Daily pictures #96

Tiger swallowtail

Silver spotted skipper

Those are so gorgeous pics. Nicely done! I too begun to see many of those Silver spotted skippers down here.

In WV, I got a tick attached TO MY HEAD! I was seriously freaking out. So far no symptoms of anything. Everyone be careful though. I was just caterpillar hunting and got a tick instead. Bummer. I swear I will post pictures of my vacation soon.

Love the pictures - RSPs are some of my faves. I rarely get the Silver Spotted Skippers but they were all over WV.

Melanie

When I go on my butterfly route through a grassland, I get tons of ticks. I've learned to curtail them with spraying with bug spray. But I still have to de-bug when I'm done.

We just got a little over 1/2" of rain, and it felt like christmas!

female tiger swallowtail
common buckeye
pearl crescent

Great pics! Sure wish we had those tigers around here.

Russell

Fabulous shots Bruce, Ressell, those Tigers ar such gorgeous buterflies, I agreed.

Gorgeous, Gorgeous pics, everybody!!!

I hope you don't mind my sharing some pics. Don't have a clue what they are (still haven't gotten the Kaufman book Marna recommended. I have to order it since I haven't found one in any of the stores).

I have about 7 so it will take two posts. The oranges are on a feeder for the Orioles. I also put grape jelly in the orange peel as the pulp gets eaten leaving room.

Is #3 a Cabbage White? It seemed to like the Veronica Giles Van Hees (Speedwell)






This message was edited Jul 16, 2012 10:43 AM

OK here are the rest.

Is this next one a Hummingbird Moth?
The last one is very tiny and was very fast. It was hard to catch it.

Bravo nutsaboutnature! Verly lovely photos. I'll wait until someone with more knowledge to help i.d. those beauties. At the mean time, I've one more BST ecloses around noon time today. Weeee! Is this a female BST?

Thanks Lily. . .ooh, very pretty BST. . .Congrats!

Nice to see some of you with butterflies. pretty quiet here.

That first one is a Red Admiral, and yes that's a cabbage white. The other three are all Question Marks. Yes to the Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. And looks to me like a Fiery Skipper.

Kim, That's a boy. The female has a blue band

Oooh, and I was hoping "she" will give me some offsprings in the future..., but he will have a big part on offspring making process. So that's all good. LOL Thanks Mrs. Ed. ^_^

I'm now a proud "owner" of 6 more BST 1st instars. Those caterpillars get bigger as the hours pass. Half a dozen cats. and 2 more chrysalid on the way. (~Grinning ear to ear).

Thanks so much for the names, Marna!
Butterflies around here have been scarce and it's been so hot that many of my blooms are drying up. We're on water restrictions so I can't do a lot of watering. I wish we'd get a decent rain so the rain barrel would fill up.

Anyway, I'm on my way right now to label my pics before I forget!

Wow that's so cool...congratulations MOM...I mean Lily!!

ROFL on your comment nutsaboutnature. Many thanks. Those little ones do make my heart sings. Drought is bad this year that's fur sure. Farmers are losing crops because of it. It's bad.

Did you know? Those so called hummingbird moths help pollinate the type of trumpet- shape flowers? Thanks to those moths, I've this datura's seedpod developing. Otherwise, most of the flowers will eventually wilt and fall off.

After a stroll in the garden this evening. I discovered 5 more BST cats. prob. 1st, maybe one is on its 2nd instar. I feel so RICH. lol.

Lily, that's fascinating about the hummingbird moths. Thanks for sharing that info! The one I saw kept flying around the yard, but only seemed interested in the Monarda and kept returning to it.

My various Monardas haven't grown as well this year and the 'Jacob Cline', which are normally huge, barely grew. I may look for more annuals to plant or put in pots for the hummers, butterflies and bees, even though it's so late in the season.

As I've learned over the years... the Clearwing is one that is frequently seen during day light. Most others hawkmoths are nocturnal. That's when they do their night-shift duty I guess. lol

I have gradually adapted to year-round gardening for wildlife. I've lots of colorful tenderperennials to provide for wildlife habitat beside a few reliable perennials in the garden. Most of those are in containers. I find drought and heat are very challenging factors for container culture, however.

As of now, I have 11 BST cats. and 2 more chrysalid. I'm so excited with my BST success this season. Can't wait 'til the Monarch pass by here ... soon, I hope.

Glad everyone is having fun with their cats and butterflies. I had four big Monarch cats up front on the milkweed, but they were gone today (to Mom's dismay). I assured her that judging by how they'd stripped the plant they were probably wandering around looking for a good place to get out of the rain and make a chrysalis. Dad spotted the Monarch butterfly and the Giant ST today but other than that it's been kind of quiet. Lots of rain here is making butterfly spotting difficult. Wish I had more caterpillars but I know they'll come soon enough! I've already got baby Monarchs on the back porch, but I want Swallowtails (whine, whine)!

Melanie

Ok Mel, I'll sand you my swallowtails for some Monarchs please. My 3rd one eclosed around noonish today. Another pretty boy. Before the BST eclosed, I did capture a pix of a female in the garden. I hope the two of them will find one another.

Everything here is dying. No butterflies at all. boo hoo.

Marna, what's going on there? The drought and heat? Hope thing will change soon. My final chrysalis eclosed this morning. Its wings dried out, but hasn't open so I can find out if it's a boy or girl.

Lily_love, your third picture is actually a Spicebush Swallowtail. Spicebush Swallowtails have a "gap" in the band of orange dots on the underside of the hindwing -- Eastern Black Swallowtails have a solid band of these orange spots. If you look closely you can see this in your pictures. Actually, here's a couple of pictures from my website to illustrate the point. The first one is an Eastern Black Swallowtail; the second a Spicebush Swallowtail.

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

You are such a handy man to have around Dale....please continue to keep us straight!

Mrs Ed....so sorry about the lack of bfs....what is the cause?

We are having an influx of Queens around lately. I have BST still in chrysalis and tiny cat form. A Pipevine ST was active again today. I have been so busy with getting flooring in the house that I really have had time to observe much.

Well off to my volunteer job....la..la..la.later folks.

2 more GFs and another BST eclosed in the last couple of days. All released to flit around the neighborhood! Sorry...no pics lately. The yard is looking a little like a jungle with all the rain we have been having lately. Quite a change from last year. We are also being invaded by spiders of all kinds. I have never seen so many!

I know this isn't a BF, but it was an interesting web on the lantana.

The picture is a little deceiving because I took it on the macro setting. The spider is about 1 inch long.

Russell

Sheila, you're certainly right about the influx of Queens in the area. To me, these are sort of the signature butterfly of summer. I've got so many flying around here it's almost distracting when I walk along looking for something else on the wing. Here's a pic of some in the back yard settling down for the night. Not the clearest picture as it was almost dark. There were a couple of little clusters like this scattered around.

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

Wow, Dale! What's a sight! Never have I seen that many before. Infact, i haven't seen a Queen before I don't think.

Nice Dale! That's a lot of Queens.

Russell

Shelia, Illinois & Indiana are two of the states suffering from severe drought this year and our plants are drying out and dying. I have had to quit watering since we are on a well. I do have a few plants that don't require much water are are struggling but still offering something for the BF's. Had this Giant Swallowtail the other day. I would have missed it if one of my granddaughters hadn't seen it thru the window!

Hellooooo everyone, sorry I have been away so long. I am back to the garden putting in the blood sweat and tears and really starting to see the rewards.

I decided to try my hand at raising some young which is completely new to me, and I am a little overwhelmed. I have raised and released many bst, gst, and pst so far and have dozens of cats, I have been blessed this season. I will post pics when I can. If anyone has tips and or pics on I would be much obliged.

Greetings - love the images - especially that last one from Dale. HA! Wandering around the backyard - I'd be dumbstruck to see them settling in like that here.

I'm not seeing bigger leps but a lot of moths lately increasing and tons of pollinators which is still a lot of fun. I also garden for wildlife - my BF paid me the ultimate compliment last weekend and told me my garden looked like a powerline easement. :)

I also had to tear open a datura that had closed - there were 3 honeybees trapped in that flower buzzing.

Keep up the good work!

and for folks in water restrictions and drought - I am all sympathy - have you thought about using gray water for your plants?

Russell ....cool web "x marks the spot I guess".
Dale.....Wonderful site, didn't realize they roosted communially! LOL! I don't have that many, but 4-6 a day is a lot for me. DH keeps saying I think there is a Monarch out there, then I have to go see the Queen. LOL!
Nanny....So sorry about the drought conditions there, we feel your flustration since that was us last year.
Viceroy....Good to know you are hooked on helping out the bfs!
Amanda....They were desprately trying to nectar to the last minute I guess. My poor Daturas looked like I had broken a stalk this afternoon, but then we had a rain storm move in and dropped 1/2 inch of cooling much needed rain. I am sure I will have some blooms tonight.

Was deadheading today including a giant dill which had gone to seed. I realized there might be bugs on the dill so I laid it down on in the bed with the the rest of the dill. Later today I found an almost full-grown BST cat on that dill plant. LOTS of skippers and moths today. I think we saw a yellow swallowtail on the wing too on its way out of the yard. I think we're ramping up. :)

Saw ONE cabbage white today. so sad.

speaking of drought, I found this graphic interesting.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/07/20/us/drought-footprint.html?ref=earth

I am doing my rain dance for all of you dealing with that nasty drought. Bugga wugga wugga hi de hi de hi de ho, roll in clouds and let it flow!!!

Ok please help, what do I do when a cat is pupating and drops down from his stick?

Did the cat. transform completely into a chrysalis like this Viceroy? Mine I allow them to crawl up to the side of the cage/or mesh like pavillon to spin their silk. I rarely have seen them fall off. Should one falls. I'd wait until their transformation is done. Then I would use a piece of paper towel roll up into a scoop, then scoop the chrysalis up and place it onto a dill's inflorescent if available. This way when it ecloses it has something to cling on and dry its wings. My set- up allow them to hang on to the wall of the cage and dry their wings without any problem.