I found some photos from the past, when I didn't have a very good camera. These 2 pics were taken 7/26/2009. I'm not sure of the ID. The closest thing I could find is "Red-spotted Purple", but the upper wings have no red spots. From what little can be seen of the lower wing, it looks like there may be some red.
Another older photo- 5/28/2012. Red Admiral?
Yes and Yes.
pretty butterflies!!! , season ends here , about next week .. Only makes it nicer for winter viewing ...
No pictures but …this weekend was Autumn on the Prairie at Nachusa Grasslands. Every year I lead a Kids' butterfly tour. This year was the best in terms of sightings that I've ever done. Sulphurs, Cabbage Whites, Pearl Crescents, Eastern Tailed-Blues, Monarchs and even a Regal Fritillary. Still no buckeyes :(
Wow - leading kids on butterfly tour - what a great gesture. As rewarding for you as for the children, I'm sure.
Today pixs - I like their choice of flowers.
Wow - leading kids on butterfly tour - what a great gesture. As rewarding for you as for the children, I'm sure.
Today pixs - I like their choice of flowers.
I got some great pics today. The Monarch's have finally showed up en mass. This one butterflyweed had over a dozen cats on it! The yellow one next to it had several more.
I also planted some "tennis balls" this year. Anyone know if these are herbaceous? I also had 19 cocoons in my butterfly enclosure (safe place from all the lizards), they are hatching out and hanging out in the enclosure to dry. My 1 year old grand-daughter, who has a vocabulary I could count on my fingers, got it right when she saw her first butterfly close-up, she said "Wow".
Wow!!! :-)
Rabbitbrush is a native shrub here, it blooms in the fall. It is a nectar magnet at a time of year when most flowers are fading.
1 - Monarch. I usually get them migrating south. We don't get too many summer cats in this area.
2 - Queen. A bonus - whether or not we get them this far north depends on the weather in Texas
I've had lots of Cloudless sulphurs in the yard this year. They seem to like red or pink nectar flowers but this year I added a couple of host plants, Partridge pea and Sennae (Coffee weed) which has seemed to attract them. The cats on the pea are bright yellow and those on the Sennae are green.
Some free Sennae seeds are available for butterfly nutts. Just D mail. Remember if I can grow and give it away, it's probably invasive.
Love the Sulphur! I found the Kaufman book you recommended at a local book store. Made it easy to see that we don't get them here :-( Some related ones I'll be on the lookout for, though!
Well, I finally took the time to figure out what a "queen" is. Interesting, I get monarch's but I will keep my eye out for a queen. I do get sulphurs an have seen them in my garden lately. I also get a white butterfly that's about the same size. I'm lousy with names. the butterflies are really out now, I'm even getting the little yellow moth type that like the lantana.
I am always reading along here
Painted lady and Fritillary , still here , A few days of the season remain , not many ,,
I don't know if the pic's are the right ones , but ,, from today they are ..
I used to keep my pictures on my camera downloaded pretty regularly, but not so on my phone! I never know where the picture I was looking for is....need to stop that! I have numerous pics from 2013 & 14 that are in a file called "phone dump"...LOL!
Saw 5 monarchs this morn in a small area in SE Missouri. My treat for the day!
It's so wonderful to see them. I have one that hangs out in my front yard and four or five out in the nectar garden all the time now. I stopped counting the catapillars at 100! I know there is at least one cocoon that will be opening today, they are really docile and friendly when they first come out. I feel like letting me handle them before they fly off is there way of saying thank-you for protecting them. I'll try to get some pics today.
This was flying around my front yard this morning. They were a little easier to get a picture of than the two I really I wanted to capture that were doing an in air mating dance. They moved so fast I just couldn't get the shot.
I am beyond excited to see the increase of Monarchs in Texas this month. I have a lot of trees in the lower part of my yard. The Monarchs have really come in this area and I went down late yesterday and again early this morning before the sun came out. They are roosting on three or four trees there! They are on a Hackberry, Hop tree, and mainly on a Peach tree. I didn't take very good pictures as I was in a hurry this morning. My hubby said I should have put it on landscape. So may have better pictures tonight. I think they will be around a few days as we have no wind and chance of rain.
I am definitely upping the Frostweed in that area this fall.
I noticed a Malachite today nectaring for a long time on the Senecio c. which is in full but not yet maximum bloom. I was so tempted to get the camera out but i don't see them in the garden often. I didn't want to scare this one off because i now have mature and abundant host plants for them at the other end of the garden. I was hoping that he or she would stay in the garden long enough to discover the Justicia and either lay some eggs or take note for the future. I await with anticipation some Buckeye and Malachite caterpillars. The White Peacocks have found it and the Pale Crescents.
I believe Malachites prefer rotting fruit, meat, and the like so i was surprised to see this one nectaring so enthusiastically and for so long on the Senecio flowers.
Sheila what fun pics! V. I'm going to look up what a Malachite looks like!
Oh Sheila, how exciting for you.
I always know there will be Long-wing (aka Zebra) Heliconia (Heliconius charithonia) in the garden when the Senecio confusus is blooming. They are common here but always appreciated. All the nectar lovers are drawn to these blossoms. Sometimes the bees chase the butterflies, sometimes the butterflies chase the bees, the hummingbirds mostly attend to business. It seems to be a friendly competition, perhaps because the blossoms are abundant.
The Malachite (Siproeta stelenes) returned for the second day and at about the same time but i can't say it was the same butterfly that visited yesterday. I thought i would try for some discrete photos from about a distance of 18 to 20 feet. Also she/he was about 7.5' up the vine. Very shy this one and apparently knew that an eye was trained on her/him. The two photos are in the order taken. You see her/him buried in the Senecio blossoms. After the first photo, she moved to a place where she would be well-disguised (the second photo)...buried in the greenery. I hope it is the same one that was here yesterday. I hope this is a female with some eggs. I hope she spent the night in the Justicia. I wish the photos were better but not at the expense of scaring her away. It is a large butterfly...best guess would be a little larger than a Monarch and maybe not so large as a Giant Swallowtail.
That is a very nice !!! Thank you vitrsna ^_^ rare for us to get to see
Sheila,, Great pics of the Monarchs ,, hoping on for them .. ^_^ Much , Much , nicer than last year ,, when there were so few ..
Sheila, how cool you have them in your trees! I've been really enjoying the ones that have stayed in my yard. I still have lots of cocoons to open. Some I think may have died, maybe from the excessive heat last week. But I still have dozens that look healthy!
I'm running out of milkweed for the cats, they have just about stripped all the plants. I'm glad they seem to done hatching. Next year the plants will be larger and I can add a few new ones each year to keep the crop going. I have also got some Aristolochia seeds coming for the Swallowtails and False Indigo for the Dog face butterflies.
Oh Vitrsna, how cool. I never could get my Senecio to rebloom. I'm going to try to overwinter it. Does it usually bloom year-round there?
We're still seeing monarchs here. Not sure if they will be ones that are programmed to move along or not. I had three every day on the Tithonia, then we had some cold and rainy days. But saw a couple after it warmed up, so that was nice. My asters are in full bloom, so I'm hoping for some skippers.
Good luck with the cats Dee!
Vitrsna - I'm envious! Malachites and Zebra Longwings. I have some malachites that I'm raising but my zebra population crashed earlier this year. I'm going to have to head down to the Rio Grande Valley to get some more. That Senecio confusus is one of my all time favorite plants. Just about everything likes it. Malachites are indeed fond of rotted fruit, sap, etc., but they'll eagerly go to flowers as well. In my flight cage one of their favorites is Duranta. Here's a photo of the caterpillars.
Sheila -- Glad you've got some monarchs roosting at your place. It's been a great year for monarchs all across the country, and as I always say, monarchs will outlive us all (despite all the press to the contrary). I haven't counted this year, but there are many hundreds flying around my place right now. If you need any frost weed seeds, let me know.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Lep...very nice! What host plant are you using for your Malachites? And are the caterpillars okay to handle or do they sting? I am thinking the Malachite that is visiting the Senecio daily may have been a caterpillar in the Justicia patch of my garden. All kinds of things could go unnoticed there because it has turned into a jungle during the rainy season. I will have to trim it back some and will look for an empty chrysalis when i do.
Mrs. Ed...my Senecio will bloom during any month of the year, but not all year round like the Dalechampia and Justicia (Red Shrimp which i call my hummingbird feeder) do. I had to cut the Senecio back to about a foot above ground when the arch was installed and the vine (huffing and puffing all the way to the top) only squeaked out a couple of tiny blossoms. Then a couple of months later it bloomed and now it is blooming again. I'm not sure what it will do but i think it will blossom 3 or maybe 4 times per year...i am waiting to see. After the first blooming, i trimmed it but did not cut it down so it won't have to climb again and it responded very well to this. Your plant is new, so give it a little time. I think next year you should have a minimum of two blossomings or maybe just one really long blossoming. It will be interesting to see what it does.
pretty pics and ideas all
Saw a lone Monarch this afternoon on Goldenrod , Still have moths , seeing Woolly Bear cats . and these today
question mark or comma , smaller than usual ,,
Saw another Monarch doing a float past at a level high up between the trees ,,
Late for them here ,
Vitrsna - To get my malachites to oviposit, I use Green Shrimp Plant (Blechum brownei), which White Peacock and Common Buckeye also use. They'll also readily oviposit on Christmas Pride (Ruellia amoena). The caterpillars eat various types of ruellia. Larvae tend to feed at night and spend the day at the base of the plant, at least that's been my experience.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Thank you lep...here the butterflies you mention are known to favor the Justicia b. and evidently will use Ruellia as well. There are lots of night feeding caterpillars here as well including the Monarchs. At night they are safer from predation by the wasps.
The Malachite is calling my garden home so i think it probably eclosed here. I worked in the garden most of yesterday and it was not bothered by me, maybe because the other butterflies in the garden ignore me, maybe because i did not have my camera with me, and it gave me some spectacular full upper wing spreads...wowser, this is a beauty. During the heavy rain in the early evening, it took shelter under an Areca palm along with a Banded Peacock. I checked the wing span compared with Giant Swallowtails and Monarchs. The Malachite 8.5-10cms (3.3-3.9"), the Giant Swallowtail 10-16 cms (3.9-6.3"), and the Monarch 8.9-10.2 cms (3.5-4"). The White Morpho beats them all with a wing span of 4.5-5.75"
Here is a photo of how it looked in roosting mode, still snoozing at 9:30 am, drying out after the rains.
This message was edited Oct 12, 2014 11:00 AM
That Malachite is sure a pretty butterfly.
I just put a couple photos in the Photo contest. You all should consider putting butterfly/cat pictures in the contest. You can win a year of Dave's garden!
This is a faded pic taken through a window at noon hour here , One yesterday and two today , Monarch stragglers , traveling on ,
Yikes , could not post the pic ,,
Anyway , entering the contest sounds like a good idea ,, Malachite above ,,
Try to post it again j7
See what happens ,, specie's' invisates clearusi no-seeus'
Egads !!! I got it !!!
Monarchs today , not now though , high winds , and severe storms .. their hiding ,,
It's been a bit sad for me this evening. I rescued a monarch at dusk that was having trouble getting out of his cocoon. Who knows how long he had been trying, when I found him it was obvious he was stuck. I took the cocoon down and carefully helped him get out. He didn't seem interested in spreading his wings and it was getting cold outside so I brought him in. Worried that his wings had dried all folded up I carefully misted him and put him in a terrarium upside down on a leaf. No movement for an hour so I tried to feed him some sugar water. He did seem to eat, but he still hasn't opened his wings. Not a lot of hope for a recovery, I guess sometimes we just have to do our best and let go.
Not real big on letting go today, my pet frog went to frog heaven yesterday. He was almost 8 years old, and will be missed.
Yay Monarchs! I counted 28 cats of varying sizes on one tropical MW plant in our veggie garden today. I am super excited. It has been a while since we had babies. Too dark to get any good pictures this evening. Hope to capture a few tomorrow. They were all jockeying for position on the plant. I couple even bumped heads and knocked each other off. Too funny. We planted several MW plants around the garden to bring in bees and BFs...I guess it is working. Being totally organic and pesticide free is helping too!
Russell
