DAILY PICTURES # 109

New thread and we came from http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1366183/.

Lovely male Pipevine Swallowtail nectaring butterfly bush flowers in the backyard. I do need to get me a pipevine for the ladies.

Gorgeous from above too.

C_A_ Ivy Those are absolutely Gorgeous pic's !!!Very rare those are here .. Thank you for the look , Hardly any SWT BF's here this year ..

Here's these besides a Couple Monarchs , visitors today
Silver spotted skipper on bull thistle
Painted Lady on bull thistle and Zinnia
A very beat up looking Eastern Black Swallowtail ,( large ..
Oh well pic three and four are oops ! it happens ..

All I had to do was say type I had not seen hardly any SWT's and one appears . lol ^_^

This message was edited Aug 15, 2014 2:53 PM

Thank you CA for the new thread. I was just about to do the same with a White Peacock (Anarita jatrophae). I took a top view and then she wanted her profile view as well. The Banded Peacocks have also been hanging around for awhile now.

Appropriately sitting on an Jatropha multifida

This message was edited Aug 15, 2014 5:50 PM

Great pictures on the last thread everyone! When winter comes and I get to feeling trapped by the cold I just go back a few threads and revisit the wonderful world of spring -fall!

This one is getting off with a bang, thanks CAIvy and Juhur!
Ivy (question in prev. thread) the time is usually around an hour or so. I leave them until they start crawling around in the top of the cage before releasing them.

And your pics are great as well Vitrsna, we cross posted!

This message was edited Aug 15, 2014 6:15 PM

I adore the pipeline CA ivy - I want one of those!!!

BCH, jeez! what a lovely line up! You are becoming a monarch factory!
Vitrsna, that is such a pretty butterfly, is it as large as it looks in the pic? I figured about the size of a tigerstripe ST.

I am still in love with my baby monarch caterpillars. I have had another visit from a male monarch, and I found new eggs so I must have missed another female. I looked at my pictures from last year and realized that it WAS late in the summer when monarchs came. They seem to coincide with my MW getting covered with yellow aphids. Now that the joe pye weed is in full glory, I have several bfs throughout the day, tigerstripe STs, pipevine sts, red spotted purples,monarchs and skippers galore! joe pye beats out even the buddleia for BF action!
The pipevine I got recently is still alive, although I feared it was a goner for a month. It dropped the few leaves it had and just looked altogether sad. Earlier this week I saw a new leaf and this morning another leaf. I MUST make decisions on where to put some new additions : spicebush and pawpaw tree. I have left them potted for too long now and they need to get going in the ground and get situated before winter.
My camera is truly DEAD! I would be sad except that this is an opportunity to get a new one!
I have learned so much here on DG that I can make decisions about features i never would have known. Thanks all!
Old pics, but wishing for a repeat of the first one. :

You know one of the most interesting things about this thread is seeing how we all get different types and numbers of butterflies in different regions. Scarlet I have similar plants that need homes but haven't gotten much monarch activity. I would love to see monarchs and get more swallowtail of any variety. As we get into autumn and the heat diminishes enough for fall planting I'd love to hear what tweaks, adds, or subtracts you'll make to your gardens and which plants worked best. For me butterfly bush and tropical milkweed seem to be the biggest draws - not the purple coneflower or the joe pye which I thought would be of interest. Good thing of course is milkweed produces so many seeds I can keep expanding that patch. But at the same time I read butterfly bush is becoming invasive and that we should use native not tropical milkweed. Go figure....

This message was edited Aug 17, 2014 7:53 AM

My biggest Butterfly draws are
Annual Zinnia
Laeve , milkweed vine ,invasive .
Milkweed Syrica
And Bull thistle .. Nuisance weed to most ..
Host plants
Queen anne's lace When I get enough Dill and Fennel they are a good one as always
Syrica Milkweed
Wild Mustard ..
Nettle

Bee Favorites
Wild aster
Catnip Cabbage Whites feed and roost at night in this also ,
Agastache
Syrica Milkweed
Autumn Clematis
Hollyhocks
Beans ..
Hornets like a couple of these also , the Hornets are there everyday ,,,
Lots of Hornets and Wasps around here ,

We are still waiting to see some butterflies, I think this summer is wash out due to the hard winter. I hope the poplulations here can rebound. We head home to MD in a week so I know I will be seeing more there. Here are some from the last couple weeks here in MI.

The Fritillary is only the second one I have had on the property all summer. No butterflies on the Joe-Pye weed.

I love the idea of doing "golden oldies" in the winter when we can do some armchair gardening.

Scarletbean...The White Peacock does look larger than it really is in these photos. The wing span is generally from 2 - 2.8 inches (5.1 to 7cm). Here is a relative, the Banded Peacock (Anartia fatima), about the same size. This one is nectaring on the Asclepias. Both are common in this area.

Gasp. that's a pretty.

Indeed , those Tropical , Semi Tropical BF's We have to go to shows to see !

Thank you always ,, Very Nice !!!

There was a large Black Eastern SWT , I went to get the camera , the Black SWT was gone .
And this was there ..

A Giant Swallowtail ^_^
The place is over run with Skippers and Cabbage whites

J7, way up north, I love your Giant Swallowtail. Those pesky skippers and cabbage whites must like your menagerie of flowers, I do too.
Ottahand7, really nice hummer pics and the frit is a beauty. Although there has been numerous butterflies in west central Arkansas this summer, several species are missing which had been plentiful the last couple of years. No Gulf frits or Phaon crescents which I think last winter's unusual cold weather for this area likely affected.
However, this was the year for lots of Silver spotted skippers, tiger ST, American ladies, and a local AR., OK., TX. favorite, Bell's roadside skipper. Which is a small, dark but cute skipper. that hangs out near road edges, ditches and wet areas with river oats around. This one I spotted yesterday at a road edge near Christmas tree lake

Very nice J7, your beautiful mix of flowers, the zinnia, cosmos, those other yellow ones...all butterfly favorites and it is so pleasing to look at. I had a zinnia/cosmos combination going earlier this year and the butterflies loved it but it wasn't nearly as pretty as yours. Looks like you are having a banner year to make up for a miserable last year.

For those of you who enjoyed the Banded Peacock, i will tell a little story about one i encountered while waiting in line to attend a performance at a Univ. of Colima theater. The atrium of this oh so very modern theater is all glass and some steel with a high, high ceiling all sort of structurally peaked and vallied. It was early evening and still daylight. I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye that appeared to be on the woman's clothing who was standing in front of me. She was wearing a shawl with embroidered flowers on it. Oh, there it was again! It was a Banded Peacock butterfly. I mentioned it to the lady and was trying to encourage the BP to get on my hand. I didn't know how it would find its way out of that atrium and if it stayed on the shawl it would go into a darkened theater. Finally, the BP walked on to my hand. I started to carry it aloft toward the atrium door which was a at least a block away. All sorts of ooohs and aaaahs from the people waiting in line. I just hoped i could get it close to the doors. To my surprise it stayed on my hand until we were outside and didn't seem anxious to fly away. I pointed it toward some flowers and miscellaneous vegetation and away it flew. It was amazing to me that it stayed on my hand for so long. I think it must have felt safer being carried aloft.

Ya!!! Monarchs are back. saw several females nectaring road edge bone set and golden rod flowers.
All you folks up north did a wonderful job taking care and rearing monarchs this summer.

You all also ,, Virstna , your pics all always so nice also !!! as before , you show us bunches of BF's we may never get to see ,,
My garden ? is overgrown ,, Things like Bull Thistle (illegal now) Draw big numbers of Swallowtails, Finches , and Lady BF's When these come here , first plant they go to , Bull thistle .. Frits too ...
Zinnia are always a great fill , Bees even sleep all night on the Cosmos , Want to be the first there for breakfast ? lol

C_A_Ivy , Good to see them about your place ,!!! Their on the move and coming through ! Migration starts about now ,, ?

Steadycam ; Down south did a good job raising them for us northerners too . they were ready to start early, because of steady ...

Winter numbers will still be interesting this year .. hoping on ,

Need a little help with ID for this , At least two maybe more chewing on Milkweed? this morning .

This time of year every year ,,, help , purrrty.. pleeeeeease .......

Tussock Moth ,,, oh well //




This message was edited Aug 18, 2014 9:56 AM

juhur7, Milkweed tussock pillar is a beauty. http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/15502/

I just have to share this with people who will appreciate it, or I will burst.

I just spied a Giant Swallowtail in the garden. First sighting since 2010. Missed the picture though. Hope it comes back.

Wow Mrs Ed...very cool. They are always exciting to see, because they are so big and with those dramatic flashes of yellow and black. First one in 4 years! I didn't know they got that far north. Congratulations!!! Hope she will be back for her photo op, hope she will leave some eggs. Happy you told us the news, bursting can make such a mess.

Yippee Skippee, it returned (a few more times)!

I don't know why this is my favorite, probably because I don't get to see them often. Love how they flap those wings so fast, so easy to ID from far away!

And it's a female, Mrs. Ed, so start looking for those eggs.

Here's a shot of a female Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) ovipositing on White-veined Pipevine (Aristolochia fimbriata).

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

I have some Rue, so I can check that. Maybe there are some hop trees in the neighborhood.

Here's one from my garden today. She was enjoyed feeding on the lantana.

ottahand, I spoke to soon about the demise of Phaon crescents from the cold winter. My first Phaon of this season greeted me this morning only 3 feet from the back door and was busy nectaring kissme purslane. It was a little beat up but a welcome sight. Hopefully some Gulf frits will show up soon since I have several overgrown passion vines for their use.

Hello everyone - still no visitors. Although, it could perhaps me ME. I've spent so much time working on my schoolwork this summer I haven't spent much time outdoors.

Plenty of MW out there. No holes in leaves though.

scarlet, to answer you from the previous thread - I do not tolerate predators in my butterfly garden.
Spiders are relocated or commanded to disperse.
Cats have rocks and sticks thrown at them as do hawks.
Them's about as many predators i can think of. The cat has been neutered , but he still stays out at night. The man keeping the cat is not a man of means, is on disability, has a dog he can barely care for - oy - so i can't really put demands on him as he is not capable of controlling the cat.

As for me - still hopeful, but I know from my previous years that late August - mid - late September is time for my bugs to show up. Will hope beyond hope. Keep the pics coming. :)

A.

Final chapter in rearing "Mardi Gras" pillar. It pupated about 10 days ago and eclosed yesterday as a Southern Emerald moth. I assume it's a female since she liked to dress up.

Wow. that's a pretty moth. Well named.

I agree. ♥

Started tagging today, 2 male and 2 females

C_A_Ivy again , A really interesting Moth !!! Cat is unbelievable ,, !!!^_^

BCH Keep up the good work (and fun) , They need the come back numbers , and the garden needs them also !!!(US) ^_^

Something never before in my garden a first ,,
I believe this to be a Sleepy Duskywing ? not sure

3- Painted Lady
4 -5 Meadow Fritillary

It is Erynnis Funeralis ,,, The Funeral Dusky wing ,,(I don't know about that name , Hope it ain't omens like Taro cards !!!)

The reason I did not recognize it ? This is not in it's range ? .. interesting

Same pic ,,

Juhur -- Funereal Duskywing has been recorded for Indiana before, but it appears to be fairly uncommon. You might want to send your photo along with location and date when it was taken to the Lepidopterists' Society zone coordinator for your area. The coordinator is: Leslie Ferge at email: lesferge@gmail.com

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

lepfarmer Thank you and I will run that through about lunch time or so when I get a few minutes .
I did not believe it was anything unique ,, There have Been Albino Monarchs , Karner Blue , The Swamp Metal Mark or the similar , all seen here at one time or another ,
It is interesting though , I asked Bamona about it , Seeing if they would add these to regional checklist or an infrequent column in our lists at their site ,
The one I miss from younger days , is the large Rusty Red SWT that had orange spots ,, I don't even remember(if I ever knew ) the name of that .. Now extinct , as are several ,, results of DDT genetic damage , and lack of preservationist funding or time to save such from major construction ,
Well even if rare here , we can look or wait for colony establishment ...

juhur7, what gorgeous flowers. No wonder your place is a butterfly magnet. Congrats on the Funereal Duskywing. Don't worry about omens unless you see a Mourning Cloak with it.

I just have to share something. Yesterday someone showed up in my garden and asked if she could look around. I said sure and took her on a tour of my butterfly "host" plant garden and the "nectar" garden. I when she asked what we were building over there, I told her that the drought had been hard on the local waterfowl so my daughters were building a "rescue duck enclosure" for abandoned domestic ducks that had their local lake dry up.
She looked at me and said "This is what people should be doing".
It wasn't until I read juhur's post that I really understood what she was saying.
We are doing important work with our gardens, we are saving wildlife.