DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 33

Thanks Lucy!
I had to correct the above post.. there are 3 sages, and I left out a couple more things.
Whew! The exhibit is over now and it's back in the garden for me. I got a couple characters to keep me company out there last Thursday. Echo and Tango. Echo is a Magpie Duck, and Tango is a chicken. I am pretty sure Echo is a hen, but the jury's still out on the little chick.

Today they are a week old, probably twice the size as in this pic. Echo is such an excellent swimmer. They are so adorable :-D.

Awwwww! Too cute, Deb! Loved your spinx moth photo too!

We are getting ready to incubate eggs (from ducks and chicks) in our classroom. Everyone is soooo excited to try hatching eggs and enjoying baby birds! I love the babies in your photo! I can't wait to get back into my class to start this! (I'm on Spring break this week.)

Thanks Becky!
Echo's (the duck) fur is so so soft.. And Tango's (the chick) feathers are like dandelion seeds. I am so glad I live a block away from a Lowe's and a Home Depot, LOL! I already had chicken wire and some 24" 2x2s so I could make a quick pen for them to play outside while I work in the garden. If Tango turns out to be a rooster our friend TJ in Waxahache (broncbuster) might be getting a 'gift' this fall, LOL! My neighbors wouldn't dig the cock-a-doodle dooing so much. :-. If it's a she I may find a way to keep her around for the eggs.
Echo seems to be a female because she has no curl in her tail feathers.

:-)

Deb, glad to hear the OxEye Daisies are doing so well. Look out - they are very aggressive! :-) I spotted a little sphinx moth flittering about my Homestead Verbena last night, but didn't attempt to get near enough for a photo. I was so excited, I knew I wouldn't be able to hold the camera still anyway. They are so cute, aren't they?

Will the duck and chicken help you with insect control?

Carla

Have you ever heard the expression "...like a chicken on a June Bug."?

I will definitely need to be taking my caterpillars into the cages, but I hope they will help out with not-so-beneficial bugs.

:-)

Can you believe how cool it is today? It was a good day to transplant some of my Coreopsis, so it worked out good for me here.

Ahhhh, what cute lil babies, Debnes. : )

My neighbors have some chickens they let run loose. Every morning they come over and scratch all my leaves out of my flower beds. I 've gave up trying to keep the leaves raked.

Good thing I like animals, or those chickens would be in a pot of dumplings. lol ; )

A friend of mine already has a new BST chrysalis in addition to the cats on her fennel. I've seen the butterflies, but no cats or eggs yet (that I know of).

Ok, time to share some pics. Here's the chrysalis of my Giant Swallowtail.

Three of my zebra STs doing their thing. In the fall I had a pretty even number of green to brown cats, but so far this spring the brown ones are dominating.

Zebra Swallowtail in sling.

And the zebra swallowtail in his chrysalis.

Now, you may remember the mysterious cat that was eating my mayhaw. He's been content in his little Gladware home. He silked himself up and ate some leaves. However, I noticed the other day there seemed to be a lot more silk and I didn't see that he'd been eating. I got worried, and I couldn't see him through all the silk, so I opened up the cage. Then, I picked up the leaf and pried it apart. There was something wriggly and green in there, but it didn't look at all like a caterpillar! I think this is his cocoon (or chrysalis?). I even saw where he had shed his skin and the head capsule was attached. (Side note: for those who are new, when cats molt they shed their skin and head capsule separately, but when they make the final change to a chrysalis the head capsule and skin come off in one piece. Check it out sometime.) The little guy wriggles like crazy if I touch him so I know he's alive in there. Can't wait to see what he's going to look like.

Melanie

Melanie, repost the caterpillar here so it is close to the pupae, maybe someone can id it now.

I am looking for an organic remedy for leaf rollers found on cannas -- one that won't hurt bf's or beneficial insects. I googled the subject, and one site I found suggested liquid garlic plus a small amount of detergent in water. However, the link had a caviat saying the remedy is not recommended for beneficial insects.

After reading that caviat, I am leery of all organic remedies, because I don't won't to harm beneficial insects. Anybody know of a remedy that will suit my need? Thanks.

Martha

This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 3:47 AM

This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 3:47 AM

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/828618/

This is an excellent idea

Yikes Martha...
Brazilian Skippers are also known as "leaf rollers". Then there are the "lesser" leaf rollers. Have you gotten a positive ID?

If I were you I wouldn't do anything to them. If anything get another set of Canna plants to put them on.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/343/

Debnes

I totally agree with Deb! I bet they are the Skipper butterflies rolling those leaves! I have them all over my canna and have skippers year round! Love those little butterflies!

When I got into butterfly gardening I was mentioning to my dad how some butterflies used cannas as their host and he exclaimed, "So that's what used to eat my cannas at the old house!" I didn't know he was so attached to them, lol!

In his encore appearance, here is my caterpillar of mystery (oooh!).

Here's the mystery cat when I found him. Well, actually I found him in the mayhaw and I pulled apart his silk and then he fell down on the ground. Then, I picked him up with the leaf in the picture, took some photos and went inside. Once I went inside I figured I might as well raise the little guy so I went back and scooped him up.

Melanie (who will be seeing Avenue Q tonight at the performing arts center - try not to miss me too much!)

Got a few Butterfly pics while outside today. I know the first is a Monarch.

Gulf Fritterary?

Zebra Longwing?

I love butterflies, but have to admit I don't know much about them. Not sure what this is.

more pics GP? Definitely a Zebra Long Wing. not sure about the last one. Good pics. What kind of camera do you have?
Elaine

No, the last one may actually be a moth. I use an Olympus Evolt SLR.

I want one of those little baby ducks. I need to dam up my wet weather creek and make a small pond. YES,,, a summer project.
Elaine

The one on the cosmos is a skipper butterfly. Hard to tell which one; there are many and a lot of them look alike.

Melanie

Definitely a Skipper! Melanie is correct! Great photos, Gardenpom! :-)

A pond??? Oh how cool, Elaine! I want one too, but no room in my yard! I want a baby duck and chick too! LOL! Aren't they absolutely the cutest! :-)

Thanks everyone. I do love the butterflies, and hope to learn more about them. I'll try and spend more time here and pick up info. Becky, I think your Owls would LOVE a baby chick! (Just kidding of course).

This message was edited Apr 3, 2008 6:37 AM

LOL GP!!
Welcome aboard, and nice to see you! You have arrived at the most "quick study" butterfly place on the whole net. People become experts here in no time at all! (At least on what they get in their own gardens...)
Great job on IDing the Butterflies, and great pics too..;-) (as usual).

I am always perusing the shelves of my local Half Price Book Store for good butterfly books. I do know all books are not available at all stores , but it is worth a look-see.... I found a nifty little beginner guide and they had about 6 copies for 4.50 each. (List price is 8.95.)

The plant info doesn't give the botanical names, but it covers a lot of info in a tiny little book. I am sending one to my MIL for her birthday, and since I have seeds for almost all the host plants listed inside I am going to label the seed packets with common and botanical names and put the page number on the packets. :-) MIL (Gladnes) lives in NJ.

Elaine, Ducks would be a great idea for that little creek/pond... I would just keep them in cages until they were able to fend for themselves. They take about 6 months to mature enough to fly, etc.


Debnes

This message was edited Apr 3, 2008 6:44 AM

Great idea Deb!!!

Debnes and Becky, thanks for filling me in on the leafroller skipper. Actually, my cannas have not come up. I was just told to watch out for the "horrid" leafrollers. Anathema to one is heavenly to the other! Gardener vs. Entomologist.

Elaine, perfect pics. They are truly beautiful. Thanks.

Melanie, your mystery cat might be a Little Glassywing (Pompeius verna)?

Martha

Thanks Josephine..:-)

Good eye Martha.. Do you have a link to a picture comparison for the Glassywing? If it is indeed a match, Mel, they could use your pic in the Bug Files. Be double-dog-sure first.. :-)

Debnes

Debnes, Melanie, sorry, no pic of the caterpillar. Here are some pics of the adult skipper:

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=2102
http://www.rlephoto.com/skippers/little_glassywing01.html

Malanie, turn to p. 215 in your Florida Butterfly Caterpillars and Their Host Plants, by Minno, et al. and view the Little Glassy Wing. The cat looks a bit darker than yours, but that could be the camera. The only other that looks similar is on p. 201 of the same guide. See the Duskywing.

Let us know when you've got a good i.d.

I didn't get a picture, but yesteray evening I had *4* hummingbird moths (White-lined Sphinx) nectering from my Verbena, Salvias, and Dianthus. I've only ever seen one HB moth at a time, ever. What a treat!

Carla

I saw one of those about a week ago! Yes, it's quite a sight! I just saw a TST flying over my yard...didn't stay, but maybe it'll be back. And earlier I was on my way home from a local vet visit (one of the kitties is sick) and decided to stop and check a roadside Antelope Horns I saw on the way back. I found ONE EGG! Hope it's viable, 'cause I brought it home. I haven't seen Monarchs in my yard yet, but have rarely seen an occasional one flying by when I'm driving into town. And no eggs on my milkweeds when I checked today. Overall, not many butterflies around this year so far.

I checked my book (I have a mini-library next to the couch) and on the map I am too far south of the butterfly's limit. Plus, it says it eats grasses and mine is most definitely eating Mayhaw. Well, was eating sice now he's a cocoon. Check it out - you can see his eyes!

Forgot to add that this guy is tiny. I mean, that cocoon is about the length of my pinky nail.

Melanie

This message was edited Apr 4, 2008 5:20 PM

Since I had my book out, I think the one it looks most like is the lomographa genus of moths. Discuss!

Melanie : )

Well, I went out to check on my veggie garden and that ended up in me walking around checking everything. I saw this little skipper clinging to my nasturtium seedling.

Then, I went to check the cassias. A few days ago I decided I couldn't raise the sulphurs until they got a little bigger so I put them back on the cassia. When they're really small it's so hard to see them and then they kept eating each other and that made me sad. When I went out this evening I saw that they were big enough so I brought the four I found indoors.

You may remember me snatching a mommmy sulphur off the cassia as she was laying eggs. Well, these are her babies and now that they're almost full grown, I think they're Orange-Barred Sulphurs. Tell me if you think I'm right, and check out this caterpillar!