Thanks Judy! One of the many reasons I love living in TX...There is a sweltering heat that goes with all this butterfly action also. I will send what I can..lol. "Now go to Judy's house lil butterflies!"
So far I think I have about a half dozen - 7 little Orange Dogs.. They are at 6/16ths", and growing.
There are 6 BST chrysalids done in the hanger now, and about 6 more of various sizes here in this cage.
Oh! That's so exciting to see so many GSTs!!!! I am still waiting on my lone one to emerge! His chrysalis has gotten a bit darker, but not much.
Here's one of the few butterfly photos I've been able to take (due to so few butterflies). It's the LAST Gulf Fritillary to be released out of all those that I hand-raised. I have no idea where the 25-30 went after I released them. (I forgot how many I actually had.) I see maybe one or two around my yard off and on, but that's it! Such a mystery! I still think they packed up and headed to Deb's place in Texas!!! lol
This message was edited Jun 10, 2007 9:16 AM
What a nice shot!
Great shots everyone! DH and I have been busy painting and rearranging rooms. But I did take time this afternoon to put out some fresh BF bait and got takers right away!
The Question Mark on the bait out back....
And the Hackberry Emperors in the front yard.
We spotted a Fritillary near by on the Passion Vine where Ben and Debnes released a bunch of cats a couple weeks ago.
Back out front we got a shot of a Pearl Crescent.
This message was edited Jun 10, 2007 11:17 PM
What an unusual and natural hanging bait feeder! First time I've seen one!
Thanks for posting your pictures and hurry up with the inside remodeling so you can get out for more pictures. LOL
That remodeling is an ever going job! I keep trying to convince DH to retire this year! I only have one year left, can't wait! I want to be able to sit outside or go to a garden spot and not care when I get home!
Oh, this isn't a critter, but hopefully it will be a host for one. It is a Pipevine, gigantea. The bloom is huge now, don't know how big it will be when it opens.
Oh and this makes six tiny BSTcats inside that were on my Rue! They are getting fatter by the day!
What great pics Sheila!
Looks like the Gfrits know where you are now. Was that one on the pv ovipositing?? If so, you are officially in business now, lol! You probably have chrysalids hidden all over the place. Nice bloom on the gigantea! That last pic looks like a GST, not a BST...:-)
Becky you will be inundated with frits before ya know it!:-).
Deborah, Do you have the brew recipe? Here it is if anyone needs it>
http://www.theletteroflove.com/wallpaper/index.php?paged=4
Hopefully we will get the gazebo set up on the deck today.....
It was a good day for bflies yesterday, here are a few pics..
Grandson helping me release anothe Gulf Fritillary>
Here on the Veronica continuing to dry his wings... Another frit comes by to greet him..
At least a half dozen Cabbage whites all over the Nasturtium... Here are of the 'mates'.
This message was edited Jun 11, 2007 7:35 AM
A couple Black STs laying more eggs on their Parsley. Here is one of them>
Giant ST back ovipositing on the Zantholylum clava, and another Zantholylum.. Seems to be what their preference here so far.. The BST are using the Rue, Fennel and Parsley.
I'm off to drench all the roots with seaweed and finish setting up the deck..
:-Deb
Loved the photo of your grandson and the GF! That caring look is what I see all the time at my school. The kids are so careful and interested observing and holding butterflies and cats. It's the sweetest thing to see!! Love it!
Glad to see the Nasturtiums are a magnet for your Cabbage Whites! So pretty!
I have parsley, fennel, and dill in my herb garden. The BSTs always go for the dill first. Then the parsley and if neither of the others are there, then they go for the fennel. But they love the dill for some reason. :-) Unfortunately, it must make them taste good to the birds because they seem to search for the cats to eat. Happened again before I could get the cats into cages. Birds flew down and got a tasty snack. Grrrr .....
What's the advantage of using seaweed?
I've bookmarked the brew. Thanks Deb!
I've got Cabbage Whites and Nasturtiums too. Yea! Thanks Becky for helping me connect the two!
I've got parsley and dill growing together. It's a smorgesborg (sp) Got BST eggs. Waiting to see Cats.
Yea, seaweed? Tell us.
Oh .... am I "special" or what!? Photos 2 days in a row of flutterby visitors! lol I actually got a photo today of a little skipper. Looks like a clouded skipper! Love those antennas! LOL! Notice he's dining on my purple porterweed! That plant is blooming like crazy now and back in action!!! Seems it hardly even lost any leaves when I dug it up and moved it to the backyard! I'm so relieved. That's the one plant in my yard that gets every butterfly visitor to dine on it's blooms!!! Yipee!
Here is a white peacock with wings closed that I found posing on the hibiscus this morning.
Ooooh! Nice one, Sue!!!
Thanks, Becky. My daughter took my camera on a trip so I have borrowed my husband's. I am finding that his camera is much better than mine!
Thanks Deb for the correct ID! I am even more excited then to have GSTs!!
Sheila, I'm very excited too. She (GST) came by again today.. Where am I gonna put all these cats, LOL! I have taken in a few, but I would like to see them make it out there.. Their camoflague is such a great advantage over their cousin's (BST's), brightly stripped bands. I'm thinking their chances are pretty good. The more they begin to look like a blob of bird doo the safer they become.
Sue, Your WPeacock pic is beautiful..DH might have to trade cameras with you..haha!
Becky, That Skipper is adorable.. I am becomming very fond of those big shiney eyes.
Great Deborah, You have Parsley and Dill.. I should get more Dill myself. The fragrance is so strong, I love it! When there is Dill in the patch the BSTs seem to dive into that first. They can probably sniff it out from a long way away.
Becky, The Dill makes the cats taste like little pickles to the birdies...LOL! I keep adding to the cage now. There are about a dozen assorted sized in there now, and 2 more chrysalids made as of today.
One of the eclosed this morning in the screen box, along with Gulf Fritillaries. They all behaved themselves very well.
The Black Swallowtail was a male, and he was a sweetie. He flew straight for the Cosmos patch to hang a while longer before leaving.
The frits were even more friendly. I let one go and it was more than ready, the other one had eclosed just then and needed more time. The first one found a nice spot on the pipevine, because of the way the sun was shining on it. So I put his brother over there with him to dry in the sun. They hung around all day long.
:-Deb
Deb - You need to open up your gardens for a tour and charge admission to see the butterflies in various stages! :-) Looks like it'd be a great tour!
How did the gazebo turn out? I want to see photos!!!!
Still more on the gazebo.. SIL finished the deck today, and tomorrow will (hopefully) get the gazebo set up. Then DH and I go to pick out some really good furniture, and all that jazz. I will probably take some pics to show then. The gazebo is 10x10x10, and the deck is 12x16, so I would have a lot of raised space out there. All of that is still growing in my imagination, LOL...
and haha, I wouldn't charge admission, I couldn't get by with it. I would need a permit. The city would want a cut of the action, LOL! Then it is 2007, not like the old days when we could trust strangers better. When I think of the public, I think people might want to use my restroom.. I couldn't put my family at risk. How good it is, that I have a site and DG to share what I am doing here. I need to totally rework my site...everything about the cats, chrysalids, butterflies, and host plants after this season. So much new stuff!
I like that picture because you get to see the topside of one's wings and the bottom of the other's. I love the bsts. I hope some of my cats make it. I have not yet made it to the cat protection stage of this adventure, but at the moment I have about 6 bst cats on my flat leaf parsley. There is the curly right next to it, but they don't seem to touch that. My little bit of dill is not doing well. I think it prefers our winters. However, I am not too worried, because there is a lot of parsley.
Debnes, I had three cats just like this (GST) on the Rue last month, and they one by one dissappeared. The last did make it to the bird poop stage, lol! I think the wasps or spiders got them. So when I saw these, I wanted to try to avoid the quick exit. I have left two out there and see another egg. One cat is a GST and the other is the banded BST. I will let nature take it's course with them and see if they make it.
I'm so new at butterfly gardening, I'm hesitant to talk much about their life stages. I am too curious to keep my ignorance under cover, though, so here's a question for y'all: Where are my cats going to hang to cystallis (see I don't even know how to talk or spell BF talk)? The eggs are in a bed of parsley, then there's a trellis with a mandavilla vine, mexican petunias, daylilies and African Daisies. The bed is just off my concrete patio and the front is just the grassy yard. Do you think they'll turn into bfs by staying in the confines of that particular bed or crawl off somewhere past the grass or concrete?
Deborah:-),
They usually dont travel too far away, I would guess within 10 yards and most often pretty close. They blend in so well with the leaves and branches that they are super hard to find. I know if I didn't collect them practically none would survive here, Too many birds can't resist them. I can tell you that once you get a system down and a good space, it becomes pretty easy to keep BSTs. They get along well together in all stages. I've been changing out the plant every 3-4 days. I make a boquet of all the hosts I found them on and stick it in a plastic container with rocks in the bottom to keep it from tipping. I cut a hole the size of the boquet stems. I remove the eaten plant with cats on and place them in a large plastic storage tub while I sweep and wipe out the cage. I put the new plant into the cleaned cage. Then I cut the stems any cats are on and lay them inside the new host plant branches inside the cage. I remove any chrysalids at this point too. When the cats have crawled onto the new leaves, I take the cut pieces out of the cage. Meanwhile I got a tiny brush and dustpan to sweep it out every day. I may have to step up all this pretty soon. I am up to 12 cats from 1/4" - 2" and at least 2 eggs that were on the new cuttings. There must be at least 2 -3 dozen more eggs out there still, so it might get busy.
If I left some of the species , I am pretty sure only 1 or 2 would make it all the way. Some species that begin here as eggs are unprotected and that still happens, only a fraction survive. Finding out more and more lead me to this point, and I am so glad to know and be able to do something about it.
Hopefully next year I'll be knowledgeable enough to make a cage and raise them too. Right now, I'm trying to grow the host plants for the BF's that are in my area. It's so rewarding to find BF's laying eggs on the newly planted host plants. I suppose you have to start some where. The care package of seeds you sent me last year, in addition to the milkweed seeds that Don in Fla sent me gave me my start to this wonderful addiction.
I wonder if a net of some sort could be placed over the bed to keep the birds out in liu of a cage?
Deb - You've got better odds for the caterpillar survival rate in your yard than I do! Less than 1% make it to the butterfly stage in my yard because of all the predators. Wasps, Lizards, Cuban Tree Frogs, and Birds line up to feast on my helpless little cats! :-(
But ... I have too much fun hand-raising them either way! Love to watch their daily progress and growth! And oh my! When they emerge from their chrysalis .... that's the biggest reward! So beautiful! And then it's out to the yard in freedom they go! :-)
No rush Deborah! Ease into it... It took me almost 10 years to get here, and you are definatly making good progress! Toward the end of the season is a time to consider too. Last fall I had several BST chrysalids that overwintered for about 5 months.
Becky, the host gardens are very compact and it is fairly easy for me to spot them. SO many still fall through the cracks. I am gaining on it.. whohooo!
Whoo Hoo! Looks what was ovipositing on my Passion Vines!
I believe the GF have arrived! LOL!
This message was edited Jun 12, 2007 6:30 PM
Becky,
I still have very few butterflies compared to last year. It looks like your numbers are down too. I wonder if the drought has something to do with it.
Milkweed seeds anyone?
The butterfly weeds seems to be in full force here. There are about 6 plants that grow wild here and this is the best batch of blooms I've had. Sure hope I get a seed pod or two.
How 'bout a game of "King on the Mountain"?
