This is not a very good photo, but can anyone tell from it what kind of butterfly this is? I took so many shots but they all came out badly, I've GOT to learn how to use this camera....
Can you help ID this lovely butterfly?
Oh, let me try to guess!! It's a Red-Spotted Purple. :) ??
Lily, I think you're right!!! I could've done some searching but I was too darned excited!! What a beauty, I feel so bad my photos didn't come out better. I'm going to keep a vigilant eye on the garden, hopefully she'll come back and I'll do better!! Thanks Lily!!!!
Even a less than perfect picture shows how truly beautiful they are! I looked up the Red-spotted Purple using this site (I had Florida typed in) to see if we get them here as I have never seen one. Even though they aren't listed for my county, we do get them in wide ranges in Florida, so I bet I do get them in my area, too! They have many common host trees!
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1785&chosen_state=37*North%20Carolina
Yeah! I was right!
They are very pretty, and I've seen a few around here. Congrats!
Awesome Thea!
Still waiting to see some here! I have their host plant, and like Becky they come here to my county too. :-)
You're so lucky!! Nice capture!
:-Deb
Lucky you Thea. Beautiful BF. Hope she is not laying eggs as I am sure you have your hands full still. How are the baby cats coming along by the way?
Leslie
Thea, what a beautiful butterfly!!!
Thanks everybody, yes I feel very blessed to have this beauty in my garden!
Leslie, things are hopping here, I should probably start a new thread to show the progress...... I'll do that right now!
Oh, they are SO pretty! I was just going to post one of a RSP cat. So I'll just post it here. Talk about a long-horned cat!
Linda - Oh my gosh! What a great shot of the cat! I had no idea whatsoever as to what they would look like! They almost remind me of a Giant Swallowtail cat except for those horns! LOL! That's really neat that they also look like bird droppings. Thanks for sharing the photo! :-)
Linda!
What a great looking cat that is! I love RSP! Thx for posting that excellent pic!
:-Deb
What a pretty cat....bird doo with rhinestones!
Thanks a million Linda, now I'll know what to look for!!!! My BST nursery should be emptying out within a couple of weeks........
The RSP cat is hanging and going to pupate soon!
Looks great Linda! Thanks for posting the progress!!
:-Deb
I love seeing the little guy's progress but I'm still shocked that such a beautiful butterfly starts out as this little creature that looks like he came from another planet!!!
Hi Thea!
Many of the most beautiful butterflies do have an otherworldly appearance.. This is their defense, and horribly sometimes their demise.
:-D
It makes a lot of sense.
When my BST cats evolved into their chrysalides, I thought for a short time they were pretty ugly! But as they've hung there over the past week I've really come to think of them as little works of art, so perfectly engineered. Seems they would be such cleverly disguised little packets out there in the wild.
Here is the butterfly! At least this one made it. Those colors...isn't nature amazing?
Linda, That is a beautiful RSP! What was it eating when you found it?
chris
It was on a Texas variety of black cherry, the Escarpment Black Cherry. They start out tiny. Early on, I can spot them only by the way they eat the cherry leaves. They eat from the end of the leaf back, but not the main rib of the leaf...on that they like to hang out on. Small pieces of what's left over after it eats parts of the leaf can be seen wadded up and hanging down.
Perfect Linda! Thank you!
I saw an RSP today flying around one of my black cherry trees...may have been that one. No eggs found on that tree so far. Then when I was driving by the community mail boxes a bit later I stopped to remind my neighbor, who was mowing the partly wooded area behind the boxes not to mow down several native milkweeds that showed up (wonderful surprise!) back there this year. I told him the Monarchs are here (I'm finding a bunch of eggs!). If he SHOULD mow it down, I know where he lives, you know? Nobody messes with that crazy butterfly nut! Anyway, since I had to walk by a small black cherry tree on the way back to my truck, I checked it also. And found...one green egg! Not RSP, probably...they're supposed to lay eggs on the tip of the leaf and this one was in the middle of the leaf. Will just have to wait and see what it is (of course it came home with me)!
Super Linda! Maybe it's a Tiger. The ones I had were layed on the middle of the leaves, and were green.
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/debnes_dfw_tx_1179963616_74.jpg
:-D