DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 11

Continuing from earlier thread...

Finally snapped a pic of my new zebra longwing! Two of them were on my bougainvillea.

The yellow guy finally sat still; I couldn't believe it! I can't tell the difference in the yellow ones so I'll let you guys decide.

Along with the zebra longwing I saw this guy. I think it's a long-tailed skipper; tell me if you agree. He was enjoying the bougainvillea for a long time. That's why I got such a great shot! I kept yelling at him to hold still and I finally snapped a great shot. I'm really proud of this one!

The duskywings stay on the blanket flowers, but I didn't see the Gulf Frit today.

Then I saw this moth in the yard. Anyone know what it is? Should I be excited? I thought the colors on it were very pretty.

I was just going through my pics and thought you might want to see the color on the top of the skipper.

Ok folks, I went outside to check on those white things, and while some of them had broken open, the only thing I see an increase in is those stupid no-see-ums/gnats that want to land right in my eyelashes! Unfortunately, I think I know what happened to my Gulf Frit chrysallis. I saw an ant going to town on it. I don't know if the ants started the attack, or if they are just taking advantage of the remains. I didn't think the ants were a problem? The ants live in the middle of my oak tree among all the litter and debris that collects where the trunks meet. Here's a pic...

I flipped the chrysallis up and here's what it looked like. You see where something dug in? That's where the ant was, but I don't know if it caused it or not.

Melanie,
Ya gotta bring those baby's inside!! It's a big big dangerous world!

Adrienne



ps nice shot of the Zeb!!

Hello Adrienne :-) o/~
Hey Mel, Nice pics! Thank you for starting this new thread. I really appreciate it. I was about to apologize for letting #10 go so long and looked and found this, good thing I looked, lol! TY!!

Ya know the ant wasn't the culprit. Ants are frass clean up crew mainly, post mortem disposal. Something had already gotten the wee baby frit, er go the blob of sap on the end of it's chrysalis. Sorry about it tho, I know it feels aweful to loose just one little cat. ((Mel)) With ya girl:-). Rips me up!

Guess what was keeping me you guys?? I was comizerating over a cat I found. I had to make double dog sure that it was a Buckeye before telling anyone. You know how wishful thinking is?

Well it definatly is a Common Buckeye cat!!!

I couldn't tell where it had come from bc I found it on a couple of weeds. These cats are pretty hard to ID for their stark similarity to several other brushfoot bf cats. Anyway, it looks like it is in it's latter instar. Still wondering where any other cats could be, however they do lay their eggs singly.

So far it is eating some Veronica, but I also have a Ruella. This is halarious...because I planted Agalinis to attract and raise them, and none of the Agalinis came up. LOL Still got one solitary Buckeye cat!!! Yippy!! I am beside myself..

:-Deb

Don't worry folks, I went to Jo-Ann fabrics last night and bought some of those mesh hamper things. I even picked the brown color ones because I thought it would look more natural to the cats! (I'm so silly.) The cashier lady said how they were selling well and I told her I was going to use it to raise butterflies. She and the lady behind me in line thought that was really interesting. I planted some of my passiflora "Incense" and placed the hamper over it and set it on the patio. Dad just re-screened the patio so the lizards and squirrels can no longer come and go as they please. Here's what it looks like...it's sitting on top of an old fishtank. I thought about using the fishtank stand but I'll have to do some work on it first. Maybe I could get a terarrium type thing happening (would that work?). Oh, and the butter dish was what I used for my caterpillar transport. I only have one in there right now because my vine isn't big enough for a bunch of hungry, hungry caterpillars. I just brought the biggest one who I figured was about to make a chrysallis. I've got another one that I think will be ready in a few days.

This message was edited Jul 28, 2007 3:08 PM

I tried putting Fatty (that's what I named him) on the vine but he ended up circling the rim of the pot instead. He eventually ran into the vine again and crawled up and did what any good caterpillar does - he started munching away!

I was actually in the garden working today. I had to beat back the weeds that took over while I was on vacation. It doesn't help that all this Florida sunshine combined with rain every day is making some monster-sized weeds. Of course, I kept getting distracted by all the butterflies. My usual Gulf Frit was around but it must be a male because he skipped the passion vine and just wanted to nectar on everything. I was following him with my eyes when I saw...a giant-sized Tiger Swallowtail! I tried to chase it around the tree and follow it but I swear it disappeared into thin air. I think it must have been a ghost because I never saw it again and usually I at least see them fly by a couple times. I even kept a close eye on the plumbagos but no luck. : ( That was ok though because I saw one of my zebra longwings. They better start laying eggs soon, but today it was flying back and forth between the bougainvillea and the porterweed (which has now established itself and is blooming quite well). I was weeding under the bougainvillea and it flew right above my hat; they are so much fun to watch.

The ZLs seem to be very exploratory bfs. I watched it fly over and through a lot of my plants, and it even shunned my plumbagos! I liked when it landed on my begonia bloom and took right off like, "No, that doesn't taste good at all!" This one really liked the bougainvillea and the porterweed. I like how they have a little red on the underside.

The yellow guy actually stopped in again for some blanket flower goodness.

This little hairstreak was hanging out on the plumbagos as usual. I was trying to get another pic when all of a sudden - a lizard pounced! I saw the bf go right and the lizard go left so I think everyone was all right. I yelled at the lizard, even though I do love them. But this was a brown Cuban anole and I really prefer the green (native) anoles so I kicked the shrub he was on a few times to chase him off. I saw one of the anoles eat a moth off the Spanish Needles the other day and I was yelling, "Bad lizard!" Why can't they eat all the mosquitoes in my yard, hmm?

Here's another pic of my yellow guy for you. I was thinking how amazing it is that I have such a diversity of bfs in my yard. I don't even get pictures of all the ones I see. Like there was a dark, medium to small bf flying in my oak trees, but he wouldn't come down close enough for a pic. Oh, and those dainty sulphurs are nearly impossible to catch! Plus, that swallowtail flew by me again (maybe a Black ST). By the way, I've had some pipevine (bought at the USF fest) but I hadn't planted it anywhere yet, so today I moved it over to caterpillar corner. Since the passion vine is on the fence, I placed a trellis a few feet in front of it and the pipevine is going to grow up it. It has a small bloom on it too, so I can't wait until that opens up - they're so weird and unusual! Let's hope some bfs find it soon. I saw a PVST at USF and it was soooo pretty - Mom and I were like, "Oooooh." What will be really nice is when it cools down and I can sit outside and just watch them without melting (or having to fear being hit by lightning).

Melanie

Duh totally forgot - yea for the buckeye! They are so pretty. Isn't it funny how nature just works whatever way it wants? We plan, and we plot, and Mother Nature thwarts us all! What a cool surprise. Don't you think it's neat how sometimes you can look at the cats and see the same colors they have as bfs?

Hi Adrienne! I feel happy to have ZLs in the yard, but I keep wondering when they'll figure out I have passion vine and leave me a gift!

Got a Monarch today! Well, in fact, I had two, but only one agreed to pose.

Thanks Mel, and super pics.. Funny story about the Anole, lol. Yep it is interresting how the colors are similar or same as the butterflies. What throws us off is how the colors are arranged, haha. And then there comes a green chrysalis in the mix that turns out orange. Things that make ya go "hum". :-)

Melody so nice to see the Monarchs there. I expect to get more ovipositors myself soon, if not, at least a lot on their way back south. I hope I will be able to keep up with them. I was about to dmail you about the Buckeye Cat and then I found a site that had it's twin, lol. Do you have this one yet?
http://www.giffbeaton.com/caterpillars.htm

:-Deb

Great site Deb! got it bookmarked!

Got a couple of Buckeyes mating a while ago, but my card reader is at home and I'm in the office....they'll have to wait.

I was finally able to get a pic of this Giant ST beauty sipping from a Penta.

Breathtaking Roxanne! This is a good year for them! One of the 3 eggs I have been sitting on just hatched today.:-).

Sure, later is cool Melody, but I'd like to see it.:-)

Oh you are soooo lucky, I would love to get some eggs!

Deb, I haven't tried actually sitting on the eggs yet! So....you really think it helps?

Here's my Buckeye pair...I don't think they were actually doing the deed....but there was 'intent' for sure!

ROFL Linda.. I'm not even going to try to explain myself, lol. All I will say is it worked! hehe

Melody! What a super good pic of the 2 Buckeyes! Is it alright if use it for the presentation this Saturday? People must see how beautiful they are so they will be careful not to kill their caterpillars crawling underfoot. I am putting in credits DG names and real names, (if I am given full name.) If you have a photo site I can reference the link to it also.

:-Deb

Sure Deb...anything I've got, you're welcome to...check my BugFiles entries and use anything there. I don't have a photo site...anything worth showing is posted here on DG somewhere.

I've got tons of Buckeyes right now. They chase everything in the garden...pretty territorial little beasts for sure.

My real, full name is Melody Rose. I have no problems with anyone knowing that either. I do a bit of writing, and my name's out there anyway.

Thank you Melody!
Might get a few people sigining up as members when they see the great DG pics I have borrowed for the slide show. This is a great little community!

:-D

Drove out to the ranch today for a look-see around. It rained about 3 inches during the week there and although the puddles had evaporated I came across a bunch of Poodleheads puddling (Southern Dogfaces). A few checkered skippers flitting around them but never could get a photo of them landing in the mix...so here's the puddling poodleheads along with one Large Orange Sulphur on the west side that blends in so well. :o)

~ Cat

ps...love that Zebra...they are always a garden favorite. Congrats on the Buckeye cat!!! I see those Longtailed Skippers each year - do hope they'll make use of the blue pea vine I planted this year for them. Gotta love that turquoise coloring!

This message was edited Jul 28, 2007 9:58 PM

Arf Arf!! Awesome capture Cat! How'd ya get them to line up so straight?

Wow!

It was funny when a breeze blew through them...they all swayed in unison :o)

Here's a cute little Common Sootywing. Also saw the usual Pipevines, Gulf Frits, GSTs and there's were hundreds of Snouts on the move again. Also seems to be an emergence of Common Mestras and Buckeyes. Never have been able to find what Common Mestras use as a larval host (tragia) but there's gotta be lots of it because there were lots on the wing. There's plenty of native plantago for Buckeyes but I have yet to see any caterpillars...and even less likely, their elusive eggs.

~ Cat

Ah...and there's also a few White Striped Longtail Skippers flitting about. I have checked so many Snout Bean vines it's unreal...but I have yet to find eggs or even some caterpillars. Guess I need to research milk peas ???? Read they use that also.

Am always thrilled to see these Longtailed Skippers...I love their markings :o)

~ Cat

Some of those cats and eggs must be under the thatch is what I'm thinking.. Some of their host plants are close enough to the ground for them to hide in less disturbed fields and garden areas.

Nice shots of the sooty and longtails!

Cat I counted about 7 ss skippers in the shorter indigo bush today. They are closed up so nicely. When I cage them the leaves dry up so fast that they don't want to spin inside them. This one I have in a container is trying to silk the fabric shut. Wonder if I should put the container in a paper sack with holes in it. What do you think?

Cat - I just adore the photo of the puddling Sulphurs! I can imagine them swaying in the breeze! I had no idea that they did that (puddling)! Is that something that most all species of butterflies do? All your photos are so good! :-)

Rox and Melody - Once again ladies ---- you've got some great shots of beauties!

Deb - This thread moves so fast I can hardly keep up! I haven't seen any skipper cats anywhere in my yard. As far as the paper sack goes, what the hey ..... give it a try and see what happens! :-)

Yeah Becky, These SKippers seem to like their privacy, (and shade). Will try to 'digitally' capture some of their hideouts today.

:-D

Thanks ya'll :o)

Deb...have you tried using wet floral foam to hold your cuttings? If they are like most skippers they wrap themselves up so they are completely hidden. They still venture out to feed and will make biggers nests as they continue to grow. If you have enough indigo you can continue to replace the old cuttings with new ones. Leave the older cuttings in there and the caterpillars will crawl over onto the news ones to start the nest making again.

The wet floral foam does help to keep the cuttings fresher longer. I buy it at walmart and any craft store should have it. Once a piece gets too dirty I through it anyway and put in a fresh piece.

This is a photo of a container with wet floral foam in it - I added a citrus cutting with a GST egg on it. It stayed green for about seven days...and I was able to add fresh cuttings when the egg hatched.

Also realized the cuttings stay fresher if I keep them indoors as opposed to outside on the back porch - where the air temperature is in the high 90's to the 100's. The water just evaporates a lot faster when they are outside so I must keep adding water to the wet floral foam. I usually leave all the caterpillars outside since the cold temps inside the house slows them down.

~ Cat

That looks great Cat!
I've been using wet foam for quite some time now, lol. It is what I have reccommended using for keeping cuttings, particularly in a cage. I wrap them in foil and fold everything upward and put a piece of duct tape across all the seams. Poke holes the size of the stems, fill with water, then stick plant in and serve. It is a strong factor in the 'Quick & Easy Cat Cage", (see thread for more details, batteries not included.) Wet foam is a great idea, I learned it from you and Paige almost a year ago. Thanks!

Today was a trip! Where to begin... A Monarch came and layed some eggs while I watched. Good thing too bc those eggs are the dickens to find. I was looking for yellow barrel shaped eggs..oO Thinking, "hum, I still have a few aphids.. How in the world will I tell them apart, even with a magnifying glass?" Turns out she was laying white eggs, which made it much easier. Still found only 7 so far, but I am very content. Yes, she layed more eggs than that, over 2 different patches of MW, but I was going cross-eyed and it was muy caliente'.

Same thing with Gulf Frits.. I've perused the vine for days now and I have witnessed them actually ovipositing. I expected to find cats, but kept finding nothing.. Then there is the matter of a couple of little Bewick Wrens, which are much better at finding the cats than I am. So I decided to watch for when the eggs are laid and collect all that I could find. The one cat I found was 1 of only 2. I was fixing the cage and a weird marked bug the size of a lady bug was drinking the life out of it. I was too late for the one, right on time for the other, whew. The other eggs will hatch in a few days, and it will have some company.
Results tally... about same as the Monarch eggs (about 7),.. again.. I am content with that.

Pic

Gulf Fritillary egg