DAILY PICTURES # 110

Lily .. Red Spotted purple is pretty

Sulphur Today , orange Barred Sulpher

Happy Labor Day everyone. :) Ju, thanks for the I.D. of the RSP.
Fellow butterflies enthusiasts/gardening friends. I need to get busy providing my Monarch cats a safe refuge. Please wish me well for this year 'Monarch in the Garden'.

Also, I just took one Sulphur caterpillar to the "pillar house" this morning. Once there were 5-6 of them, this morning there is only ONE left! sniff, sniff!

As some of us knew/researched that plants release some kind of "hormone" to attract bees/wasp to counter act the danger of being defoliated by cats. Well, I have personally experience this phenomenon. Live and learn.

Oh, there were a spider lay in wait for the caterpillars. I knocked it off the senna, but other predators must have found the cats!

This message was edited Sep 7, 2015 7:34 AM

I've been lurking and learning from the experiences of all of you guys.

How devastating to lose cats like some of you have. I had thought the biggest danger was birds. Boy, was I wrong...even with Monarchs. I guess the predator insects are immune to the Milkweed poisons?

I sure hope you find ways to protect the cats, especially the Monarchs. They need all the help they can get.

Beautiful pics, everyone.

Busy last couple of days. Two more BST's eclosed yesterday but today was a surprise, three monarchs emerged early this morning. They dried their wings and disappeared. Nine viable chrysalis still getting ready.
Later I noticed a small dark butterfly in the BST pillar house. Another surprise, a Red Spotted Purple. I had placed a chrysalis, found on river oat stem, there two days ago. Thinking it might be a roadside skipper.
Also today,I noticed a large Cloudless Sulphur busy laying eggs on the Coffee Weed in the backyard then a Question Mark darting from plant to plant oviposting at random. Should be lots of flying flowers in the yard this fall and next spring.


Pic 3 shows monarch no.3 emerging.

N.A.N. asked: "I guess the predator insects are immune to the Milkweed poisons?" That is a 50K- worth question. Some good scientists may have done some study in that regard, we (You and I -- the ordinary citizen scientists) will have to continue to search and observe for the answer? Sounds like a fun project? LOL

Ivy, wow, wow! Such sweet success. Congrats on the newly eclosed butterflies. I myself have been busy tending my MWs, I took some cuttings and hope to roots them to provide extra food for Monarch this season.

For now, I've this "White Butterfly" ginger to share, it smells so good in morning hours. I'll share more of my Monarch pics. soon in the next few days.

Happy gardening,
Kim

Hmmm...that is interesting, Kim. Ooh, gorgeous flower! I can almost smell it.

Beautiful pics, Ivy! Congrats on the new BF's.

I currently have no flowers in my backyard, so what this little guy was doing sitting on the sidewalk is anybody's guess. I do have a Labrador. I needed to get this little one to safety.

Another

Thanks N.A.N. LOL
Ivy, there are many different types of Sulphurs, I don't know exactly what kind I have, but the little jewel morphed and now I've my very first chrysalis. I was so pleased.

Okay, here is a "shocker" of a hugemongous caterpillar. I've been searching, searching for these cats since early spring, I look for them from Pentas, and brugs and daturas. I finally found one, but then I wasn't quick enough on my feet - so to speak. I ran inside and tried to find something to cut the daturas that the cat was on, by the time I went back outside, the cat was gone, but evidence tells me, it didn't vanish, for there was greenish frass-like left behind. The poor thing was a total loss! It was the Tersa Sphinx moth. It would have been a beauty to behold.

Wow Patti, what a find! Hope you could move it to a sunny area where it will head down my way. lol

Tuckersmom That Monarch was probably staying warm or was tired from flight , they will rest or maybe dehydrate and fatigue a little .

Yes we have orange Sulphurs migrating through now also , fun to see .


Monarch

I was wondering if it had just hatched. I did take it to another part of the yard where there was dew on the grass. It rested there a few minutes, crawled into the sun, rested and then flew away.

I will be planting lots of milkweed next year and hopefully will have an enclosure to help save them. I just got into gardening this Summer and have no blooming flowers in the back yard. I was very shocked to see it there.

How do you tell males and females?

Tuckersmom , see the two black dots on top of the lower wings a little less than half way to the upper wings , Those two dots . say it is male .

Sorry about the cat, Kim. :(

Very pretty shot, juhur!

How lucky you spotted that beautiful Monarch, Patti! Lucky for you and lucky for the Monarch.

The pictures in this link will show you the difference between male and female Monarchs. This is also a great site, very informative.

https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/female-or-male-monarch-butterfly-pictures/

edited to say: Sorry juhur...we cross-posted.

This message was edited Sep 9, 2015 1:14 PM

Not a problem Nuts ,, How are you ,,etc Hi there ,!!!

Monarch and Orange Sulphur Tithonia seems popular this year

Thank you, Ju. I have so much to learn on so many fronts.

Nuts, we can't keep meeting like this. Joke joke. What a great site! The pictures are great. Now I'm off to explore the site in it's entirety. Thank you.

Welcome Tuckersmom, butterflies can use your help. This an excellent group to learn about butterfly gardening, rearing, and observation.
Lily, your sulphur cat is likely a Sleepy Orange or Cloudless sulphur.
I had a busy morning as nine new adult monarchs emerged and I chased away dragonflies, wasp, and robberflies.
One Russet tipped dragon refused to leave but it didn't attach the monarchs. Five BST chrysalis are all that I have left to eclose.

Sleepy Orange or Cloudless sulphur, thanks Ivy. As far as BSTs; from my past experience. Some of my BST chrysalid will go into diapause over winter and surprised me by awaken the following Spring to emerge. I believe I've roughly a dozen of them left indoor.

I have begun my Monarch nurturing station. I've dozen 1st instars now. This is my first time collecting a large number of those tiny little cats and bringing them indoor. In years past, I discovered 'em when they were bigger and easy to spot in the garden.

Ivy, thank you for sharing those fabulous pics. of various critters in the garden beside the butterflies. I dreaded those robberflies especially for the caterpillars' sake. Also wasps, I've seen wasps capture and carried their preys back to their nest; not a very pretty sight!

Ooops, I intended to share a pic. of a 2nd instar Monarch on MW flowers. I have to carefully remove all the aphids off the flowers and brought the little cat indoor. Usually I hose down those aphids, but having babies cats on MW, I afraid I may hose the little cats off too.

Beautiful pics, Ivy!

Kim ~ I was so fascinated by your mention of "diapause" (another new term for me) that I looked it up. That's why I hang around this thread...because I learn so much from you guys!

I found a great explanation along with how to care for an overwintering chrysalis. If any of you are interested, here's the link.

https://www.joyfulbutterfly.com/overwinter-chrysalis/

Chuckle! N.A.N. my wish is that my City dweller, adult children will have opportunities to expose young children, the next generation -- to the love of nature. I myself -- I'm hoping that I will not mix up the meaning of diapause and Menapause during my "golden years". Chuckle, chuckle. 😂😂😂

Yeah we get Monarch here this afternoon

I saw maybe 2 Monarch today.

Hahaha...Kim, I don't think you'd want to mix up those two words. :o)
Is that Tropical Milkweed in your pic? If so, do you have problems with it in your area?

So many Monarchs, Juhur! I'm green with envy. Great pics, too.

N.A.N. no problem with them whatsoever, and they are so easy to take cutting. I simply cut some roughly 4-5" long. Stick 'em in water bottle, look for an indirect sun lit area, anchor the bottle so wind will not knock it over. Not long afterwards I will find those cuttings have formed roots. I then transplant them into small containers -- more fresh MWs for the Monarch larvae.
On the second pix there's some cuttings I took yesterday. Happy butterfly - gardening everyone. Pardons the pics appear sideway . The various fruits are Calabash (similar to gourds) & white pumpkin, they're my Fall harvest. 😃

This message was edited Sep 11, 2015 10:34 AM

1) Roughly 7-11 days after the first Monarch sighting in our area, a day or two later I found the first eggs, actually the eggs must have been there 4-5 days earlier. The following day I found some newly hatched 1st cats, they were the size of a thread, tiny, tiny little caterpillars. Today; they have molted and shed their first outer skin. Now they're called 2nd instar, and can easily be found by the naked eyes in the garden.

2) Eggs can be seen sometimes on the underside of leaves, MW leaves-- their host plant. Sometimes, they are seen right on the MW flowers. I can look at photos on professionally made literatures, websites professionals/novice alike, this is my first year finding the Monarch eggs in the garden, they are pale white, unlike whatever color I saw that have documented. I can say that Monarch eggs are slightly smaller than BST's and their shapes are different. BST's egg appears slightly larger than that of Monarch's. BST's egg looks round and has a hint of green in its appearance, while Monarch's are slightly elongated. Monarch's eggs haves interesting stripes on them, macrophotography can show these eggs in brilliant details, my photos are made with a cell phone. :((

3) Tropical MW in containers. This one happened to be hitch-hiking or piggy bagged into my annual pot last year. (At the end of last year growing season, I took the very same pot indoor to save my MW -- for this year Monarch migration).

4 & 5) Monarch cats. on Asters. Grin; I'm just kidding. I've been yearning to grow asters in my garden, now I finally have some. Today, I was surprised by these larger, 2nd instars hidden out of plain sight on their host plants. I plugged the MW leave, using it to carry my precious cats. inside. I'm so glad I've found them before they're discovered by predators in the garden. :)

edited for typo.


This message was edited Sep 13, 2015 8:45 AM

Kim ~ wonderful explanation and pics! Isn't that how it is sometimes with pics and descriptions by so-called "experts". Quite often they forget to tell you basic things like how big the cats or eggs are.

Your Calabash and white pumpkins are beautiful!

It's said "A picture can tell a thousand words" ? I used to think these were 3rd instars! But it ain't so. These are chubby 2nd instars.☺

How can you tell the difference?

Keep the pics and captions coming, Kim. They're wonderful!

I just looked back through the thread to see when I last posted BF pics. It was the end of July! I haven't seen too many since, mostly just Cabbage whites.

BTW, I found several very old threads on Tithonia. Lots of great suggestions and info. I bumped one, before realizing there were more so I just bookmarked the others. Juhur, have you ever pruned yours back a bit early in the season to make them bushier or do you just let yours grow "as is"?

N.A.N. This being the only time I have gotten them to grow real well , I just let them go as is ,
I was collecting a few seeds from them today , first time I have even deadheaded them ,
Good cup of compost and a little food to start them off with was all , real slow to start growing like they should , they like the July , August cooking temperatures ,

Got a pic of this Red Admiral almost ,
A monarch was more than 20 ft up in a tree at the time also , My zoom does not work that far .

This message was edited Sep 13, 2015 12:23 AM

What transparency? by that I meant the glass pillar house. I love this one like Ivy using glass pillar houses. Though, the traditional mesh kind is easy to move about, but with this one it's easy to clean up.

More asters for the butterflies garden.

Thanks for that input, Ju! I've read they can be temperamental to start and that they also love really hot weather. I think Vitrsna has great luck growing them, but since they're native to Mexico and Central America that makes sense.

I've considered growing one of the dwarf varieties, but people seem to have mixed results with butterflies growing the smaller ones. Some think it's the lack of height and others think the hybrid varieties may not have as much nectar.

I like your Red Admiral pic! I've only seen a couple this year. There was one summer several years back we had tons of them. There were so many that year they would sometimes land on me, especially if I was wearing a bright shirt.

Cool pics, Kim! It looks like the cats are actually climbing on the glass. Interesting... I would have thought they'd stay on the plant.

Thank you all for the replies and nice talk about the sunflowers ,

I saw a hummingbird and big Yellow Eastern Swallowtail While I was taking these

It sure is colorful in your yard...verrry pretty!

Lots of monarchs flying into western Aransas and eastern Oklahoma. I expect a nice winter population in Mexico.

One of my objectives of butterflying is to observe new species. To date I've sighted seven new species this year and the latest were in my yard. An Arogos skipper nectaring Boneset floret and today a Brazilian skipper basking on four o'clock plant.

Nice variety Ivy , I only saw one small group of three Monarch today , I suppose the migration is finishing here , a group or two still might come by here , whether I see them or not is ?
here is a possible fiery skipper .


Next picture , N.A.N. the landscaping timber , if you can see it , just to the right of center , says those Tithonia are LARGE

Ju, is that Golden Rods on your 2nd pic. that was posted yesterday? The bugs and bees must love your Sunflowers, as they do Lantana and Zinnias that I've seen around here. :). You've said that migration is finishing up there? Ummmm, so soon? I worked out in the garden most of the day yesterday. I saw zero Monarch here!

Ivy, keep up the good work, I've seen you've shared many pictures on BugFiles, DG, a website by gardeners, for gardeners. Thank you.

N.A.N. It's really neat observing these wonderful cats go through their changes before they become butterflies. I remembered way back then when I was a newbie, I saw a Gulf fritterary cat "munching" on its shed skin on my Passiflora vine, I thought they cannibalize its own kind. I can't remember, if Sheila or Mellielong (a butterflies enthusiast, nature lover here on our Forum) set me straight, that cats eat their shed skin for source of nutrients. That makes good sense right? One can't survive on vegan diet just on MW alone. lol

GTG, will be back and share more pics. and captions later.