DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 33

Continuing from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/822717/

Hey there everyone!! Thanks for holding up the thread Mellie and all! Been working a lot and trying to get some things growing in the garden, and at the Conservatory with the butterfly exhibit. In the last thread posted above Cathy put a link to the threads I have added about the butterflies in the exhibit.. (in case anyone would like to see them). I still have some to add, and a few more days to work then I should be back more steadily in April. That's when butterfly action really picks up here anyway!

You guys keep up the great work!!

Here is a post Sheila, Paige and I have worked in the exhibit... It is the emergence box with our native species pupae. Dale Clark is at the head of the exhibit and he puts domestics in this box to eclose so that guests can see this part of the metamorphosis process live and in person. The exotics have to be monitored in a prep room before releasing into the conservatory because of APHIS regulations regarding them.
Anyway... here are some Zebra Longwings that had just eclosed while I was manning that post in the conservatory.

Debnes

This message was edited Mar 28, 2008 5:37 PM

Here are some Buckeyes eclosing... Last week I had 9 eclose on my shift!!

After release... Nothing like a brand new butterfly!!! Especially a Buckeye!

:-)

Great photos, Deb!


Carla

Thanks Carla! :-)
Are you going to both the CS and Wax Round-ups?

Debnes

Ooh, a shiny new thread. I greatly underestimated the amount of pawpaw my zebra STs can eat. So after work today I headed out to a different side of the preserve. I hadn't been on that side in a while. This is usually the dry season, but we've had a lot of rain and it was really wet once I got a few hundred yards in. Mostly, I stayed in the dry part where the pawpaws grow. I saw two ZST do a fly by and I found four cats while I was picking food.

In other news, I found more sulphurs on my cassia so I brought them in. At last count there were sixteen. My Giant ST is so big I think he might be getting ready to become a butterfly. I'm not looking forward to cleaning up my first massive poo of the year, but it will be worth it when the butterfly ecloses. My mystery cat is still eating the mayhaw and silking up the place. I also managed to scare up this Gulf Frit while I was walking around.

Melanie (who has way too many cats!)

I forgot to add that I kept seeing these little bugs on the pawpaws. It was getting kind of weird; they were everywhere. Anyone know what it is before I post it in the Bug ID forum?

Melanie

Deb and Sheila, you girls must be having a ball, with all those gorgeous butterflies around you. I will have to volunteer next year too, sorry I missed this one.
Josephine.

Deb, I'll be going to the Wax RU, but not CS.

Carla

Anyone want to help this person ID some weird eggs on their passiflora?

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/827744/

Sorry I cannot identify yours, Melanie. Can you identify mine, anybody? Is it an Eastern Tent Cat?

You know, I am realtively new at this, and would you believe I have found only two cats -- one was an Army Worm last fall, and now this purported Tent cat. I really need a pretty butterfly! LOL

Martha

Hi Martha~
The pic is not detailed enough to tell for sure, but the lengthwise stripes and what I can make out have the look of another moth cat for ya. You will have some great butterfly cats in no time though, just hang on a while longer.. Do you have Parsley, Dill, or Fennel out in the garden yet? That is a sure fire way to get Black ST eggs and cats by the end of April.

And more good news... Monarchs have been blowing in from the South. I have already spotted at least 6 and this one I was able to get a pic of yesterday. This is a male stopping by for a drink and patrolling for a female, but he has left his scent and some she Monarchs will be along soon.

Real butterflies are on the way to Mississippi, LOL!

Debnes

Mellie,
From here (off hand) it looks like a Cucumber Beetle... I will dig and see if it could be anything else in a bit.

Debnes

On the bug ID forum someone thought it was a flea beetle.

Mellie,

The beetle is most likely a passion vine flea beetle. Dratted buggers infested my passion flower vines last year...eating holes in all the leaves. So far none this year. I used a spray of soapy water to zap them. Several applications during the week until they were gone. Glad no frits were around at the time.

Deb...great photos!!! Awesome Zebras and Buckeyes!!! Dave Clark is a great guy. He gave a presentation on raising caterpillars at our Butterfly Festival last year.

Man oh man, I've missed this forum!!! Was in Charleston with no internet connection at the compound! UGH!!! Of course, I didn't see a single butterfly the week I was there either. It's good to be back in south Texas. Still have to head back out on Monday for a couple of days though.

By the way, Deb...I had a three hour layover at the DFW airport today. Got my fill of Popeyes chicken while I waited for my flight back home :o)

~ Cat

haha Cat! Yikes, I try to avoid those places. But i do love chicken. You should have told me you were here dog-gonnit!! Put my # in your phone.

I remember you having an infestation of those beetles and IDing them, and I forgot what kind they were. All I could remember was cucumber beetle, but the place behind the head is bigger on the PV flea Beetle than on the cucumber beetle....
Did you enter that one in BF?

:-)

Interesting...especially since all the ones I saw were on pawpaws. And LOTS of the pawpaws had them and I could see where there was leaf damage. I kept looking at the leaf damage thinking caterpillar and instead I kept finding those bugs. I wonder if there's PV in the area. I'm always complaining that I never see PV in the wild, but maybe I've at least wandered into the right area.

Can't talk too long...I'm keeping a vigil on my Giant ST as he went into his sling last night and I want to see him go into the chrysalis. I even took him to work and set him on my desk. Here I was planning to go to bed early tonight, but no...have to stay up and watch my caterpillar.

Melanie

Woohoo! Am still here...if only for the weekend :o)

It was a long and boring week in South Carolina. Am still ticked off because I didn't see one single butterfly at the base!

Anyway, drove out to the ranch today and saw numerous lysides flitting around and got the best surprise ever...I saw a Banded Orange Heliconian!!! Those are extremely rare for us. Have only seen one in my lifetime...and now this makes two :o) A first for the ranch. Am not sure if it is a new county record for Starr County. I sent the sighting report to our local NABA chapter as well as NABA HQ.

Here's the beauty! Considering it was cloudy and everything is very dry it was a real shock to see a flash or orange fly out when Mom and I were walking the perimeter of the ranch.

~ Cat

This message was edited Mar 29, 2008 8:05 PM

OH WOW! What a beaut, Cat! Congrats on the sighting and photo of this special little butterfly. Very pretty markings! :-)

Congrats, Cat, on the gorgeous photo of the BOH. I have never seen one before. It's neat.

Martha

Great picture you took too Cat!! Congratulations!

Congratulations Cat!
That is one cool looking bf. I looked it up on b&m.org and it is so spectacular!
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1666
Lucky girl!

Cathy

Thanks Cathy :o)

I missed getting an open wing shot but do have some of another rare vagrant that was at one of the parks last year.

Don't ya like the way they call this one a rare vagrant? :o)

For once I could use more vagrants in my yard!!! ROLF!!!

~ Cat

ps...I would love to see a gob of emerging Banded Orange Heliconians like Deb's photo of the emerging Zebras!!!

Melanie, is your beetle the same as this one on pf?

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/175/

Thankfully, no. Mine doesn't have any markings on his head and the antennae look a little different.

Melanie

Well, I went to pick more food for the Zebra STs and managed not to bring home any more caterpillars. There were lots of ZST flying around; at one point I had five in sight. I saw some other swallowtails, too. There was one that kept flying around and I only got one faraway shot of it. I think it might have been a Spicebush ST, but I'm not sure. I also saw what I think was a Giant ST go zooming past me. Here's my bad swallowtail shot.

These skippers were enjoying the remaining blooms on the Shiny Blueberry.

And another one...

And I keep seeing these little orange skippers. I think they're the same ones I always see because they have the dark edging on their wings. I also saw a few buckeyes playing with each other, and a few sulphurs here and there. I also happened upon a large, male turkey! I wish I had a picture, but turkeys are much faster than people give them credit for. I've seen two female turkeys in the preserve, but this was the first male I'd seen. It was almost as tall as I am!

The Zebras are starting to look a little worse for the wear. But that's ok because I've got one in a chrysalis and on in his sling. So soon there will be fresh ZSTs flying around!

I thought I posted this, but I guess not. Here is my Giant ST in his sling. He's in his chrysalis now, and no I didn't get to see him do it. Judging from the times I woke up, he did it between 3:30am and 5:30 am. Darn butterflies are shy! I'll get a picture of his chrysalis later and post it.

Melanie

I found this little Hairstreak on a Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum blossom this morning.

Carla

ooo, love that BOH,
Carla, looks cute (think the writing got in the way a little)
That Giant ST should be ashamed to creep out while you were sleeping, Mellie
We were down in Waycross for some golf this week. The azaleas were covered with TS.
My cherry trees have also been covered with TS and bees. Here is one on the azaleas.

Thanks EF :o) That really made my year!!! Those azaleas are awesome. Lots of those around the base in SC. Really eye catching!!! Big swallowtail too!

Gotta love Loonie's Great Purple Hairstreak too. Those are such beautiful hairstreaks. I keep checking over the mistletoe in the hopes of finding eggs or caterpillars...but no luck so far. Once of these days I'm gonna get lucky :o)

Mellie, I see you're still photographing butterflies...arghhhh!!! I wish they'd show up in abundance out here. Still a tad windy and not much in the way of native blooms out at the ranch. My time will come :o)

~ Cat

Cat, it was certainly warm enough for the butterflies this weekend. It's starting to feel like summer, except without the rain. All that solar energy makes the butterflies too fast for me. They don't seem to be stopping to nectar as much as they used to. But I just sowed a whole bunch of seeds this weekend, so hopefully I'll have lots of yummy nectar for them soon. Some of my host plants are finally leafing out so that should help, too. I thought I might have killed my Spicebushes by transplanting them, but I just saw new little green leaves poking out this week.

Love that TS on the azaleas! I notice they seem to prefer the azaleas here, too. Ours are about done blooming here, but while they were in flower the swallowtails just loved them. Normally, my plumbagos draw in the swallowtails, but they're not blooming too heavy yet.

Melanie

I've seen this lovely this early spring, but finally I captured a photo of it. Eastern Swallowtail?

Since you are in AL, I am sure it would be the Eastern Tiger ST.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1372 Good catch with the picture.

I ditto that, Sheila! Definitely looks like a Tiger Swallowtail! How exciting! I wished more would come around my area. They are sooooo pretty! :-)

Congrats on the Orange-banded Longwing Cat!! Whoohoo!

You go Mellie, nice shots!
And Elaine, lovely one on the Azaleas!
Loving to see all the Tigers! Great shot for you too Kim!

Here is one for the day for me... As I was pulling out to a late trip to the store tonight... Here beside the driveway I saw this little guy hovering on every bloom in this bed. The Ox-eyed Daisies Carla gave me are above/behind (to the right of) these lower growing ones and they are about to bloom any day now. Here this White-lined Sphinx is nectaring some Ajuga. Also in this bed are fragrant Purple Petunias, 3 sages (Russian Sage, Salvia farinacea, and Salvia gregii indigo), Texas Bluebonnets, Coreopsis grandiflora (Jethro Tull), Some Marigolds, Coreopsis grandiflora (Tetra Giants), and some LAndino White Clover.

Really happy with the plants in this bed this year, looks like the leps and hummers will be too :-)

Debnes

...edited because I left out some things, lol.





This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 6:20 AM

This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 6:24 AM

That is a pretty bed, Debnes. I need to get me some Russian, Salvia farinacea, and Salvia gregii indigo. I like blue/purple.
That Sphinx looks like a little bird. : )
~Lucy