I have a little butterfly house set up, in my house. Today one of the butterflies hatched. (if that's even the proper term to use) I wanted to share a few pictures. I also got a video of him flying away, but that would be too difficult to post.
Enjoy, I sure did!
PiggyPoo:)
Another...
So pretty
Gorgeous photos!
I've got way too many in my yard this season...they've completely stripped two passiflora vines...and they still keep coming around and laying eggs! YIKES!!!
I've been fertilizing and watering those vines to help them put out new growth. I need to start planting more for next year!!!
Here's my favorite photo from my August gulf frits. I just love all that silver and the salmony pink coloring on the underside of the forewings.
~ Cat
That is an awesome photo, Cat. Now did you get that shot just naturally, like out in the open? Or do you have a butterfly house that you were able to stick your hand into? I have a butterfly house, and was able to get my new hatcher on my finger, to let it then fly away, but not any other way. My daughter was quite upset when we went to the botanical gardens here in Tucson yesterday, because "nobody" would land on her finger LOL
Lorri
These photos are beautiful. You both are gifted in photography. The subjects have beauty and clarity. Can you tell me what kind of camera you used? I am trying to establish a butterfly/hummingbird garden in my backyard for my family, my friends and myself. So far the plants have lived but I still haven't seen any caterpillars. I see a different kind of butterfly each day. The Gulf Frits were here during the last week of July, first week of August. The others I have no idea what kind of butterfly they are (except, of course, the swallowtails) and I have asked my son to get me a book on all the types of moths and butterflies in Southwestern Riverside County. Yesterday, I saw the most beautiful green butterfly with orange dots on the outside of the wings. The butterfly let me come quite close and didn't fly away like most of them. I was wishin' that I already had my camera (I do have a digital but it is not equipped to take closeups).
Take care,
Chuck Bernard
PiggyPoo,
That photo was taken of a gulf frit that had eclosed. There are so many out here that I let Mother Nature run her course. That one was hanging from it's chrysalis but was in the shade. It had probably been hanging there for about an hour before I saw it.
I let it crawl onto my finger and walked out into the sunlight so it could warm up and dry out. As I walked around my yard checking my plants and such it crawled all over my hand, arms and shoulders for about twenty minutes. I then let it crawl back on my left hand while I took photos with the right hand :o) I then lifted my hand into the air so it would get the hint and fly off.
I am raising four black swallowtail cats that I found on my rue plants. They are my first try at raising cats :o) Two have already emerged and I turned them loose in my yard. Am still waiting on the other two to make their debut. Since I have the cat-house inside my house it's a bit cool for them (78 degrees inside my house). They are extremely docile when they emerge. I let them pump and dry their wings for a couple of hours then take them outside to set them free.
--- just make sure you don't have any perfume, cream/lotion, bug repellants or any kind of chemicals and such when you let them the crawl onto your hands.
Hackberry butterflies are notorious for landing on people. If you're in an area where they are flying around, chances are one will surely come land on you and crawl around on your shirt or head all on it's own volition.
~ Cat
This message was edited Oct 3, 2005 10:17 AM
Charles...
I use a dinosaur of a camera. It's a Sony Mavica FD91 that has a built in 14x zoom lens. It also has a movie feature with sound.
Although it's a tad heavy (2 pounds) - which you start to feel when holding the camera very still for a close up shot but it has a "steady shot" feature that compensates for tired trembling arms :o)
...and best of all...it used 3.5 diskettes. I love that...because I just pack up my camera case and carry alot a gob of diskettes to swap out. Makes it so much easier to view them on any computer and requires no software or wires etc.
I recently purchased additional lenses for it - a telephoto converter and a macro with a macro wide lens. The macro wide can be removed and I can just use the single macro lens - which works great if the critter cooperates and let you get up close and personal. I'm still practicing.
I keep telling myself I should upgrade...bought this one used for a $100 three years ago - and I can't rationalize paying $400+ for a new digital one when this one still does a good job.
...but if someone invented a camera with a flash/jump drive to store the photos it takes...now that's another story :o)
~ Cat
ps...now that I think of it...there may be such a camera on the market now...I haven't looked lately.
Hi Chuck,
Let me tell you already, if you haven't figured it out, you are so in the right spot with DG, and Cat is a very knowledgeable person for the butterflies.
My camera isn't anything special. I actually purchased it specifically for the butterflies, because like you, I'm in the process of putting together a butterfly garden, as well. My camera is an Olympus D-545 Zoom. It was under $200, and has a 4.0 megapixel, with a super macro zoom. It's extremely lightweight, and uses a memory card (which was sold separately) Cat's camera sounds like a true gem, because of the convienance of using the diskettes and no extra software/programs on her pc to view and manage the pictures. That's a bit tedious, but so enjoyable I'm sure either way.
I was so happy to find out this morning, that I am in the same zone as Cat is. It looks as if you are in zone 9, as well. I've actually been to Perris Ca. Grew up in San Diego, but my hubby was out in the Perris area, building the big dam that is out there.
You mentioned that your plants were all living, but not caterpillers. For the Gulf Fritillary's, you'll want to start some passion vine. That is their host food. Here are a few sites that I have found that will show you some of the different host foods and nectar foods for different butterflies.
http://www.naturealmanac.com/archive/butterfly_garden/
http://www.sasionline.org/butgard/plants.html
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/allabout/Garden.shtml
Happy gardening
PiggyPoo:)
Lorri
