Sun peeped out and I got a back lit butterfly...just look at that wing span...
Daily Pictures #92
Like I said...IN HEAVEN...
Such beauty...not sure of the ID on this one...
Last but not least...my camera battery died right after this one...but it was the most beautiful and I'm glad I got it...much more blue than the others and the wing span had to be a good four plus inches....
One more...don't want anyone to get bored...but had to share the field of flowers...a butterflies paradise...my heaven...
Great pictures sunkissed. Your first looks like a pipevine to me, ....wrong it was the dark form TSTagain. Fool me everytime! Then you have seven pictures of Tiger STs, one being the dark form. Can't be sure on the others, but looks like the first sulphur pic is a mating pair! Maybe Lepfarmer, Mellie, or MsEd can id definately for you.
edited to correct after Dale's post.
This message was edited Oct 26, 2011 6:41 AM
Sunkissed:
From the first of your photos: Female dark form Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Gulf Fritillary, mating pair of Cloudless Sulphur (male top, female hanging down), next two are E. Tiger Swallowtails, another Cloudless Sulphur (male), Palamedes Swallowtail, dark form female E. Tiger Swallowtail, next four are also E. Tiger Swallowtails -- with the last being a nice shot of a light form female. Great pictures! And I want that plant!
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Beautiful!!
Thanks so much for the ID Dale and Shelia...I can now post the pictures in the right places. Dale that plant is really a striking flower, they stand out as far as the eye can see. There was also Summer farewell, blazing star everywhere, yellow buttons, beautiful dog fennel, goldenrod...but the butterflies loved the Florida paintbrush the most. I've seen those growing on the side of the Interstate also.
Thanks Dale, I just can't get those straight! But I don't do it for a living like you do my friend!
I am with Dale Sunkissed....we need that plant around here. If you send Dale some seeds after he gets it going on his property he will share.
I see you have already posted your picture of the plant in PF too! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54612/
One thing I noticed on another plant site it said part shade and on DG it says full sun. It looked like your picture would be full sun ....right?
This message was edited Oct 26, 2011 6:57 AM
They were in full sun, maybe some scattered pines here and there, but none in full shade at all. I plan on going back...it is a state park...so seed snatching not allowed...but some might stick to me as I walk through them. ;--)...nothing was seeding just yet.
Must have been an exhilarating experience sunkissed.
I looked online for a source and haven't been able to locate a seed source. Yet!
Great photos sunkissed! Love the TSTs! I have never seen one in person, but they seem spectacular on here.
Keep them coming.
Russell
I contacted someone online who volunteered to send me some seed from the FL paintbrush a little later in the season. :D
If Sunkissed can't get enough seed to stick to her sweater the next time she goes back send me a dmail and I'll see how far I can stretch the seed I expect to obtain in November.
A.
p.s. 2 more sleepy orange sulfurs took flight today. I am not seeing much of anything but bees lately, so the bright orange flash in the garden is gratifying and welcome.
Amanda do you have in idea when they will start seeding, they seemed to be just coming out and I plan a day trip over there, but cost six bucks to go in, so timing will be the key.
I'll be glad to mail anyone any if I can get some...ya know to stick to my sweater.
The rules say not to molest the plants or animals...is seed snatching considered molesting? LOL. I could see me getting on the news as a plant molester.☺
Best not try to satch those seeds then! LOL!
We can start to collect some bail money.
;-)
Well I looked it up and not on Florida's endangered or protected...so they won't throw my in jail.
Looks like the plant won't go to seed until December...but I really can't find information on it. I have the most perfect place where all my natives go and thrive.
Amanda can you share where to get the seeds?
Sherri
Sherri - I'm afraid the source is just some poor hapless butterfly aficionado like the rest of us who happened to post photos of the plant on his blog. I reviewed his page and ventured an email to him. Like some of our DG folks he grows some natives for sale at home, but not this plant species. He said he leaves it to the bigger nurseries to propagate and sell. He told me if I would send a SASE and an email reminder in "about a month" he would be glad to send me some seeds from plants he has growing in his garden.
When collecting seed in the "wild" not only with regard to IUCN status, I would look at the site and be sure that I am not taking all the seed from all the plants. Especially if it's not particularly widespread in the area.
As Sheila suggested, I will be sure to get some to Dale so he can grow a bumper crop for the rest of us. Don't forget to poke and prod me in a month to remind my new internet friend. I put it on my calendar to remind myself.
Keep your fingers crossed. ;)
A.
Thanks Amanda, jokes aside, I have full respect for the conservation of our natural habitats and would never do anything to harm them. My only goal is to preserve all we have left in this world that nature gives us.
I'll mark my calendar also.
Was surprised at seeing a number of Monarchs today!
Wow, nanny! It has been quite cool here. Saw a gulf frit yesterday and one yellow sulphur today. It is suppose to warm up and rain...YEAH!!!!
Lost a sulfur yesterday when one of my chrysalis nets blew down. Looked like one of them tried to eclose and ended up fighting against gravity. Still have 5 left in chrysalises. Crazy bugs.
Nanny - that is surprising, but I guess so much of this is behind schedule this year!
All the best to them!
A.
That heat wave in the NE may have triggered more mating and they are just now coming south? FrostyKay said she had mating pairs in NE TX on Oct 1st too.
I saw one flying south yesterday on my way back from work. Hope it makes it--as there are several days of mild weather forcast it might.
I went for a hike two days ago in the fields I was in camping a couple weeks back. Most the Liatris is going to seed, but a few showed their bright lilac colors here and there. All they yellow buttons and summer's farewell are gone to seed. The Florida paintbrush is still there and some are starting to fade, but none gone to seed yet. Not so many butterflies this time, but I did see a few Gulf Frits and E. Swallowtails...and lots of bees.
Not sure what the new flowering bush is with the light lilac blooms, looks a lot like the Florida paintbrush crossed with Liatris, but the BF's and bees loved it.
Another shot of the flower with a GF on it...
Had 4 chrysallises left on the porch that we forgot about until we had this recent warm spell--DD found this beauty flying around the porch--don't hold out much hope for it's survival, but we released it anyway.
Yesterday, while DH and I took a brief walk. I spotted this GF in the wild. Just for the record, we dodged a killing frost just the preceeding morning. Temp. was in the low 30'ish F. I still see an occasional Sulphur here and there. Bruce, hope those migrants made the journey. Life is tough out there in the wild.
Received my pawpaw trees today, so I spent the morning planting them--looking forward to having some Zebra ST photos for the forum in the next couple of years!
Congrats Bruce on the pawpaw trees planting. Looking forward to the future. Have a great weekend.
Oh Bruce, hope that works! I have heard that a friend of my mom's has some on her property (both the trees and the butterflies). I've been meaning to go look some summer.
My Mexican sunflowers are attracting the swallowtails...this was yesterday...two EST enjoying those stalks way up there...had to zoom my camera as much as it could go to get the shot of one of them.
Also saw a GF fluttering about and this Monarch on my milkweed.
Sunkissed, I've zone envy -- until I saw this guy in the garden this morning. lol I had a Question Mark bf. this time of year!? I couldn't believe my own eyes.
This one is a 'brain teaser' for Bruce especially. LOL. Can you find the butterfly among the 'golden' leaves?
Ha ha...I finally found it...started to think you were playing games and there was no BF...had a son that loved "Where is Waldo"...so I got pretty good at finding hidden items in photos.
I even have monarch eggs on my milkweed again, but the last ones were gone after a couple days of hatching...I think it is the ants that might eat them. I don't have much hope for the two eggs I see now. However I have had cats that made it all the way before.
Great eyes for finding 'Waldo'. lol
