Another
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 9
A peek a boo through the Cuphea where you can see her little fanlike tail..
Ok just one more... I'm i love for sure!!
Absolutely beautiful pictures, Deb. : )
I wish someone would teach me how to use my camera...in plain English. lol I just don't get the macro thing.
~Lucy
I know what you mean, Lucy. My DH bought this fancy camera that came with programs any professional photgrapher would sell their eye teeth for. I have to leave it on one setting aim, and hope for the best.
Deb, love your little hummy. Is she a Ruby or Rufus?
I belive she is a Ruby, Deb...
You guys may need to go out one day and find a good scene of the kind you take mostly, and a pen & tablet. Set the settings and write them down and number corresponding with the pics. Then upload them to your computer and see which picture was the best, and note the settings.
You can do this again with something far away which takes full zoom.. and another with close-up.
Then you might have a better idea how to set your cameras for which kind of pics.
Changing and cleaning cages this morning, I noticed that the elusive Silver Spotted Skipper had come out of the leaves where I might get a better look at it.
Here in the classic coiled, bent neck position..
What cute peepers lil skipper has!
Deb, I've several female BST's laying eggs quite a bit lately. I've already collected and birthed 22 cats that just hatched in one 8 qt container, and another container with eggs. Saw another female laying eggs this morning. Plus in my large cage are 4 crystalis from June 28th.
I'm I getting over my head collecting so many at one time?
Is there anything I can do to "encourage" eclosure of the 4 crystalis in my big cage? Sit the cage in a sunny area or something?
CD - yes, sometimes it helps to get light to the chrysalises. Especially ST's. I believe they think constant dark means they should hibernate. I moved my recent BST's into more light during the daytime and they generally emerged on schedule between 12 & 13 days from forming the chrysalis.
Rod
I've moved them in their large cage to the sunny side of the patio, just off from the roof overhang. Thanks Rod.
Hoping Catbird8 is recovering well!
Deb,
Great photos of the skipper...I do hope you'll put a separate post of their life cycle. That is one gorgeous caterpillar!!!
~ Cat
Cat, I don't know if you read my post about bees taking over my "butterfly buffet," that is the logs with the brew on them, I mean they are all over them, and they have displaced the butterflies.
We used to have at least 15 or 20 butterflies on those logs most of the time and now there are none.
I am very worried about it, don't want to lose the butterflies, but i don't know how to keep the bees away.
Do you have any suggestions?
I have noticed that we have two Agastache plants that have long bloom spikes and the bees are there on those flowers very heavily, I wonder, if we removed those blooms it might be of help?
I know bees are beneficial, but I don't want them to take over.
Josephine.
Josephine,
I had trouble with bees a couple of years back so I placed pie pans and small glass flower bowl stakes in the far corners of my yard filled with a strong solution of sugar water into them. The bees quickly learned that those had a sweeter mixture and they hit up those instead of the feeders and fruit stations. Uhm...they would literally cover the pie pan or end up drowning in the bowl stake...but alas, you can't beat the bees and I found it was the perfect way to get rid of the red dye hummie mixes that I didn't want to use on my hummies.
Here's an old photo of a crazy hummie that decided to check it out anyway...dead bees and all!
oops...double posted...DUH!!!
~ Cat
This message was edited Jul 17, 2007 5:55 PM
Cat, thank you for the information, i will try it and see if we can hit a happy medium.
I will report what happens.
Josephine.
CD - thanks for the interest in Catbirds recovery. Yes, she is doing really well. In fact she is tonight at a Master Gardeners meeting, to keep here membership up to date. Has follow-up on the surgery later this week. She is a joy to live with!
Attached is one of our most recent visitors.
Rod
Every butterfly I see in y'alls pictures are nectaring on plants I don't often see. What plant is the Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on, Rod?
CD - it is one of the ones I posted on another thread about good nectar plants. Short term memory is gone, so I will have to look it up again. It is an absolute butterfly magnet, just like the duranta (golden dewdrop) and our big clump of phlox.
Rod
Nice photos, everybody! Deb, I especially appreciate the Silver Spotted Skipper Cat . I have a lot of these here, but have never, ever in my life seen a caterpillar that looked like that.
I have 3 photos for today's offerings, and this one is the one I'm most excited about -- a Pearl Crescent, I believe. I hadn't ever noticed them before. This one was only about an 1 1/4 when I first saw it, but then it sort of looked like it was puffing up its wings and sort of streatching them. I think it got to 1 1/2" or even 1 3/4 inches wide whne I snapped this. (Is that even possible?) I was able to get quite close before he got annoyed and flew off.
Suzy
And this is my ubiquitous ETS -- is that right? Take a look at his tails. He lookes like he's been into a couple skirmishes.
Suzy
And here is my Monarch -- unless it's my Viceroy. LOL! I can't tell them apart unless I have a full open shot of their wings, but there were two of them doing the hoochie koochi dance, so I'm watchin' my milkweed!
Oh, he's on a Single Dahlia -- from 'Bishop's Children' seed. These dahlias are the most popular item on the butterfly buffet in my garden including Lantana, Echinacea, Milkweed and Butterfly bush! I can only think it might be because of the height -- about 42" when the other stuff is a lot shorter. The tall Zinnias are just getting started, so maybe there will be some action there.
Rod, I hope Cat is feeling better and am thankful it was a negative assessment. If I could grow but one flower you peeps south of me all seem to have, it would be that Duranta! What a gorgeous, gorgeous flower!
Suzy
Hey! I like how the pic enlarges now when you click on it. Cool!
my babies (thru the screen) There are a total of 6 "big" ones and every bit of 10 little babies in there somewhere. You can see 5 of the big ones if you look really good. see #5?
dawn
First time I have ever seen a Monarch here!!
Of all the times for my battery to go dead. I see my first Monarch here. I'm just taking pics and not focusing very well before the battery dies.
Sweet Black ST cats Dawn!! I'm gearing up for a second rush of them too. I have been planting whichever herb host I can find. Mostly parsley available now. Still have some Fennel, and Rue.
Yours look great!
Nice Monarchs too!
Yep Suzy a pretty male EST.. Your pics are getting really good!! The SsSkipper is really cool cat. As I have seen most skipper cats have skinny necks like that,and pretty unusual looking faces. This is my crash course in skippers this year, and they're really sweet.
Rod~
What's the name of the butterfly magnet flower, did you find it yet?
Cat~ I will try to get a thread when I get a few more pics together... Today it came out and crawled around in the cage.. giving me a good chance to clean out the cage and put in some fresh A. fruicosa. What a grip those little guys have, almost felt like it was nibbling on my hand. It emmediatly began checking all the leaves of this sprig seeing which ones to silk itself back into to hide..Here doing the skipper cat cha cha>..
:-D
When I went out with my coffee this morning, several of my various cats were forming their chrysalids. GST & PVSTin their 'comma' positions. 3 of the 4 Monarchs were in the J formation and I arrived in time to watch the whole show. One was attached to the fabric, so I didn't want to open the container at that moment.. It was still way to soft to jossle. However, when I noticed the 4th one still crawling around, I grabbed a chance to slip it out into a separate cage. Here at about 8 it had been in the J for a couple hours, still no green at that time, I will go out in a minute and see if it is finished too.
Deb, your skipper cat looks like he has a ladybug on his head. I know he doesn't LOL He is a cute little fat cat! I'm sure you've said this but can you tell me again, what is A. fruicosa?
CD - Per Catbird, the bush you asked about, where I get so many of my swallowtail pictures, is a Clerodendron. Hope I spelled that correctly. It does real well as an under-story bush. I forms a rounded canopy about 8 to 10 feet high and covers about that much ground.
Rod
Illoqin and Deb
Yes, Catbird is doing a great recovery. So am I, as the threat that she had breast cancer was bearing hard on me as well. My baby sister is going through chemo at this time for breast cancer and will have to have follow-up radiation. Didn't want Catbird to suffer like that.
Deb, I had posted the answer above on the butterfly magnet, without reading the current threads. Now you know the rest of the story. The ST's seem to like the flowers on the top the best, so I am very thankful to have the Canon telephoto digital.
We have a new BST doing its thing in the kitchen. Has the harness on, just waiting for the full chrysalis stage. Also had a Spice Bush ST laying eggs yesterday on my potted Camphor Tree. What a wonderful year for butterflies and dragonflies. Now for a trip to N.M. to do some bird watching.
Rod
Another new one for my yard.
Taking a rest on a calla leaf. Sooo pretty.
chris
Yikes, wrong picture. That one should be named "the kings throne". Love his little tail sticking out the tip of the calla.
heres the real pic.....
Nice shot of the Silver Spotted Skipper Chris!! Both shots are exceptional! This is my first year to raise them. They are the cutest little cats. They silk the host plant leaves together and hide inside like a hermit crab, lol. Then they wander out after a day or so, walk around a bit, and close themselves up again. Such cuties they are! Still learning a lot about them.
One of my SS Skipper cats on leaves of False Indigo, (Amorpha fruiticosa). in the pic below~
Oh yeah Rod! A Clerodendron!! That Canon telephoto digital is really working for ya! For us too! Love those pictures! __Glad catbird is better.. godspeed to you and her both!! Good thing you are there with her through it all. Send her (gentle) hugs from all of us!
I dont think I have a host plant for her, but it sure was nice to see her flying around.
Will have to add a few more hosts next year.
I saw a different one today, At first I thought it could be a Palamedes ST, however the dots on the body, (as opposed to stripes), clearly make him just a more rare form of Black Swallowtail than is normally here in Tarrant County. Where the orange usually is on the lower ventral wing.. it was more of an off white color.
Really had me goin for a minute, LOL!
Wow, I cant believe how many variations there are. How long have you been playing with butterflies?
I hear ya Chris!
S.S. Skippers use plants in the Locust family as their larval host. I just happend to have learned about Amorpha this spring from a dear DG friend, and was very excited to see such a cool flutterby uses it!! The Southern Dogface butterfly also uses A. fruiticosa, but to date I have not seen, still waiting and hoping for those now. LOL!
Silver Spotted Skipper Caterpillar host plants:
Mossy Locust (Robinia hispida), Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), Acacia, False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa), Hog-Peanut (Amphicarpa bracteata), American Potato-Bean (Apios americana), Maryland Tick-Clover (Desmodium marilandicum), Panicled Tick-Clover (Desmodium paniculatum), Common Honey-Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), Round-Head Bush-Clover (Lespedeza capitata), Phaseolus vulgaris, Kudzu (Pueraria lobata), and Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis, Wisteria frutescens).
That gives you a lot to look around for if you're so inclined. Let me know what you come up with in your area that they might be using.
:-D
I have none of those (havent even heard of most, LOL) but neighbor has a little wisteria and there is plenty of kudzu about about 1/4 mile away.
I am gonna look up Locust and see what it is.
I think I have seen False Indigo in the plant stores. The name sounds familiar.
Yes, Seems there's always something new to learn.. That way none of us can get the 'big head' for knowing everything, LOL.
About 12 years now. But just went full force in the last couple years. DG really helped open the throttle with ways of obtaining cultivars not available in stores. More than that my friends at npot.org helped me see how native plants fit into the mix.
I'm sure if you check into all your native plants of GA, you will see that many of them are host plants to some lovely butterflies. I know some great folks in Feyetteville GA. They were very helpful to me, You might check them out sometime. It is owned by Jim and Debi Rogers. They have lots of natives, lots of host plants, and really good prices.
http://nearlynativenursery.com/
:-)