Great pics. Russell and shorthog, please keep them pics. coming. Pollengarden, thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm hanging in there, and will enjoy the pics. from those that share them here.
At the mean time, I just dug up a A. tuberosa (our native MW). I inadvertently chopped its large chunk of the tap roots off for I've had no idea the tuber is that large. I hope it will survive the transplant. Common Monarch, I've other MWs in the garden awaiting. lol
Daily Butterfly Pix, #102
Well, hopefully DG will get the photo thing fixed soon but for now here's some thumbnails of pics I took today. First is a Zebra Longwing that had a torn wing. Second is a Long-Tailed Skipper. Third is a picture you really need to see full size to appreciate. There's a Gulf Frit, Duskywing, and an orange-colored skipper all on the one coneflower plant. The coneflowers are turning out to be a great investment for the butterfly garden! Fourth is a Duskywing that was a lighter brown than all the others. I'll have to get my books out for ID. I usually get Horace's or Juvenal's Duskywings. Finally, I had to take a picture of this Long-Tailed Skipper sitting on my butterfly flag.
Well, DG just logged me out for some strange reason. Anyway, I have some good news to share with everyone. I was walking the yard and decided to check my Sweetbay tree since I hadn't checked in it a while. I saw this scary green bug sitting on top of a leaf (picture 1). I've seen these guys before but I don't know what they are. I kept looking up and I saw a shadow moving on one of the leaves. It looked like a caterpillar so I bent down the branch and on top of the leaf I found - a Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar! My Sweetbay worked to bring them in. Well, just one. I looked all over the tree and only found one caterpillar (I blame the scary green bug). That tree cost me $60 but it's worth it to provide food for a pretty butterfly.
I have only ever had Tiger STs once before and that's when I was on vacation in WV a few years ago. I made a big mistake leaving them in the car while we went into the Fenton Glass factory and they overheated and died. Never leave any living thing in a hot car is the lesson learned there!
Look forward to many more pictures as my baby Tiger ST grows up!
Melanie
Hah, two things. First I think that scary looking green bug was about to devour you little precious ST 'pillar. Second, Your ST 'pillar is soooo cute! And it has a mimic pair of eyes like that of a spicebush larva. Thanks Melanie for sharing that experience.
Scary green bug is getting the rain poured on it right now. I'm glad I discovered the little cat when I did! I think he was in some serious danger. I like their eyespots, too. Very cool and even cuter as they get bigger!
Edited to say that they got the photo thing fixed and you guys took some great shots! Love that Bordered Patch; we don't get those down here. We also don't get Silvery Checkerpots which is good because I can't tell them from the Crescents, LOL! And I still love that Juniper Hairstreak. Green butterflies are cool!
Melanie
This message was edited Jul 3, 2013 2:38 PM
Standing offer:
I will send rain in trade to whomever sends me caterpillars. I could be persuaded to trade for butterflies.
No expiration date. Offer not transferable.
Most sincerely,
Amanda M. Willis, Esq.
I don't see many green Butterflies ,, moths yes though ..
Amanda ; nice offer ; Only I have ponds of water I can trade ...another time maybe ..
I had to wait for the rain to stop so I could go get food for the Giant Swallowtails. I was picking rue, and the Black ST fairy visited me again as I had about six eggs on the plant. I brought them inside, of course. Here's a couple of caterpillar pics. First, one of my Black STs made his sling. They're all getting really big and plowing through the parsley Mom bought. Then, I took a picture of one of the Giant STs while I had them out. I love how they look wet when they aren't. Adds to the whole "we look like poop" effect, LOL!
Melanie
heh. i had never seen that before last spring when I found the first red spotted purple casing. It looked just like a giant bird turd hanging from my weather station. Perfect! Who would want to eat a giant turd? Except maybe my dog. ack.
I must say I'm getting P.O.ed with the rain.
It's going to have the same effect on monarch population as any drought. Someone post pretty pictures please. I'm having a dark moment. :/
Sorry. I have sun, but no butterflies. Tomorrow is my survey day, so maybe i'll have something nice then.
Thanks for the ID again Dale. I have trouble with the little ones! I can generally recognize that I have never seen one before, but that's about it.
Great pics Shorthog and Melanie.
Amanda...I would gladly accept your rain offer...we are still VERY dry around here. Luckily, I have gotten rid of most of my yard in favor of plants that need very little water. I will post some pictures today if I have some willing subjects.
Happy 4th!
Russell
Found this Tersa Sphinx moth caterpillar that has been attacked by a Braconid wasp. The wasp lays eggs just under the caterpillars skin and the wasp larvae then feed on nonessential tissue. Once grown, they burrow out of the caterpillar (which is still alive, but not for long) and make these little white cocoons. In a few days, a whole new batch of Braconid wasps will be on the wing. The caterpillar will be dead by that time.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Awesome photo! Too bad for the moth...but that's nature. Thanks for sharing. Russell
GFs were plentiful this morning!
GF on Pride of Barbados
Queens on Mistflower
Skipper and shadow
GF on Duranta
I am still out stalking :) ...more later.
Russell
I saw a BST fly by yesterday while I was on the computer and had this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail this morning!! This only the second one I have seen this year!!
Beauties!
Queens sure do seem to like mistflower; I've seen so many pictures of them on it. That skipper looks like a little airplane ready to take off, LOL! Nice Tiger ST, Nan! Look at it all up in that lily!
I went to the movies this morning (saw "Man of Steel"; it was good) and apparently it rained while I was in there. Mom let two Zebra Longwings go while I was gone but there was a third one waiting for me when I got home. It's the first picture. Then, I finally got a good shot of that little orange skipper that's been hanging around. The Duskywings are still loving the coneflowers although one of my coneflowers is looking a little anemic. Maybe too much rain? I hate to spray it with fungicide or anything although I have some organic stuff that might be okay. It's really the leaves underneath that look bad so maybe I could just spray the base of the plant and not the flowers. Hmmm...anyway, the fourth picture is a Zebra Longwing I caught on the firebush. I've got Zebra Longwings everywhere! Not that I'm complaining. And finally, I caught a Gulf Frit in a rare moment of stillness resting on one of my bromeliads.
Melanie
Nice variety Mel.
Got a few more shots...just too hot to be out there right now! I spent some time chasing the little guys around the yard.
Gray? Hairstreak
Variegated Fritillary
PVST
Little? Yellow
Reakirt's? blue
Lots of activity today.
Russell
Nice pictures Russell! I got a few today; luckily, I just came inside because it started pouring the rain.
First is a Gulf Fritillary. Second is one of those Duskywings that have been all over the coneflowers. Then, I spotted a Gray Hairstreak on the coneflower! Then, one of the Zebra Longwings I released today.
Here's some more fun photos...
Found one of those Wooly Bears over where the Greenbriar is tangled in with my Passion Vine. Then, I spotted another rogue Gulf Frit chrysalis. This one is way down the fence from where the passion vine ends. That caterpillar really wandered! Then, the Zebra Longwing decided my foot was a good place to land. Finally, I got a couple pictures of multiple butterflies on the coneflowers.
Melanie
I was wondering how close you folks got to take the photos?
Is your telephoto lens or your stalking technique?
I don't think I can count on a butterfly landing on my foot, then holding still with its wings spread!
Well, that one had just been released and it couldn't fly real well yet. I was trying to place it on a plant when it decided it didn't want that and headed for my foot instead. I think my camera has a 10x zoom (I can't remember). Mainly, I've gotten really good at stalking. And some of these butterflies (on the coneflowers especially) are just all up in that nectar and don't even mind me!
Happy Birthday pollengarden!
Melanie
Well, I went out to get the mail and a Spicebush ST showed up on the plumbago. Swallowtails love the plumbagos! This one appears to be a female as it has more of the blue on the lower wings whereas males look more silvery or almost greenish.
Melanie
My camera has 20x zoom but I was probably only about 3-4 feet away.
hey hey, I can finally join the party. Here's a regal fritillary. Not too common east of the Mississippi. You usually only find them on quality prairies/restorations because of their arrow leaf violet host plant. The site I have to monitor has many of them. So…
Whoa! Mrs. Ed. That gorgeous (both the butterfly and the flower) Is that a type of MW? I want them both. lol
Yes, that's a Regal Fritillary on a common milkweed! The smell from those flowers is heavenly. This is the one that farmers don't like to plant because of the way it spreads by underground roots. But we don't care about them, do we. Ha! Says the girl from a long line of farmers.
That is a beautiful Fritillary! And I like to think of myself as a butterfly farmer. Milkweed is just one of my many crops, LOL!
Melanie
July 6th, and I've yet to see my 1st monarch. Raised a few BST, and there are a lot of cabbage whites around but that's it. Lots of nice looking milkweed waiting for them. Spend about 1/2 hour a day looking for eggs but nothing doing.
Gorgeous, Gorgeous, Gorgeous everybody!!!
I have two quick questions:
1) nanny, what kind of Lily is that middle pic with the ETS on it? It's beautiful!!
2 Marna (and anyone else that may have this book), I am about to order the Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America that you recommended last year. It comes with either a vinyl cover or paperback cover (prices are almost the same). I assumed the vinyl would hold up longer, but I'm curious which one most of you use.
Thanks!
Mine is vinyl. and yes, that's why I got vinyl. inside pages are glossy, which I assume helps with any dirt/water that may get on it in the field. Truly though, I don't usually have it in the field because I don't net butterflies as I'm terrible at it. So I get a picture if I can and review at home with the book.
Thanks!! That was my thought, too, about vinyl. Most any ID I try to do will be from pictures as well.
So far Butterflies have been scarce here, but I keep hoping. Echinacea, Monarda and Rudbeckia are all starting to bloom so we'll see if that helps.
Also hoping to make a trip to a Butterfly Habitat this year.
Hi Bruce, long time no type. ^_^ Whoa, you've BST larvae, are they from last year overwintered or current brood for the season? That's better than us down here in the South. What I mostly see out in the garden are caterpillars predators such as wasps, tichnid fly and spiders. I'm so blue about that. Looks as if mother nature knows best. And I am praying for a change out there. Only saw RSP every now and then, and an occasional Tiger Swallotail, few woodnyphs, and Grey Hairstreak, Silver-spotted skippers. Not many Sulphers either, in years past, the Sulphers will be abundant while I waited for other bfs.
Marna, I'm going to transplant some of those common MW into containers and hopefully I'll see some of those heavenly smelling, pretty flowers. I planted one in the front garden several years ago, but there isn't enough sun for them to flourish.
In previous years, when these flowers in bloom, there were all kind of Swallows bf. visiting them. This year? None, zip, nadda. :((
A few pictures from today...
1. Phaeon Crescent on verbena
2. Duskywing face first in a coneflower
3. Gulf Frit on coneflower (right before another Gulf Frit did a fly by and they went swirling aorund in the air at each other)
4. Zebra Longwing I released (it's wing got stuck to the side of the container but I'm hoping it'll straighten out and be ok)
5. A very bad Black ST who built his sling on another chrysalis. This happens sometimes. I guess if it's a good place for the first caterpillar, it's a good place for other caterpillars.
Melanie
Congrats Marna!!!!
NAN.....that lily is Red Dutch
Nice pics Melanie!
Thanks, nanny!!
One more for today...I was out picking food for the little cats and headed over to my Sweetbay tree. I found scary green bug again and this time I squished him. Platform sandals are great for that, LOL! Anyway, on my way out the door I noticed this little butterfly sitting on one of my bromeliads. I ran back in to get my camera (and the battery that was charging). Turns out I have a Red-Banded Hairstreak. As you all have seen I've been getting Gray Hairstreaks but this is the first Red-Banded I've seen in quite a while. He was looking a little worse for wear, too. Hopefully, there's a pair of them out there making little caterpillars so I can see more!
Melanie
Melanie, is that guy super-tiny or are those huge leaves? Great pics, BTW!!
Hairstreaks are pretty tiny but my bromeliad does have large leaves so I guess it's both, LOL!
Melanie