I had to look up Nettle and I do have a small rooting of lamium. ( I think that is the same thing)
If its only the prickly weed thing, then there is probably some of every kind of weed just past the end of my property, which is only 3/4 acre. So I hope they are finding it somewhere.
chris
Ok, I looked it up again, and the lamium is "dead nettle".
Is this the right nettle?
This message was edited Sep 26, 2007 2:00 PM
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 19
I don't know Chris. These were all I could find as host plants:
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), Hops (Humulus lupulus), False Nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica), and Pellitory (a weed that grows in the wild).
on vacation in WV, say these 2 cats, do you know what they are?
I also saw a couple monarch cats, and was so tempted to scoop them up and bring them home, but I'm 500 miles north of where they were, and it would probably have messed up their migration
This is the evil hummer of my backyard, he thinks all the feeders are his. He works all day at keeping all the others away. He has gotten so good at fighting that he has this other hummer pinned down with his feet. The other hummers head is being mushed into the ground, when I yelled at him to play nice, he let him up.
chris
Hey debilu!
Welcome back.. hope you had fun on your vacation!
First one, best I can tell is a Yellow Striped Armyworm, (I had some like that on my Brugs that had to be relocated.)
http://bugguide.net/node/view/142846
The second one is here> Pale Tussock Moth Caterpillar>
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/1674/
debnes
hey everyone ............. man Chris that is one mean hummer you have there!! .......mine squabbled but i have never seen one pin another!!
I finally have some new pics to post ........... and this is something else !! for the last week I have had quen cats on the milkweed ........ yesterday morning i saw one of them leaving the MW i supposed to eclose ........... this morning i am looking at the trumpet vine that i have planted to take over a cedar tree and............... LO AND BEHOLD !!!!!
this is what i found!!
this is a pic of where he was at ........... way in the background .... and where he ended up at.........
james t
thanks debnes
I'll wonder about all cats I see now
Well, I've got a few goldish-colored cats I hope are ZLs. And quite a few Monarchs and Queens have pupated. Whew! Foliage has been so scarce...I have been feeding them new growth and some small plants from cuttings I rooted a while back and also a few native milkweeds I was trying to spare before so they could produce seeds. When I get new butterflies eclosing, I'll just have to tell them to head south...no milkweed available. I still have more cats to feed on milkweed here.
Your welcome debilu.. I know what you mean about wanting to know what everything is, :-)
Yep Chris the hummers look so sweet, and can be downright vicious. What a capture to get a pic of that!
James, They can certainly travel. Cool that ya noticed all that. I found an empty chrysalis on the gazebo right above where I sit to tend the cages.. I missed the whole thing, lol. (I have missed a bunch of them, in fact.) It crawled from the garden, across the deck, and all the way back there above my head without me seeing, haha!
I hope they are ZLW too Linda. By looking at the weather forecast here for 76148 it doesn't look like they will stop for at least 10 days. I have some Monarchs caged and almost pupating. Some Sleepy Oranges, and some Giant STs. Still a lot going on out there.
I kept the cage open on the little baby dove and he finally went out. His parents came, and he's been hanging around with them. Seems to have recovered the shock of losing his home now, hopefully he will be ready to face the cooler weather when it arrives.
debnes
Oh, I've definitely got ZL cats/eggs now! I was up on a ladder checking the P. caerulea (told myself I wouldn't do that ladder thing, but hey, it's ZLs) when a ZL butterfly flew up and oviposited within inches of my face...it's often hard to spot a single egg on those because they hide it in a bunch of tiny new leaves. And on some Incense vine, I found a piece of new growth with at least 4 tiny gold cats on it and another two eggs...now, my GFs don't do clusters like that! I wondered about the Incense vine because one day I saw a ZL butterfly checking it out. Guess they do use Incense, after all.
Linda is there another name for incense vine? I cant find it in plantfiles. I want Zebra's but I need something that they like that is not going to take over.
chris
Well, I haven't had the heart to tell Cori that two of our cats died. And, I've been searching the bit of parsley I do have outside to replace the ones that died, but no luck. :(
In any event, we had another eclosure today. This guy just did not want to leave Cori's hand -- even after we took him outside. :) Again, we're getting all males (4 for 4). What's up with that???
Well, I've been busy but I can't believe I was gone for so long! It's been oddly quiet around these parts so I'm totally jealous at all these beautiful pictures! I'm going to go hiking this weekend (despite my horrendous allergies) so I hope I'll see something good.
I did have a great butterfly experience though. I work for the county's dept of Aging Services. I'm an accountant, so they keep me chained to my cubicle most of the time, but I heard the Museum of Science and Industry was coming to one of our senior centers to give a talk about butterflies so I had to go. So on Tuesday I went out to one of our senior centers to watch the demonstration and lecture. It was very cool, even if I did know all the answers! This senior center has a beautiful garden outside, with a gazebo that was donated by the son of one of our clients after she passed. MOSI brought lots of plants and mulch (due to a generous grant from Swiftmud - the water management folks around here). I saw them bring milkweed, pipevine, passion vine - and they nicely planted it while we sat inside the air-conditioned center listening to the talk. Of course, they brought several native butterflies and cats for us to view. The girl who gave the talk was walking around to each table with a Spicebush cat (her fave, she said) and several of the seniors held it on their hand. For some reason, one lady wanted to put it on her nose, so she did! Our PR person was there and got great pictures of it! I'll see if I can get it and post it for you guys.
It was really great to see all the people interested in the butterflies and learning how they can attract them to the garden. The MOSI folks brought lots of painted lady cats for them to raise, too! They also brought a book, a poster that had each stage of the life cycle illustrated, gloves, hoses, a butterfly mat (to wipe off those feet!), and other tools to maintain their garden. Our senior center also had one of the aides translate the talk into Spanish for some of our seniors who aren't so good at English.
I hope if any of you have a chance to share your knowledge of bfs you do so - whether it's a formal talk at your child's school, a senior center, or just bringing the neighborhood kids over to watch. You would think at their age the seniors would know it all, but they all had really good questions and you could tell they learned a lot.
Melanie
Melanie, what a great idea! We have several senior centers in town, about three retirement villas, and a few nursing homes that probably would love to have a butterfly showing. I think I'll try to see what I can do. Now the lady that wanted the cat on her nose must be a jovial good natured person. LOL
Chris, here's a link to the PF page. Sometimes it IS hard to find something on there.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54070/
Does the butterfly come to your area? It's a bit iffy here...I think it depends on temperatures and rainfall.
She was across the room from me, so I couldn't see or hear her too well, but I think she was one of the more "child-like" seniors. Lots of them put it on their hand - mostly women, though. The women also seemed to ask a lot of questions about how bfs lay eggs and mate and such. Oh, and they loved the part about how they taste with their feet, LOL! There was one guy there for his first day and I talked to his son for a few minutes and we agreed that they get to have way too much fun while we have to slave away in our cubicles.
Oh, and the MOSI people were going to another one of our centers on Thursday, so hopefully they enjoyed it, too! I really loved getting out there and seeing these people as more than numbers. I handle the accounts receiveable, including over $8 million in grant money, so I generally have my nose in a spreadsheet and I forget that there are real people out there. From the way some of them were talking to the lecturer, we had some former gardeners in the room. There was one lady in a motorized wheelchair that really knew a lot, and it felt like she was really connecting. I know the zoo has visited a few times and they said people with dementia and Alzheimer's really connect with animals. I guess even though they can't remember a lot, people tend to remember animals and that connection they had with a former pet.
Wow! Y'all are posting some awesome photos! Love the photo of Cori! She looks like a caterpillar/butterfly whisperer! Her and Ben are just too cute for words! :-)
Melanie - I'm not seeing much butterfly action either. What's the deal here in Florida this year? A bit bizarre! That's really neat about the Senior Center visitors from the Museum of Science and Industry teaching everyone about butterfly gardening. Seniors are cool folks!!! Lots of wisdom to share if they are of sound mind.
Got a photo yesterday of this Long-tail Skipper. I love how it's tail looks like feathers in this photo. Still looking for hummers! My endless search ....... lol
I've been turning my gardening hobby towards Morning Glory growing lately. These new plants are becoming another gardening addiction. A lot of stress in my life right now and I really love and NEED to get out in my garden beds as much as I can. With Fall and soon Winter approaching, the hours of daylight are getting shorter. Boo hoo! The weather here has turned a tad bit cooler so Fall is officially here in Florida! :-)
I hope y'all have a lovely weekend!
Thanks for the link, I guess I missed the part that it was a passion flower. LOL. I do have a passion flower vine that is covered in gulf fritillary cats, but I have seen any pipevines. Maybe they dont come this far. :( I guess I will stick to trying to attract the Zebras.
chris
I thought this cat was a Tiger Swallowtail but after researching for a cat ID I decided mine didn't have the little band around his neck. He has a row of false eye spots. Now I'm thinking he may be some giant moth.
I found him at the pond edge just crawling on the ground through the thick weeds. Please help me determine who he is.
I THINK it looks like a last stage Tersa Spinx moth. Try some penta leaves. He may have been crawling around looking for a place to pupate.
Lucy
It does look like a Tersa! I raised one and that's what it looked like! Cool cats to raise! Enjoy the fun!
Lucy I think you nailed it! I just added some Penta leaves and branches. Thanks!
Hey, Becky. He is cute. Those false eyes look so comical.
This message was edited Sep 29, 2007 10:36 AM
Deborah, I think those are the coolest looking cats! Penta is on my list of things to add next year.
Pictures to follow of cats that I think are probably moths. This first one is on coreopsis that I am propogating, it is on my porch table.
Maybe someone knows what they are while I am looking them up.
chris
Then I was wondering what was chewing holes in the moonflower leaves. These babies are on many of the leaves.
There is a black pointy thing on the end of the tails.
This message was edited Sep 29, 2007 1:07 PM
This guy was in one of the curling up last nights moonflower.
I think they may all be the same as the one on the coreopsis.
Last one, this guy was doing a pretty good job of munching down an old pansy.
chris
The caterpillar page I was looking at says....The one on the pansy is labeled as unknown kind of armyworm.
:-D Hi Chris!
You're really getting some variety over there. See if this is more specific on the last cat you have on the pansies>
http://www.ipm.uiuc.edu/vegetables/insects/armyworm.pdf
Very cool Tersa Deborah.
Mel~ What a great time that must have been with the Sr.s We have lots of Sr retirement homes out here. They are on my list of places to share my presentation. I bet you were a lot of help there. :-)
Becky! Great shot of the LTS! You know I have been growing MGs a very long time. They have always been a fav of mine. Have you tried the Japanese ones yet? They are so gorgeous!
:-S
The one in your post here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4030702
is the Hornworm in the link below. It loves the Daturas.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/99/
My datura was almost eaten completely down in 2 days by 2 of those. It recovered really fast. I was surprised. : )
~Lucy
Great linkage Sheila!!
I had missed that post...:-). Glad your here catching things like that!
Right Lucy, Most of the host plants survive really well after they get a chance to recover. I think it does them good to be eaten. If I cage the cats I try and make sure the frass winds up back under the plant the cuttings came from. The giant st's have kept my Hercules club from keeping much foliage, but next spring they should get a good amount before the giants eclose and return. If not I might keep it in the gh so they cant lay eggs on it until it is bushy.
debnes
Excellent Shiela!
I just saw this post and was going to say Manduca Sexta. I've had those chowing down on my ipomoea ochracea (yellow morning glory) for the past couple of years. Every now and then I see the moths around my security light...but since my yellow morning glory vine has taken over the east fence...trying to find a caterpillar in that is akin to trying to find a needle in a haystack :o)
Great photos Chris. It's great that you got to find the first instar. That little dark horn is a dead give away for the sphinx species.
Hope you get to raise them and share more photos as they progress.
~ Cat
This Monarch just eclosed this morning, the first of that group to emerge. I told him that he doesn't have to stick around too long because he has the great honor of being part of the generation which can vacation in a lovely area of Mexico this winter.
This message was edited Sep 30, 2007 12:55 AM
Duh,, I didnt even think about the black thing being a horn. I assumed it was same baby of the other green cats.
Are the hornworm and the sphinx the same species?
Do the hummingbird moths only lay eggs on the tomato, making tomato hornworms? or could these be hummingbird moths caterpillar?
I thought I was done raising cats for the year, but maybe just one more.
chris
Missed you guys. Great stories everyone. Love your senior center store Melanie.
Update on my cats. I have three Monarchs in chrysalis now. I got to watch one yesterday finish up. I did not catch him in time to see the whole thing but I did see him finish up. Amazing. And I just love the gold flecks on their chrysalids. I have one in the J position and should hopefully get to see him change today. Then I found one cat out on the milkweed and he was a pretty good size. I cannot believe I missed him. He should be next to pupate. Okay then my two babies I had are getting to be a good size but still nothing like the others. And then yesterday, I just happened to be checking out the milkweed again and found four more babies, teeny, tiny babies. I was excited as I was getting a little down about getting ready to have to let these guys go. They have been such fun for me. The gulf frits were great but these are a lot more fun. They grow so big and are so animated. So now I have four more babies to raise and I am excited. And like you Linda, I told them their mommas left them in my hands while they are off vacationing in Mexico but they did not seem to mind. LOL.
Glad everyone is still getting BF action and Chris I am amazed at the mean hummer you have there. I would never guess they would do such things. Sad.
Have a great Sunday guys.
Leslie
It's still pretty quiet here in FL, but it was really windy today so I imagine it was hard for the bfs to fly around. I went hiking and saw some Palamedes, Monarch, some sulphurs, and of course the Zebra Swallowtails. I also saw a Zebra Longwing flying around the house and Dad reported a Pipevine ST (he's been trimming the palm trees all weekend). I think maybe we're between generations right now. I didn't see as many adult bfs, but I did see a lot more cats than usual.
And in a competely unrelated story, I brought home some Zebra ST cats today. There are two babies, two that are probably 2nd instar, and two that are almost full size. In fact, one of them molted soon after I put him in the critter keeper. I was trying to figure out why he was jerking his body, and then I thought I saw his head (that had molted) on the ground, but I wasn't sure until he moved away. Here you can see where he molted. There is one eating behind the leaf and the other one is climbing up the side.
When I was taking the big one he got scared and his horns came out and boy, did I smell his stink! I've had the Polydamas cats do it, but I never smelled anything. This was pretty foul - kind of like one of those chemical cleaners smells they try to cover up with lemon scent. One of my middle-sized guys got squished a little when I was moving them into the cage. Then, when he was crawling around the big one crawled on top of him. I don't know if he was just feeling or trying to eat him, but I tore off the lid and got them separated. He's moved a little, but mostly he's in the same spot on the leaf. I'm trying to be good and not mess with them as much; I think maybe that was part of the problem last time.
Now this is the time of year I have to clean up my blanket flowers, so there aren't quite as many in bloom. However, the yellow plume ones I planted a million years ago finally decided to bloom. The other day the duskywings were fighting over it and it was so funny! One was sitting on it and the other would just hover around until he moved and then he would land. They did this several times. The funny part was, there was more than one bloom. I kept yelling, "There's another one right behind you!" Maybe it wasn't as tasty?
This sulphur was hiding in the plumbago. I've noticed lately that I seem to keep surprising the sulphurs. I'll just be walking around and don't even know one is there until I get too close and it flies away. I also hit one with my car today. : ( I saw the yellow and then the black outline, and I was hoping I missed it but then I saw the yellow smear on the windshield. : (
