Everyone's pics are beautiful! TPP, where is Edinburg? I didn't know we had White Peacock's in Texas! Your Duranta has inspired me to make sure mine are more exposed next year. One is covered by my Obedient Plant, so I definitely need to move it out so I can see it. That's probably the one with all the action!
Duranta bush butterfly photos
BEE-YOU-TI-FUL puddy print! I'm really gonna miss these guys when they're gone. Here's one from earlier this summer.
Oh my, THAT is one BEE-YOU-TI-FUL butterfly!! I want one!
Yeah, I want one of those too...have never seen one of those.
~ Cat
ps...but I'm happy as it is...I saw a hairstreak that looked exactly like that rare rekoa marius that was released on 09/27/05 in my yard. This one looked like it was laying eggs on my duranta!!! Am wondering if it is the same one? Sure wish we'd tagged it somehow...but either way, it's good to know that species is using my duranta as a larval host :o)
I couldn't find the eggs though...I forgot which branches it was on it...and considering the butterfly is only about 3/4 -1 inch big...I really don't think I'll be able to find it's tiny eggs!!!
This message was edited Oct 1, 2005 11:43 PM
I want one of those Guava and LT Skippers too. I've not seen those either. Is this the kind of Hairstreak that you have?? Ummm yeah, doubting you'll be able to see those eggs!
Konkrete,
The butterfly in your photo looks like a gray hairstreak. I can't see the markings on the backend very clearly.
The caterpillars I found in my yard were the larvae of the rare rekoa (marius hairstreak). They are a new US record and NABA has placed photos of them and the butterflies on their Texas website.
My photos don't do the butterfly justice. Gil Quintanilla has a great camera and took some really good photos. Check out the NABA link below to see the our photos of the larvae and the butterflies that have emerged. We are still waiting for three more to emerge :o) That should happen any day now.
http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/RioHa.html
~ Cat
...and I tried looking for eggs today...I think I need a magnifying glass!!! Oh well, I'm counting the days...and will be checking my duranta for new caterpillars.
It's hard to see any difference in the Hairstreaks. Is the Marius different because the top side of it's wings are blue? I rarely see mine with open wings, but did just this week and it was a dark color.
ps...and Edinburg is at the south tip of Texas...smack dab by Mexico. This area is called the Lower Rio Grande Valley. We are famous for having the most species of butterflies and birds than any other part of the Texas...and any other state too :o)
Of course, we still have droughts and 100+ weather during the summer. It was 110 today...and it's hard to imagine cold weather.
We are part of hurricane alley...but so far this area has been lucky and haven't felt the full brunt of hurricanes coming this way for the past several years.
It hadn't snowed in over 37 years...but we got a White Christmas last year! Yep, it started snowing around 11pm on Christmas Eve...then by Christmas Day the temperature was up into the high 80's. The last White Christmas this area saw was 109 years ago :o)
~ Cat
Ok, thanks for the info. I didn't know where you were, but knew you were somewhere "special". I think "smack dab by Mexico" explains why you have such great pics and such a great variety of butterflies.
I was going to tell you to stop bragging about all those butterflies, but then you went on to say that it was 110 today! eeekkk! I think I'll settle for fewer butterflies and 92 or so.
Keep the pics coming!
Too funny Konkrete...I'll trade you some butterflies for a cool gust of wind!!! It's hard trying to photograph butterflies when the sweat is dripping down into your eyes. While the sun is toasting your brain the mosquitoes are biting your hands and any area of skin they find. I often walk out into my backyard barefooted with camera in hand and end up with skeeter bites all over my ankles as well as arms! Hot as it is out here...mosquitoes and shorts do not go well together :o)
Will tell you, I had no idea what a marius hairstreak was until last month...and I still don't really grasp the significance of this find.
I've been told the eyes are gray (not black) and it has a thin orange band on the forewing submargin. The post median lines are black with white (other hairstreaks have orange or red). There is also an anterior blue cell between the orange/black cells. It is also very rare for the marius to bask in the sun with it's wings opened. The experts say there are many subtle differences and I'm still trying to familiarize myself with them.
I did not give up any of these guys for science....but once the butterfly world got wind of this and learned that duranta turned out to be a larval host plant some scientists/collectors came down to the Lower Rio Grande Valley and found/took larvae from an area that has a huge duranta hedge which runs about 20 yards along a public highway. Duranta has never been known to be a larval host...until now.
I had no idea these critters were going to be big news in the butterfly community...this is all still very new to me.
It has become bigger news now that we're thinking it's the same female marius we released earlier this week on my duranta that has come back to the same bush to lay her eggs. Got lots of people running around town looking more closely at duranta bushes :o)
We might just have a small colony of this rare hairstreak living and breeding in the Lower Rio Grande Valley now. Perfect timing too...NABA is having it's annual butterfly festival here in three weeks!
~ Cat
Wow, that's really interesting Cat. I'll be really interested to hear any developements on that colony.
In three weeks it should definately be colder and more fallish here (NE Tn.), and you're having your butterfly festival in three weeks - what a difference! This morning it was below 50 at 8:00am but will get up into the 80's by afternoon. I'm ready for some older weather as that makes it easier to work in the yard and dig new beds.
Here's a better (I hope anyway, its hard to tell from my photo album's thumbnails which pics are the clearest without going in and pulling them up) pic of that black and white butterfly. It seemed like I saw them during a 3 week period and then they were gone. Do butterflies have "seasons" during which you can find them?
Some butterflies migrate so they might be passing thru your area. I'm not sure because I don't have Zebra Swallowtails! :: whine :: Certain times of the year I get BST's that come and lay eggs, then months will go by and then they'll come back. Do you have any Paw Paw, which is a ZST host plant? Your weather sounds much better than Cat's. lol If you don't have mosquitoes, that might be where we need to go!
Cat, that is just so exciting. It's funny that there are butterfly experts. I just do it all for fun and my own enjoyment, so I forget there are people who really study this and they are the ones that supply me with all my info! So you have Duranta's all over down there? Just naturally or planted? They were such an unsual find here a few years ago when I got mine.
Duranta is not considered a native and the butterfly parks and birding centers here do not have any on their grounds. However, many people have them growing in their yards and around businesses. They really are quite beautiful when they are in full bloom.
We are thinking now that it has been found to be a larval host plant for those rare marius hairstreak butterflies we might be able to convince the parks to plant some.
And yes, I plant and garden for my own enjoyment and hope my efforts will attract hummingbirds and butterflies. I find it hard to believe people can get into such an uproar over a little bitty butterfly - but if it weren't for the scientists and experts I wouldn't have any books or photos to refer to. I just don't want to be the one to hand over a butterfly knowing it will face certain death for study. Which is silly to say considering all the ones that meet their maker on my windshield! But still, let them collect them without my knowledge.
- - - - - - -
I don't know anyone out here that has Paw Paw.
Sounds like something I might hit up the seed or plant exchange for :o)
I read up a little on it a while ago...seems it will grow in zone 9 but needs a winter dormancy period....we don't get many freezes out here...but maybe if I can get a couple established they will survive.
We have butterfly seasons here too - many butterflies stray over from Mexico so we get to see a large variety. However, because our climate is so butterfly and bird friendly many stay around all year long...but you really start noticing them when everything is in bloom.
~ Cat
Well TPP, lilyfan, Magpye, and kkb I have really enjoyed this thread.
Cat, welcome to this great garden and for jumping right in with one of your passions.
I am buying durantas on sale and planting them in some secret dirt. I will have them up and down the alley for one place. I have two already, one about 8' tall and a small one. I will enjoy them more now. I too find butterflies loving the big one, the small one has yet to bloom.
Thanks for the pictures and information.
Sidney
Cat, that's interesting about the PawPaw. I don't know what it is, but I'm assuming it's not in my area either since we don't get that cold either. I have a butterfly friend in Ohio that raises different kinds of things because they all need various trees that we just don't have. That's life on the prairie.
Sidney, glad you joined us! Haven't heard much from you lately, or I missed it. What is your secret dirt?!? Is your Duranta 8' tall because it doesn't die back? I can't imagine mine getting that big! Mine died back but came back with our light winter. I hope they will continue to come back. They were kind of slow doing it. My mom and I kept waiting and watching them like boiling water.
I really chop back this in the winter, get the real old wood out.
I even got some seeds this last year.
Here's a side shot of my Duranta.....Sidney
Been lurking here, but I have to jump in and thank you folks for giving me direction on my Duranta's.
I am redoing my yard to try and turn it into a garden. I have two Duranta's, one is white the other is purple. Both grow about the same.
Untill reading this thread I have always grown them in shade, to hide an undisirable part of my yard. They grow well in the shade but flowering is not as good as it could be if planted in the sun. I am planning to move them to a sunny spot on the North side of my yard and will use them as a screen to block out the view of my neighbor to the North.
I had been looking for larger flowering plants to supply nectar for the larger butterflies in the yard. Seeing what has been feeding on the Duranta's in this thread, I believe these bushes will fill my needs nicely.
Thanks!
Art
Art, I saw them here on DG last year and put them on my wish list. The next day I realized I had one already for 5+ years. LOL
Secret Dirt is a place that is not really yours, but no one cares if you plant there. As Dovey (I think) said it was the answer to "Just WHERE are you going to plant that/those??? Your yard is full."
"I have secret dirt"
;>)
Sidney
Man, I am jealous!!! I get some beautiful butterflies, but not the variety that you all get!! My range seems to be rather limited...boohoo
Yes Anita, but you get beautiful birds in the middle of winter when we get almost none. Always good and bad in every place.
Sidney
Well I am very glad that everyone is getting on the duranta band wagon :o) It is a great addition to any yard. I've seen hedges of it around here...and wish I can more room...because I'd plant a hedge of it if I could.
But I've talked my brother into planting a long, long, long row of it. He's recently built a house on three acres of nothing...no trees, no plants...nothing! :o) He's going to do his own landscaping and was easily convinced when he came over to my house and saw all the butterfly and hummingbird activity!!!
~ Cat
Please....I need everyone's help....I've got a situation down here in south Texas. This is in regards to the rare rekoa marius hairstreak butterfly Gil, his family and myself worked so hard to raise and ensure they would live. Remember, the caterpillars had never been seen here before...and the butterflies are extremely rare!!!
Seems the local NABA chapter website has allowed photos of a DEAD pinned marius hairstreak butterfly to be posted on the same page where they posted photos of Gil and my caterpillars and the butterflies that emerged.
That DEAD pinnned marius hairstreak butterfly was captured by 'collectors' who came down to this area because they'd read and heard about our rare find. Finding these caterpillars and having the butterflies emerge and setting them free was big news in the butterfly world.
Their sole intent was to capture and KILL this rare butterfly. I do not know if it was for the benefit of science or because they wanted it in their collection...but I find it utterly disgusting that NABA, who stands for the conservation of butterflies and shows how to identify butterflies through binoculars and photographs would have photos of that DEAD butterfly on their website!
If these guys wanted one so badly why didn't they to some other place around the world where they aren't as rare?! (and I am against even doing that!) But I understand the need for science and study and I also know some butterflies have met their maker on my windshield - but the NABA website already posted excellent photos of the larvae, pupae and butterflies...there is no need so show off photos of DEAD Pinned Butterfly as if it is a trophy hunt.
They literally came onto our playground and kicked sand in our face by doing this!
This is a rare butterfly species that we worked so hard to keep alive and we did everything humanly possible to ensure the caterpillars would emerge as healthy butterflies.
If possible I would like all of the butterfly enthusiasts to please visit the south Texas NABA website and send an email to the our local chapter president to say how disgusted and disappointed you are.
Please use a subject line that commands attention like "DEAD Pinned Marius Butterfly on South Texas NABA"
NABA-South Texas
Kim Garwood - President
E-mail: verandahsoft@earthlink.net
I went straight to the top and email headquarters "naba@naba.org"
but I really think we could all have more of an impact if we hit the south Texas chapter as it is controlled by the local members.
~ * ~
Below is the webpage showing the the larvae and pupae stage of the ones Gil and I raised. It also shows perfectly good photos of the LIVE butterflies that emerged (that we set free).
Photos of the butterfly captured and killed last week is at the bottom with credit for that disgusting deed given to Ed Knudson and Charles Bordelon.
http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/RioHa.html
The main NABA page is www.naba.org - but you need to go to the south Texas NABA page to see the photos.
http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/index.html
...click on the "Photos and Videos" - "Recent Rio Grande Rarities" link - it is the first link listed: Hairstreak Larvae (Rekoa sp(p))- 13-14, 2005 - Edinburg, Mission, Hidalgo Co., TX
Your help is greatly appreciated. Please help me stop this insane need to kill and pin butterflies!!! NABA should not be promoting this practice by allowing photos of dead pinned butterflies on their website when they have perfectly good photos of live ones!!!
Remember...all of us here are butterfly enthusiasts...we do our best to make our gardens welcoming and ensure their safety. Schools, libraries and our kids look at these websites. Is this what we want to show the world and teach our kids?
This is a slap in the face to all of us who work so hard at butterfly conservation.
~ Cat Traylor
Well, that's really lame. I know that there are people who collect them and all that, but when on is RARE, why not give it a chance to REPRODUCE?! Geez...are people just that selfish and stupid? I guess we all know the answer to that question.
I think that NABA should not have used it since they already had good pics. If they hadn't, then using it since it was already dead wouldn't have been doing any more harm, BUT they just encouraged them more by using it. They should have said they didn't want any part in the process of trying to make the rare butterfly extinct.
I'll go thru the sites as soon as I can and write them too. I'm sorry that it ended up feeling like you were just a pawn in their little game. You just keep up the good work and maybe you should have some rules for them if they ever want to come on your property and work with you again!
Paige
TexasPuddyPrint ..
Yep, it does sound like a purtee bad thing for an organization that normally promotes the conservation of same .. to do such .. BUT ..
... * Do ya think there's the remote possibilty that one/some of these lil rare gems had been found dead .. and these folks have merely opted to use it .. as a specimen - ? - *
Most butterflies, in general .. have short life-spans. And, to take into consideration that many fall victim to other critters (birds, bats, and other vermin I'm sure) ... Along with managing to get themselves into other natural traps .. such as spider webs, for example.
In just the last week .. I've found an astoundin' number of corpses of several butterflies and moths. Found two in a bucket that catches the water from our window air conditioner unit, one in a metal coffee can outside that I chunk used coffee grounds in, several spider webs .. and many, jes layin' around dead. < Several of those, even looked like there may have been sumthin' that took a nibble or two on them.
I'm merely offering a suggestion .. that it may could (and hopefully will be!) .. their death was 'natural' causes. As you stated: it sure would be a mitey gosh awful slap in the face ..
However, if it is (or were to be) determined .. that such a rare flutterbye was indeed sacrificed by these folks, for the sole promotion and presentation of an 'up close & more accurate' depiction of the species ... Wellllll, ya can bet yore down insulated booties, that I'd be most willin' to jump on the bandwagon and raise a WEE lil ruckus right along with you guys !!
( .. I'm apprehensive AND optimistic at the same time .. but, am hopin' for the best, here .. )
- Magpye
Magpye...
Those men drove down from upstate for the sole purpose of finding this butterfly species. This is a rare butterfly and the chances of finding live ones let alone dead ones is extremely slim. That is why Gil and I worked so hard to ensure the caterpillars pupated and the butterflies emerged safely. We didn't want to risk them being predated...but we forgot man is the worst hunter of them all.
I'd received emails and phone calls when the 'butterfly world' found out about me finding the caterpillars. They wanted me to ship them out to them...when I said no, they then asked if I'd put a butterfly in the freezer h when it emerged, pinch it's guts out when it froze to death, then mail them out. Again, my answer was NO.
So believe me, this was no accident!
I know there are many pinned butterflies in museums, collections and photographed in books - but this killling practice is no longer necessary....and it definitely has no place on a NABA website which is supposed to promote conservation.
The point I want to make is I understand the need for study and science and although I am personally against killing butterflies - I do realize some people do and that there are no laws preventing that. BUT...we need to stop NABA, who is supposed to stand for the conservation of butterflies not show a photo of a DEAD pinned one. Again, NABA already has perfectly good photos of live butterflies on there already. There is no convincing reason to show off a DEAD Pinned one...unless it is to appease the ego of collectors who killed it??? Which again, is not the right thing to do.
Please, we must tell NABA we don't want photos of DEAD PINNED butterflies on their website when they have photographs of live ones.
~ Cat
TexasPuddyPrint ..
I understand fully.
Please accept my apology for risking upsetting you any more so .. with my urge to consider otherwise ..
- Magpye
Magpye,
Thank you for understanding. This definitely has become a sore spot lately...more so when our area is having it's annual Butterfly Festival later this month. This little butterfly species will be a hot topic there and I'd like to have NABA remove that photo of the DEAD pinned marius hairstreak butterfly as soon as possible.
If possible please help by sending the south Texas NABA chapter email asking them to remove that horrid photo.
Let's keep planting those nectar and larval host plants for butterflies. Let's show off our photographs, ask questions and help each other promote butterfly conservation :o)
Many thanks ~ Cat
Puddy, I'll pull out my scathing letter pen and write them a HOT letter in the morning.
Sidney
Sidney,
Thank you...NABA will hopefully take heed and remove that disgusting photo.
Every email NABA gets is a nail in the coffin of those bad boys!
~ Cat
adding some other butterflies that have frequented my Duranta this year.
A Ruddy Daggerwing!!!
~ Cat
...and a Variegated Fritillary - I think :o)
~ Cat
LOL I was wondering how I missed this post, then looked at the dates. This was after Hurricane Katrina when we were still homeless and without a puter
Fantastic shot all of them. Duranta is a favorite of mine as well. I was given a replacement plant but it is still in a pot but blooming waiting to go into the ground
Donna,
Duranta has turned out to be a fantastic nectar source. Hummies love it too. I've got 15 firebushes on each side of my driveway. Had I known how well duranta attracted butterflies and hummies I would've planted those instead! Alas, guess it's a good thing I have them in my backyard...that way I can photograph butterflies without the neighbor's watching :o)
I get enough strange looks when I'm out in the front yard with my camera!!!
~ Cat
...and one of the little Ceraunus Blues that I raised and released this morning.
Beautiful Cat. I am seeing a Spring Azure now and talk about hard to get pics of that tiny speed demon lol
Cool photos!! I'm getting a duranta.
Peggy
Beautiful! I just love my Duranta's.
You're making me want to sort thru my pics and post some too. It's raining today (woohoo!) so I might get a chance.