DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 16

Continued from: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/763045/
Greetings all!
I put off making a new thread because we were getting so many new people showing us their great butterfly pics. The page is beginning to take too much time to load. Another thing it's easy to keep track of staying close to 100, (ie., we know there are over 1500 posts since May.) Wow!
I am delighted to see so much success with people just starting to raise butterflies. See it's not as hard as it looks, lol. Conservation is the main thing, and we have all really done so much toward that this year! Congratulations everyone! Make yourselves at home~:-S

I love you guys!!

Deb
Here is one of the 2 Giant Swallowtails raised here, just eclosed yesterday!

One of the Silver Spotted Skippers made it's chrysalis.. Here is a shot I snagged when it was halfway through>

As I said a few days ago, the Cloudless Sulphur cats morphed. I waited a few days to tie them with up dental floss, and put them back inside the cleaned cage tied to a piece of lace. They were assorted colors, and one looked a little strange so I have it in a separate quick cage.
Details:
I carefully scraped the silk from the plastic surfaces and tied the floss to it. The lace has big enough holes to thread the floss through. Used small safety pins to put the lace strip inside the cage. (The pink one had attached to a leaf, so that was a lot easier.).

Along with those Sulphurs, a few Frits, some Black Swallowtails, the Tersa Sphinx also morphed.

Ah Deb, that swallowtail is so pretty. I have about 10 black ones that still have a few days until I get to see them. : )

Mark....300 ????? Oh MY! : ) And it's not like I can just go to the store and get one around here. lol I better put out some feelers.

Your garden looks prettier every time I see it.
~Lucy

Lucy

You will be lucky............... there aren't that many available in the USA.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww maybe i will send you one or two corms to plant!!!!!!

Thank you............... Always trying to keep it looking good.

Have to be up early tomorrow, that woman is coming to take some photos for a magazine.

Mark

How awesome!! Photo shoot and all! I hope it inspires their readers to plant lots of Crocosies!

This afternoon there is a lot of activity out there.. All kinds of wingers.. Tiger STs, Giant ST's, lots of Glf Fritillaries, a few Sulphurs, (males too quick to capture pics), lots of Crescents, several Hummers and a male Queen sneaking around in the Blue Mistflowers..>

It's Melanie's birthday e'rbody!!! Don't forget to razz her a lot, lol!


\::::/
_||_ ...............(Champagne) CHEERS Mel!!


Here's another hummie pic from a while ago.. a juvie male Ruby Throat looking right at me, haha!

This message was edited Aug 31, 2007 4:30 PM

This message was edited Aug 31, 2007 4:32 PM

Another shot with the cutie feet in mid air.. :-S

You know, Deb, it's funny. I don't believe I have seen a Monarch yet, but I have plenty of Queens. Everytime I look it's a Queen laying the eggs. Queens, Frits, Sulphers, and zebras are what I see the most. And of course, bunches of hairsteaks.

Good Luck with the shoot tomorrow, Mark. I know everything will be just beautiful. : )
~Lucy

Ah, look at his lil red spot starting. How cute. : )

Thanks everyone! I'm only 28 this year, so in two years you can really tear into me! I was teasing with Mom and saying maybe my cat was waiting to be my birthday present. He still isn't gift-wrapped, but he seems to be contemplating it. He's at a sharper angle today than he was yesterday and he's lost all of his orange color. Check it out...
Melanie

This message was edited Aug 31, 2007 6:00 PM

It was hard taking his picture because it just poured down the rain (a real frog strangler, as we say around here) and it was very dark. Plus, I was trying not to move him because he shakes on his little tether and that can't be good for him. He's probably tired of the paparazzi and the the camera flashes, too!

Mom saw a bf today on the bougainvillea I planted right in front of the window of her office (she picked it out and I have it on a trellis that oddly enough has a butterfly decoration). I guess she got so excited she came out and got my book to look it up. Then, she emailed me to let me know it was a zebra longwing. After I got home she gushed about it some more.

My pawpaw plants settled in nicely and didn't even wilt like all the other new transplants. The pawpaw seeds are still growing and more of them have tiny baby leaves on them. Let's hope that once they all get a little bigger the zebra swallowtails will find out where I live. I don't want to get desperate and have to cat-nap (pun very much intended) some of them from the preserve!

Here's another look at my soon to be butterfly...

I've got Queen and Monarch cats hatching. Don't ask how many eggs there were....I stopped counting. But some of the eggs turned out to have no stick'em. I started checking them for stick'em before I took the leaf, since the stick'em-less ones never hatch and I didn't want to waste leaves. Oh, and I found eggs on legume vine leaves again...on two different species of legume vines. Maybe some of these cats will survive this time.

Sure hope they do too Linda. This will be fun to see how those come out. I need to work on some legume vines for nest year. If you get seeds from those you have, I'd like to go with the tx tried and true legume vines.
Hoping to see some Queen babies here too before summers over. The tx mist is luring them enough, just no females that I've seen.

Yeah Mellie~ Almost wrapped present, :-S. Relief is an excellent present! It seems to look really good for all that crawling and contemplating it was doing, lol.

These Sulphurs got big fast, and are already pupating.. Glad to see it too> (#3 is on the side of the container.)>

Great photos everyone. You know I haven't raised any sulphurs...they are just so abundant out here I take them for granted...and considering how many eggs you can find on one plant...I think I'd be overwhelmed trying to raise them. I'd want to pick every one I find and there's no way I want to go batty again!!! I had my fill with all those Bordered Patches I had coming out of my ears!!!

I don't know how Tdog and Sherry (from the other website) raise so many at one time!!!

Mark...congrats on that photo shoot. Saw some photos of your garden on another post - way cool!!! Have never grown a croc here...not even sure they can survive our horridly hot summers.

Deb...that semi-chrysalis photo is really freaky looking!!! Invasion of the body snatchers!!! EEEEEEEEEEK!!!

My White-Striped Longtail chrysalis is looking good. Do hope it remains viable.

~ Cat

This message was edited Aug 31, 2007 9:56 PM

Looks like a good one Cat, fully formed and all. When do you expect it to eclose? I have one that is taking longer from the ssskippers, the other 2 made it already. It looks alright, so I'll just wait and see. :-.
I hear you about the many sulphurs. Which hosts are they using there?

:-deb

Thanks Cat, am looking forward to the photo shoot........................ Hope they put this edition online like they normally do.
The crocosmia would survive if you keep them in a shady spot and well watered.

Mark

I know we're supposed to be cat lovers here, but I just went out and found my purple datura stripped by this evil hornworm. Let's just say I will NOT be raising him. Hmph!

Melanie

Mel, I had the same thing happen a week ago. I had 2 on one datura. I just let them eat, they were gone in a couple of days. Now I have a half eaten datura, but it's coming back. : )
~Lucy

Mine still has a few leaves on it so I'm sure it will be ok, but that cat was massive! Of course, it had to pick the purple one. My white ones are big enough they could have stood it, but the purple ones are still pretty new. I just didn't know what the heck it was, but from the horn on it I had a good guess. No idea they ate daturas though.

Mine was on a double yellow datura. It was about 3 ft tall and wide. They ate mainly on one side, so it looks kinda funny now. But, I did noticed it has new leaves coming back this morning, so it should be ok. : )
~Lucy

Well, photo shoot and interview all done............ we will be appearing in the October edition of 'Lincolnshire Life'........... we will have a 3 page spread apparently!!!
How cool..................

Congratulations Mark!! That is a special thing for your and your garden to be featured like that. Let us know when it is on line please.

debnes,

I have to tell you I love those two pictures of your hummingbird. He is posing in the first picture and in the second one--his feet are too cute!!! That picture made my day. I was up at dawn watching one hummingbird on my feeder but could not get a picture. They are just so fast. You have a great camera.

Congratulations Mark!!! You must be on Cloud Nine!!!

Betty

Hi Sheila and Betty

Thank you so much for the congrats.............. I will definately let you know when it comes on the online magazine (hope it does)...

Yes Betty am on cloud 9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark

Hi Everyone............Seems Mark forgot to tell y'all that we are going to be featured in the local paper also, tho we forgot to ask when....LOL

Lauri

I sure hope we will be able to see the pictures online. : ) I'd like to brag, and say... That's my friends garden,.... isn't it beautiful. : )

~Lucy

This little one was on my Blackfoot Daisy this morning. I think it might be the same kind as the one I raised last spring, Rawson's Metalmark.

And I thought you'd like to see one of my TST babies. I have been worried because they hardly eat and they haven't been growing much...worry, worry, etc. Good thing I've raised those two-tailed tigers before...but these seem to make even slower progress. Well, last few days they haven't been eating at all because they have been doing an instar. And voila, no more bird droppings now!
Earlier today, I thought I saw a TST butterfly fluttering around the Texas Ash (my DH spotted it first through a window) and I ran outside. The butterfly was flying off at that time, so I looked around for eggs. I found instead a cat (still kind of bird-droppingish). I must have overlooked it before. Surprise! Will check the tree more later when the thunder and rain subside.

Linda,

Your TST baby is so adorable. I would worry too!!!

Lucy

Even if its not i will copy it for you and post it on here........... hows that?? Then you can brag.......

Mark

Sounds good to me, Mark. : ) I'll be on the lookout. : )

~Lucy

Ok...not nearly as cute as everyone's cats...but I liked his fuzzy little head...surpised to have caught him w/the camera...they are so quick

chantell,

He is so adorable!!! What is the name of that beautiful flower? Is it a Passion Flower? I am new to this Forum and loving the pictures.

Betty

Hi Betty!
Nice to meet you, thanks for joining us! It did take me a while to know how to trian the camera on the hummer, but I kept plugging away, lol!

Linda!
What a beautiful bfly the metalmark is! I get mainly crescents here, but I believe I saw one of those here yesterday. I'll have to look again today.. I just love the lil TST cat!! ...Looks like its turning fall here soon. Yesterday, I saw the first yellow warbler coming back through heading south. If I did luck out and get a TST cat or two at this point, they would most likely overwinter in their chrysalis.

Hey Laurie! My 'word' friend :-) How ya been?? gtsy!!

Mellie!
The hornworm cat is awesome! I would plant Datura in hopes that I would get them. The Hummingbird moths they become are incredible! They are super nocturnal pollinators too! Jmorth has some great shots here>
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/search.php?forum=&search_text=hummingbird+moth&limit=0&search_area=body&limit_poster=jmorth&Search=Search

:-D

This one was a Tersa Sphinx which had a horn too. Here is a pic I took yesterday> Morphed about 1 week.

Fabulous photos everyone!!! Gotta love that huge tersa chrysalis. They remind me so much of my Pluto Sphinx ones. Am hoping the cats will make an appearance by late September. I have two huge hedges of firebush (their larval host) so it's quite impossible to find eggs or cats with so many places to hide.

Linda, congrats on finding that TST cat :o) Love that little metalmark. I have troble telling the Rawson's from the Fatal and we get Fatals here by the hundreds. They use Goat's Beard aka Old Man's Beard (clematis drummondi) as a larval host...and that stuff grows rampant on every barbed wire fence. I see gobs of Fatal Metalmark butterflies on it all the time but have never spotted a cat or chrysalis...then again...considering they would probably be the size of a grain of rice - an impossible feat to find!!!

Here's some mating Fatal Metalmarks I photographed yesterday at the ranch.
This is the topside - they camouflage easily with dried leaves of their larval host. Found these mating on a blade of grass.

~ Cat

ps...I had to change the exposure so the markings on the topside could be visible. The markings look like borders of silver threads were sewn into the wings.

This message was edited Sep 2, 2007 10:58 AM

..and the underside of the mating Fatal Metalmarks. Such a lovely easily visible yellowish orange with silver markings.

~ Cat

Picture 1 of 3....
"I love this butterfly bush....., but...."

Picture 2 of 3
".... I think this may be a bit easier...."