Here is a Great Purple Hairstreak! He was moving his back wing near the coloring constantly. They do that to fool a preditor I read. I never saw the top side of the wings, he was too fast!
My best shots of the week.
This one I haven't gotten and ID on yet. Anyone know? I love the shape of the wings.
Another angle with the underside of the wings.
I also found three first instar cats on my Rue this week. I think they are Giant Swallowtails. Anyone want to confirm for me?
Sheila, I think your second butterfly is a Question Mark, and the little cats are GST for sure.
Yea!! I was hoping I was right. I saw a GST flitting around the bush a few weeks before but could never get close enough to see eggs. (Still can't bend over) LOL!
Thanks for the id, I will need to go look up and record it, thanks!
Great GPH!!! Look at the abdomen on that one...am wondering if it was a gravid female? Did you happen even get a teeny glimpse the topside? If it had lots of vibrant turquoise blue it was a male...duller topside would be a female.
Good going on the Question Mark too...those are so skittish out here...they spook easily. Have false nettle planted this year so I do hope a female will make use of it.
Congrats on the rue cats. This was also my first year for having GSTs on my rue. It is always used by the Black Swallowtails and the GSTs use the citrus trees...but it was a nice surpise to find them on my rue. Which to make it better...one caterpillar turned out to be an Ornytion Swallowtail.
Thanks for sharing those excellent photos!
~ Cat
Thanks for the input Cat! I will keep trying to see the topside of the GPH, they are hanging out on the shrub next door. I do think that one was a female too.
What a nice week you had Sheila!! GPHS~ Beautiful~ Orange dogs(GSTcats)!!!! How cool!! Have ya made any brew bait yet? QMarks flock to it here. They liked the privet too, as I can see you have the ligustrum... Blooms are fading on the one I have. , and they are sipping up the brew.
The ligustrum has brought lots of butterflies here this year. Great pictures Sheila!!
:-)
Shiela,
If those GPH are hanging out close by there may be mistle around. Look it over if it's within reach. They use that as a larval host. Nobody on here has been able to find their eggs, caterpillars or chrysalids yet :o) Hope you do!!!
~ Cat
Love your photos, Sheila!
Congrats, Sheila on the GST cats!!! Awesome!!! I made the mistake of adding the tiny babies together in a small cage and the larger one ate the littlest one. So I separated the other two apart. But the middle size one didn't make it either. Not sure why. But the larger one is still hanging in there. I say that because he eats and then stops eating for a day. Really weird. Anyone raise these cats before. Their eating and growing habits are most odd.
Thanks all of you!
No Deb, I haven't gotten around to doing it yet, still want to. Right now I am fighting bees and ants at my hummer feeders! I saw one hummer a week a go and none since. I have to clean the feeders daily because of ants, and the bees do not like me taking them in either. I wonder if the bait would attract ants and bees? Guess I could move it every day to a new place to fool the ants, the bees I don't mind.
Cat...I am sure we have mistletoe in the area somewhere, most all of the older oak trees in this area have some. Don't think I have any in the immediate area though. Doubt I could get close enough if I did, since my back surgery last month I do good to climb stairs!
Becky.. I am not going to capture these babies, I didn't have good luck before with them, so I am just going to see if nature will prevail. They are in a center yard bed and I am checking for spiders etc. too. We had a really bad rain storm the other day, and I haven't looked close to see if they all made it through it, but I hope so.
Great pics Sheila!!!
Sheila, Not so much ants if it is put fairly high..It's more flies...yeah fruit flies..all different colors, lol. When butterflies are all over it they keep the flies shewed away, and it is well worth having the bait for the M Cloaks, HBEmperors, Red Admirals, Question Marks, etc.. that will flock to it~ even with the flies, imo.
Thanks!
I looked at my cat babies, and only see one now. I have one egg on that plant too. I noticed a wasp in the area and hope it isn't going to get the little feller. If so, the next ones I see will go into the cage. Hopefully I can get another plant to use there.
Sheila, they move around and hide, I have two on my Herculis Club, and the move around a lot, sometimes they get on the branches and they look jut like them, so you can hardly see them.
I love your pics, Sheila!
Becky, cats sometimes stop eating before they shed. As far as eating each other, the instructions that came with my LM cats stated to keep them separate because they could nip each other if the food source ran low. I suppose that could be true for GST cats too.
Better luck next time :)
Maria
Yes Josephine they have astounding camoflague!
Maria - I know that usually cats do stop eating when shedding an instar. But every day???? That seems to be what this lone Giant Swallowtail I have is doing. I don't get it! This cat is very different than what I usually see cats do. He hasn't died and is still growing so ...... gotta believe his behavior is the norm. It's just really strange.
Also, in the past, I usually separate cats to prevent them from hurting each other. But these cats were very tiny when this happened. Usually when they are that little they don't attack each other until they are like at their 3rd or 4th instar. Which is why I didn't separate them after they hatched from their eggs. Now I know. Don't ever put the GST cats together regardless of their age or size. :-/ Lesson learned for sure!