2-3 per container. Below is a link about this parasite which also infects Queen cats.
http://www.monarchwatch.org/biology/control.htm
On a brighter note we now have massive amounts of butterflies--I went out yesterday morning and counted 15 w/out moving; monarchs, TST's, silver spotted skippers, common buckeye, and a BST.
Thanks millielong!!!
BCH...I also had a brief encounter with OE a couple years ago. I found this site about the OE a good one. http://www.butterflybreeders.org/public/health/disease_prevention_what_is_oe.html
Thanks BCH and Sheila for the informative articles regarding OEs.
Look, first Sulphur I was able to catch in the garden. :))
I've never found more than a few Queens at a time but I guess it makes sense that they would be similarly susceptible to the same diseases and parasites as Monarchs. That OE can be some nasty stuff. When I volunteered at the museum we cleaned everything with vinegar or bleach to kill it as best we could. I always said "a clean lab was a healthy lab!" I find that Gulf Frits are very hard to raise in captivity as they seem to share some disease or parasite that makes them liquefy and get all "bendy" and die. Besides, they seem to be doing just fine munching the heck out of my passifloras outside!
Still waiting for the last two Eastern Black STs to emerge. Of the last two, one decided to fly around the living room while I was trying to take pictures. Don't you hate that, LOL!?
Hope everyone is keeping an eye on the approaching hurricane and is already prepared. They say it will miss Tampa but I've seen too many of them take a sudden turn not to be worried!
Melanie
Thanks Melanie for the weather alert. Many of us got used to to warning and became careless until it was too late. I think I saw a G.F. in the garden, but once today.
Milkweed is very busy now with all different BF's! Think this is a Pipevine....
This message was edited Aug 22, 2011 9:52 PM
I saw 3 monarchs again today at the same time!
Went to a country ditch that supports Cardinal Flower and Milkweeds to ascertain BF presense. Happy to report, BF present. Identified 9 BF and 2 moths. Couple pics therefrom - Red Admiral
Painted Lady
Monarchs mating - several pairs noted.
Monarch
