Yay! They are coming back!
DAILY PICTURES #107
Russell, that's a Beautiful shot!
Thanks nutsaboutnature!
I got a couple of shots of what I believe to be a Texan Crescent, but I am having trouble uploading pics right now. I will try to upload later. I have never seen one of these in my yard.
Russell
I was really feeling like the butterflies had abandoned me and then this skipper reassured me that all is ok and we're still friends.
Hmm....here are the pics of the Texan Crescent...not sure why it wasn't working, but seems to be fixed now.
Russell
Here's the friendly skipper
Russell, really nice above and below shots of the crescent. A beautiful black crescent that can stray northward. Hopefully a visit to my backyard.
memays, I didn't realize that the Silver spotted skipper was so friendly. Usually when they see me they light out in the opposite direction. Of course I've been know to make babies cry.
What a fantastic experience that you had.
Russell - very pretty pics of the Texan Crescent! What type of plant is that? Those long tubular blooms look like they'd be great for hummers as well.
Memays - that is sooo cool! It's also special that you were able to get a picture. Something to look back at in the middle of winter.
memays--That little guys is usually so fast it doesn't slow down for pics. They use my cannas as a host.
Russell-- Wonderful shot! Is that a Fire Spike? or Fire Bush? I had one of those but lost it.
The plant is called a firecracker bush. I have both the red and yellow variety. I received them in a trade from a DG'er overseas and they have grown to gigantic proportions! If anyone is interested in one, let me know. I can pull one or two up. The hummers love them. I haven't seen many BF's on them, but this one was just hanging out.
The plant file link is below.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1334/
Russell
I have that in the red form. It's pretty common in Houston if someone wants some, let me know.
Thanks for the info, Russell and steadycam!
I'd love to grow some of that for the hummers. What a shame it's not hardy in my zone. I guess I could try growing some in a pot. Do either of you remember if it bloomed the first year?
Very nice pics ; We get the silver spotted skippers here only not the Texas Crescent ,, A rare treat the pic's are for us !!! nice !!!
Nearest we get to plants like that here , Big healthy Cardinal Flowers , giant Salvia ,
and such ,, (house plants )
All Quiet on the Butterfly front here
Had this little sulfur (? I think) visit
Visited Cherokee Prairie near Charleston Arkansas today. Lots of wildflowers and numerous American Ladies and Buckeyes. But my favorite was the Gorgone Checkerspots. A couple was busy on Coreopsis creating the next generation.
Last week I noted some Red Wasp on a sweet gum sapling but I got fooled by these mimics. I was even concerned that I would get stung. A clearwing moth. Really!!! Doll's Clearwing moth.
Ca Ivy, THAT is a MOTH!??!! good grief! Nature is just too clever! I am not crazy for wasps, but I leave them alone and hope they will leave me alone. I get tons of Catalpa caterpillars, ( on the Catalpa trees in the yard) and that draws the wasps that lay eggs in the caterpillars. I have not seen them on any of my butterfly caterpillars, perhaps the catalpa cats keep them busy.
On a nice note, I found a small stand of milkweed near a local dollar store, and I hope to find caterpillars later on. My own Mw's are budding...tuberosa(actually in flower) and Incarnata. Curassavica is doing well and my single syriaca seedling is going in the ground today, it has about 5 leaves. I am hoping it will lead to a nice patch of syriaca in coming years.
Oh I saw a fritillary of some kind yesterday. No others lately.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a local nursery and made an apple bushel butterfly basket. It contained pentas, lantanas, milkweeds and agastaches. I have seen numerous butterflies on it, but found a monarch caterpillar in it this morning.
First pic is the basket and the second is the cat.
shauna, love the apple barrel butterfly garden. I have plenty of plants and flowers in my jungle but I think I have room for this addition.
By the was scarletbean, you reminded me of a vacation that I took with my wife to Cove Lake park in northern TN in our younger days. Being a fishing nutt, I noticed on the way several large Catalpa trees with caterpillars which I collected in a styrofoam bucket for fishing. The next morning we noticed that our room was full of large fat Catalpa cats. We quickly collected as many as we could and headed out for breakfast. The next door neighbor was standing outside and was ranting and raving about the worm invasion of his room during the night. "Wow!" I stated , "Wonder where they came from since there are no Catalpa trees here." The innocence of youth. The fishing was lousy but we will always remember our Tennessee cat vacation.
The first Giant Swallowtail eclosed this morning after just 12 days in the chrysalis...that was a surprise. Now, one out and seven to go. Host plant was Choisya ternata...all pupated and made chrysalises in the garden with only their DNA to guide them. Here are a couple of pre flight photos of this morning's new butterfly.
Congrats vitrsna on the new addition to nature. Giant ST's are gorgeous and occasionally one will stray all the way to central AR.
One of the monarchs that I was rearing eclosed today also. I think it was a female and after a period of exercising her wings, she caught the wind and soared over the backyard fence.
Hopefully the remaining monarch will eclose tomorrow.
It looks like a female to me CA...a real beauty.
Beautiful shots, everyone!
Ivy, those clearwing moths are amazing! Also, congrats on your new Monarch!
Love your basket, shauna and, apparently, so do the butterflies...congrats on the new resident!
Congrats on the your new Giant Swallowtail, vitrsna! He or she is gorgeous!
This message was edited Jun 5, 2014 7:44 PM
Pardon me for getting excited but it's a boy. The second monarch eclosed this morning and appears healthy and ready to fly northward..
It's a BOY! O yes congratulations CA! I know how dismayed i am when the brood is all female or all male. Maybe the female from yesterday will stay around to leave some eggs as a farewell gift for you. Have you seen the mating ritual?...so lovely, around and around in the air. I had another Giant Swallowtail eclose this morning as well. I expected 2 to eclose but the 2nd one is apparently waiting until tomorrow. I haven't figured out how to know a male from a female GST, but i guess i need to find this out very soon.
Go ahead, get excited!!! That is something to celebrate. We celebrate with you.
Ooh, congrats...again, Ivy and vitrsna!
Very pretty pics, Ivy. In fact the first one in your last post would make a lovely calendar page!
These are some Great !!! Happening Now !!! Stories ,,,, ^_^
The Butterflies and Moth News ! ,, I love it ...
Love Giant Swallowtails. I haven't really had one in the yard (that I know of) for 3 seasons at least. I see one once in a while elsewhere. Must be short of host plants around here.
How are the zinnia's coming along Juhur?
Mrs_Ed Next week the blooms begin !!! Little Blue Hairstreaks , A silver Spotted Skipper , Cabbage White or Spotted White , browsing through the past couple of days ,
Can't wait to see the show. It's gonna be good, Juhur.
For the last month I have Monarchs laying eggs every day. Nothing but Monarchs though. Don't know where the spice bush crew is. No Gulf frits either.
Regarding the Giant Swallowtails and knowing the difference between the males and the females, i've discovered that on the upper wing (dorsal view) the female GST has a black spot in the 3rd yellow oval. The third yellow oval on the male GSTs is solid yellow. Here is a dorsal view of the Wednesday GST showing that it is a female. Unfortunately, i did not get dorsal views of the Thursday and Friday GSTs, but in this group, there will be a Saturday or Sunday GST as well.
That is an interesting good to know , ^_^
I see one or two of those a season usually .
I was inspecting my Dutchman's Pipevine this morning and found a lot of different caterpillars. I believe they are all Pipevine Swallowtails.
Shauna
If only it was that easy to tell a male Giant Swallowtail from a female. I saw this method posted somewhere else online recently. However, it is not accurate as it is not a consistent method. I have specimens in my collection of males with a dark spot on the third lunale and some without. Males typically have broader bands of yellow than females, but that's a tricky thing to be able to tell while in flight, and there's always the occasional female with a broader than normal band of yellow.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
I still have these ;
Red Admiral
I keep trying for the little Blue Azure , their camera shy ..
I forgot to say ; a large Mourning Cloak did a fly by earlier this morning ,
This message was edited Jun 6, 2014 4:04 PM
Shauna...i believe you have yourself some Polydamas Swallowtail (Battus polydamas) caterpillars there. If they are not Polydamas Swallowtail caterpillars, they look exactly them. I live in the middle of a major breeding ground for these swallowtails and have had literally thousands of them coming through my garden over the years so i know them very well. The host plant is aristolochia and these butterflies would be found in the southern most part of the US where you live. They will become quite large caterpillars (not to mention adorable, imho) and beautiful butterflies. Congratulations!
By the way, the chrysalises can be green or brown. I will look for some photos and post them here.
Thanks for the information about the Giant Swallowtails, Lepfarmer. Silly me for believing it would be that easy to distinguish the male from the female. I can't remember where on the web i found this information about the 3rd cell but i usually am careful about using credible sources. Ah me, :-)
Shauna...here are some Polydamas photos.
The first one is a Polydamas caterpillar
The second are 2 P. caterpillars at different instars. The one on the bottom is just about ready to pupate.
Third is a green chrysalis
Fourth is a mature chrysalis and the butterfly inside is just about to eclose. You can see some wing pattern, that the "nose" and "little feet" and "ears" are empty. At this stage the chrysalis is fairly transparent and i expect the butterfly will eclose within 4-5 minutes.
Thank you for posting that vit. I have pipevine for the first time so I might get some cats and I will know what to look for.