Exciting news!
DAILY PICTURES # 106
Wonderful to watch the youngsters grow ,,, remember,, as said.. good nutrition is important ... lol ^_^
Sweet!
Russell
got some portraits today. fuzzy as always
1. the largest one at 9/16"
2 and 4 smaller, hatched later
3 one of the two youngest
Im not sure if 5 is the same as one but it may be.
They seem to be growing faster now.
STEADYCAM3 ; Pre--tty ,, thank you !!!^_^
What kind of Milkweed is that ? looks different to me ..
Ju, it is A. curassavica. It is just coming back from the 10 cats I reared earlier and who ate my 10 plants down to the stems. All of mine are about like this, just the beginnings of a come back. I know when the cats get larger, I will run out of food but as I posted earlier, rouxcrew is about an hour away and she has some mw in her green house. I have alerted her that me and my cats will come begging at some point. This is the first time Ive ever brought Monarchs inside. I just hope I dont screw up.
5 of my 6 are over an inch now. The last one to hatch is about a half inch. Photos soon.
More good news!
You never know what you will find when pruning a Senecio confusus (Mexican Flame Vine) high up on a ladder. This appears to be a Yellow Angled-Sulphur (Anteos maerula) male so it wouldn't be ovipositing for that reason and also because the host plants are Sennas. He stayed long enough for me to retrieve the camera from inside. He flew about a bit which gave me the opportunity to see the upper wings which are yellow. The females are off-white above. He is very much the same as the photos i used for an ID, but if anyone has other ideas regarding the identity i would be happy to hear them. This is a very large sulphur. :-)
Wow! That is a gorgeous sulphur. Ive never seen one except in photos.
Here are some photos today of my caterpillars. I tried to get a shot of each one of them and only one turned out decent. If anyone can tell me what Im doing or not doing, I would really appreciate it. It's a point and shoot. All 6 are alive and doing well but I only have photos of 4.
I 've seen sulphurs here , bump , to that though.
Bump , point & shoot , but it is always the distance of auto focus ,,..
Hey I love the Baby pictures .. beauties ,,, but they will grow up to be Monarchs , not Queens ,,,lol
Steady...you too can have Sulphurs if you add a Senna plant to your garden space. Sennas will do nicely in zone 9a. They are also attracted by the red hibiscus for nectar.
It is hard to tell what the focus problem is with your camera without seeing what you are doing and what settings you are using. I you are going to visit a DGer for Asclepias leaves, perhaps you can show him or her what settings you use, etc and they will probably give you some ideas of what to try for better photos. Maybe you can do some practice shots while you are there.
I can tell you are really loving those caterpillars. Me too, i adore them and their ways. The Sulphurs also have super cute caterpillars.
Thanks vitrsna. I really dont like to bring the cats inside so they have to depend on me. I trust Mother Nature more than I do myself. It got really cold here though and I was afraid they would not make it outside. Ive started to worry also about the lizards and anoles of which I have lots. I think they ate a lot of baby cats before I realized they were doing it. Im wondering what to do when they start wandering around looking for a place to pupate. What kind of things would attract them at that stage?
Edited to say I found a thread describing how to use the laundry hamper which I will do.
This message was edited Jan 7, 2014 7:52 PM
Sulphers here use alfalfa and clover , they are clouded and yellow with black trim also ..
Cloudless use the senna , only a few have I seen
I will plant some Alfalfa , buckwheat and continue looking at the clover a while ..
Besides the Nettle , Snapdragons , and those mustard plants , I don't see many larvae ,
Well fennel and Swallowtail .. always those ..
I agree with you steady about the raising of caterpillars...they know how to be caterpillars a lot better than we do. I do bring caterpillars (various species) in from time to time, mostly as a rescue mission and usually no more than 2 or 3 at one time. I am not set up to raise caterpillars in the house, personally don't like the idea of cages, and always take them outside a few days before they are scheduled to leave the chrysalis so they can be "born free" as they say. I put each caterpillar in an individual large bowled glass with a stem. I line the glass with clean non-cloroxed cotton handkerchiefs that overhang the edge of the glass. Daily i bring them food. I have found that the Monarchs have always pupated on their glass or handkerchief so having them running around the house at night and looking for a place to pupate has not been a problem for me with the Monarchs. i do put a stick held by a glass or small plant close to the glass just in case, but they have never used it. The Giant Swallowtails on the other hand will appear very docile, but they do run around the house looking for just the right place. Then i have to find them. I found one that had made a chrysalis on the tile floor underneath the sofa and another one underneath an occasional table. In this case i wait for a few days after they have made the chrysalis (to avoid trauma), remove them, reattach them to a stick using string being mindful to give them enough space to exit successfully, take the stick outside and put in in the earth underneath a plant (i.e. not a nectar or host plant). This method has always been successful for me. I can't guess how your Monarchs will be as they pupate but this has been my experience.
Vitrsna that is a beauty. Looked more like a leafwing of some sort to me. But anyway, stunning.
Yay Steady. Glad to see the sextuplets are doing well. :D
Hi Mrs. Ed...It is a unique shape for a Sulphur. I found an identical photo in Jeffrey Glassberg's "Butterflies of Mexico and Central America". It was very pretty flying with the green underneath and the yellow on top...not as big as a White Morpho, but big. I hope it's starting to warm up some for you. :)
Marty- digitals have to be told where to focus or they center past where you are looking. Get you a sheet of paper that wont glare out the cats colors, and place behind the cats when you shoot. Diffused light- like a small led flashlite would probably assist. The sulphurs came to the red salvias and that tough salvia I have as well...
Kitt, that makes a lot of sense with what is happening. When I hold the shutter down halfway, the camera auto focuses but it always goes past the point where the image is clear. I see it do it but did not know what to do about it. I'll try the sheet of paper. Thanks a million.
No white paper Marty, as it will glare. Perhaps set the plant in front of a piece of material. Also take your time and back off a bit more, you can always crop and enlarge later. Concentrate on a leaf at the same depth as the cat is. Practice, practice, practice. Point and shoots are great cameras just take more patience.
A good way tell distance is to use your hand , and I still don't always get that right either ,
for instance two in focus one out on 105 pic's thread ,
Seeds and tiny things I use the paper for ;
A dime on a white piece of typing or notebook paper ,; tells you focus distance ,, difficult, still but with a digital cam it's not that big a thing , A Cool Pix , is what I have now . and I am still a little slow with light and focus settings . Before I was a DS and a key chain camera , it is still difficult but shooting a dime or penny is good practice .. it helps ,, really , at least some ..
I think the thing with P/S macro settings is that you need to experiment in a controlled setting to see how close or far you can get with your camera and/or lens extension. My Panasonic Lumix Macro (flower icon) setting lets you get ridiculously close to the subject. And when you are that close, you really can't focus on anything else but the caterpillar in front of you. Also, make sure that you check your "internal settings" while you are in that close up mode. I have three different settings for close up (food, flowers, objects). Those probably have more to do with exposure than focus though.
Also, check to see if you have any settings for Auto Focus. These are likely available under settings other than "Auto." These may be set on face recognition, center focus, all over focus, etc. depending on your camera.
I had problems once with the focus area picking up on the closest object or moving each shot. That is something that needs to be set on the camera as Mrs Ed said.
I agree with everything said here in the past three or four posts ,, but then , I am still trying to understand movie option , motion use of mine , not real good with gadgets here , you know lol
Kids make me feel like an imbecile ,with these things , and about the time I understand what I am doing .. something breaks or something happens and the I have to learn to use another ..
It does ...lol
Ok, I need an id on cat I found in parsley- doesn't match what I remember as southern army worms, but don't know what else it might be
Cross -Striped Cabbage Moth ?
I'm not good at doing links
Cross-Striped Cabbage Worm | UMass Amherst Vegetable Program
extension.umass.edu - 3072 × 3072 - Search by image
Cross-Striped Cabbage Worm. Formally restricted to the South, this insect is ...
AS Said ; another try '
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&ved=0CFMQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fextension.umass.edu%2Fvegetable%2Finsects%2Fcross-striped-cabbage-worm&ei=oTDPUq-2IIfK2wWkroHYCg&usg=AFQjCNGeInG9Lum533p6agd3vR8gWgVhSg&bvm=bv.59026428,d.b2I
This message was edited Jan 9, 2014 7:31 PM
you did it juhur!
and don't forget about this site:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/sighting_details/918786
Wrong color, posted on bugstuff forum, still think its an armyworm...
Allright Kitt ; Same diff ,If their on anything you want .
Mrs_Ed ; Thanks for the confidence builder , !!! lol Only someone has to be difficult ,,lol
My Granny . oh yuck !!! "I am not a worm person" lol
Well from me ,, "oh goody !!! lots of green worms"! ^_^
Mrs_Ed , I go to that link and site you suggested often , That is a long time favorite of mine ..When it first started and was not copyrighted to begin with , I printed a Butterfly handbook for use from there , A great site ,, thank you again ,,,^_^
This message was edited Jan 9, 2014 9:26 PM
Well, they do behave like they are all starving- and theres only one, not dozens... chuckle. I am keeping your id as well as a few others for checking further. Like Granny, I wasn't happy to see a worm on my parsley, but wondered why he wasn't on the collards instead...the turnip greens do have a few little round holes, and I see a few snail shells and pillbugs when its warm. Amazing how they thaw out and come back to life. I know the dirt was frozen a good 3" deep at least. I like that Butterfly link as well, have it saved like BugGuide, its just that its JANUARY, enough studying today- time for other things...ummm, difficult doesn't even begin to cover my aries ram horns....
Good photography tips, Mrs. Ed and Sheila. Thanks for those.
I have the bf ID book, "Field Guide to Butterflies of North America". Any other recommendations?
Saw a Zebra Longwing in the yard today.
Cville_Gardener, Kaufman's "Field Guide to Butterflies of North America" is the only BF ID guide that I use. It has typical and variations in appearance of species as well as location. The location maps really help one to focus on butterflies in their area.
If I need additional information I usually go to either " Butterflies of America" http://butterfliesofamerica.com/ or "Butterflies and Moths of North America" http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/. Bugguide.net also has many images of butterfly adults and caterpillars as well as Dave's Garden Bugfiles..
Ditto to the Kaufman's. I like it because the images are on the left side and the info on the right side.
Oops. reverse that. Images on right and info on left.
This message was edited Jan 12, 2014 8:20 AM
Here are the Houston sextuplets today. I took some of the advice given and my photos are !better. I never knew how much these little guys eat! I got the only two plants a nursery near me had and they ripped thru those in 24 hours. I went to a nursery farther away today and they are munching on that now.
#1 twins, poop and circumstance
#2 Chompa-lysee
#3 Manga-rita
#4 twins, tweedle-dup and tweedle down
LoL !!! Steady those names .
All looking good ,, great even !!!
and I see you have gotten that in focus also !!!^_^
Nice Thank you !!!
Big improvement on the photos Steady! Poop and Circumstance...very clever and ain't it the truth!
Thanks everyone for the photog tips. It really helped. Also thanks for the recommends on the field guide. I ordered myself one. All I had was the one for local butterflies.
Thanks, Mrs. Ed and Shorthog. I like the guide and use it often.