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Melanie
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 35
Noticed something in the overwintering cage last night. Yay! It made it! It's a girl TST!
Oh, what pleasure to have such wonderful surprise!!! Congrats Linda.
Kim
So a few minutes ago I put it out on the Purple Horsemint (I remembered one like it really liked that to nectar on). So it's out there, probably waiting for the wind to die down and the tempurature to go up a wee bit to have her maiden flight. Wish there was a male TST around, but probably not...haven't seen any lately. Ah, when something goes right, I kind of wish I had a bell to ring! Maybe I'll think about that.
That is beautiful!
Yippee! Saw my first Mama EBST laying eggs this morning. She lit on almost every plant hunting for a host. She found every bronze fennel and parsley plant I have. She even laid eggs on a container of parsley I have sitting next to my patio. I immediately slipped a castle sleeve under the pot. When she's through laying I'll close the bag up. The other eggs will be rescued just as soon as I sped to Walmart for wet foam. Yikes! I'm not prepared. What was I thinking?
Deborah
These are the egg photos and the container I slipped the castle under.
Congrats! Doesn't it feel so GOOD!
Wow! She really put a deposit down at your place C!! I thought I saw a couple eggs on my parsley, but they dissappeared. I should have snipped and brought them in. I did raise 4 Monarchs already this year and DH released the last one today while I was at work. Those are my first for the season, I think I will make a chart and keep track this year, last year was a blurr. Can't wait until I get to see the BST cats crawling all over my plants! LOL!
Thanks Linda and Sheila. Yes, I can't wait for more cats too.
I'm almost ready for the Monarchs. Thought I saw one, but I've thinking now that it was a viceroy because I do remember noticing a black band on the wing. Got my milkweed growing and waiting.. That reminds me. I need to sow more milkweed seeds. Last year I didn't have enough milkweed to go around for all of them.
All but the two smallest of my Monarch cats have pupated. It's always a relief when they start pupating because you start thinking the 5th instar could go on for weeks! All that non-stop eating, you know. It doesn't seem like they ever want to stop eating.
Right, and then you go and load up the cage with fresh leaves and they all go into the "J" and the leaves wilt!
I've now got thirteen chrysalises in my cage with just a few more still eating away.
Hopefully, I don't have some kind of disease going on, but otherwise, I think my plan is working well. I've got several pots of milkweed to attract the butterflies, I bring one in, let the eggs hatch, and when the caterpillars get to a certain size I put them in the cage. Now, that milkweed plant is back outside recovering. It was pretty chewed up. I take the leaves from the other milkweed plants for the cats in the cage, but they all still look very good. At this rate, I think I can raise fifteen to twenty butterflies every few weeks, while my supply of milkweed will stay high. I think, anyway! As the plants get bigger and I have more milkweed, I might get a second cage.
Gulf Fritillary from today, visiting a Golden Dewdrop.
It would be nice if butterflies laid only the eggs you can raise at a time. But that doesn't happen that often!
I've got to get more flax to grow! I was at this lady's place Saturday who had quite a bit flax growing. I spotted two buckeye cats! I have 3 flax plants from the seed I put out last year. I just need more next time!
I was checking the cats this evening after I came back inside from planting more nectar plants. Lo and behold, my Zebra Longwing was hanging from the top! No warning or anything - it was a chrysalis one minute and a butterfly the next.
Mom reports the ZLWs are hanging around the bougainvillea in front of her office window. I've seen more duskywings lately. Dad reports "lots of those yellow butterflies". He also saw a butterfly he was hesistant to describe to me (because often my parents start describing things that don't actually exist). He told me he saw one like a Cabbage White but it was speckled. I showed him a picture of the Checkered White and he was relieved. Dad's a little color-blind, too. Mom released a Zebra ST this afternoon and I saw it fly by and over the house when I was out planting this evening! I hope they stick around! Mom's been seeing a Giant ST a lot and I'm hoping it's the one I released.
Mom and I went out to Cockroach Bay this weekend because the Environmental Protection Commission and Parks and Rec are celebrating "Clean Air Month" by having all sorts of events. They took us on a ride through the preserve and explained how they were turning old borrow pits and phosphate mines into wetlands. I had two Zebra STs eclose that day so I took them with me and we all watched them eclose and then I released them in the preserve. One of the rangers told me they had a butterfly guy out last year that counted 16 different species, so this year they're going to do an actual census where they split the land into squares and get all official about it.
After the guided tour we went canoeing. Mom only flipped the boat twice. Dad thanked me for not beating her with the oar, but I told him karma did it for me when the boat conked her on the head the second time we flipped. Mom also has to buy me a new digital camera seeing as how it was IN MY POCKET and we fell in SALT WATER! The butterfly book I had in my bag is also a soggy mess. And to think she's pandering for Mother's Day gifts...
LOL on your comic Mellie, :-)
Nice pic of the Nexus HB Moth Paul!
GP! I love the Sulphurs ... Looks like you have 2 different species on your Cassia the first one is an Orange-barred, http://www.dallasbutterflies.com/Butterflies/LARVA/philealarva.htm and the second is a Cloudless http://www.dallasbutterflies.com/Butterflies/LARVA/sennaelarva.htm
What kind of Cassia do you have there?
Sheila ~ What kind of egg was it? Re: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4885090 Congrats on the Monarchs. I hope they find me before the aphids get a hold of all this milkweed!!
How fabulous Linda! What a beautiful TST!! How awesome that you saved them so well over the winter!
Big Congrats to you Deborah!! All the BSTs! Back in the swing of things!
Pretty ZLW Mellie!
It's been so windy here lately and other strange things going on with the weather.. I am hoping it is only a late start, but things seem kinda slow here. I released a all the Frits safe and sound, the GSTs hatched and are now about 1/2 inch long, and the Cabbage Whites have begun pupating. one by one. Cool thing is one of the CWs made it's chrysalis right on the edge so I could see everything that was going on inside of it!! How lucky is that?
Here is the CW weaving a silken room up in the corner of the cage.
After the room was all secure the little cat pupated...
Here is the chrysalid it made.... Now all the rest of the cats are sort of converging near the same area to make theirs. One is down in the cage beside the wet foam container. There are about 7 all together.
5 Monarchs emerged last night and today....I waited until all 5 were out before I released them! Such a hot day.....summer is here, I guess.
Awesome Linda!! Nice going!
This Gray Hairstreak looked like she was laying eggs on the Texas Bluebonnets... Here she is with her wings open.
I'm so grateful all 5 Monarchs emerged healthy looking and will probably be nectaring today before heading north! More Monarchs will emerge within the next couple of days, I think. One of my 2 two-tailed tigers pupated, yea! The spring TSTs are looking good so far, also.
This message was edited May 8, 2008 2:16 PM
Great news Linda! Yaay a TTTiger too!! Keep sending them this way and I will add what I can to them!
I saw this curly winged Silver-spotted Skipper the other day... I guess it overwintered in the yard and wasn't able to fill out and dry... I hope he made it.
Here is a brand new Silver-spotted Skipper baby. I opened up it's leaf nest so you all could get a better look. I already have several of these cats, so that's a good sign.
Looking for things to pick up after today...
Cool cat! Oh, I found a cat today also. I was trying to chase a stray male cat away that was following my very disinterested spayed cat around. When I passed the black cherry, this caught my eye. It's an RSP (red-spotted purple)!
Didn't know there were two kinds of Sulfurs. I just figured they changed colors as they grew. My Cassia is the one known more as Candelabra plant, or Seven Golden Candlesticks.
Great Linda!! I wish a RSP cat would catch my eye.. :-| Such cool cats!! Keep us posted on that one!
Yep GP! There are at least 8 reported Sulphur species in Brevard County...
Scroll down on this page and see which ones. There are images when you click on the Species with a camera icon beside their names.
http://butterfliesandmoths.org/map?dc=1868&_dcc=1&si=10
Note~ the host plants on them as well. A few use the Cassia/Senna spp., and the rest use other plants like medic or clover. Most of the plants are of Fabaceae though. The only one that doesn't is the Dainty. They use aster and marigold.
I took some pics of this beauty this morning and was admiring her as she went from Mexican sunflower to sunflower....then all of a sudden a Blue Jay soared over and grabbed her. That's a great site, I added it to favorites, thanks.
This message was edited May 9, 2008 11:31 AM
Yes very beautiful! That looks like a Cabbage White... They must be yummy to the birds, though I have never seen any of my birds go after a butterfly here in my back yard.. I do have several poisonous species though and the birds may have learned to avoid them here.
This message was edited May 9, 2008 10:59 AM
Great pics everyone. I thought this was a new butterfly laying eggs on my Dutchman's Pipevine, but it's another Pipevine Swallowtail. I like this pic even though I missed part of her. She didn't stand still for a second. Looks like she's coming in for a landing!
Yep, landing gear is coming down. : )
Beautiful shot of PVST Elphalba... I should be seeing some of those about now, and I can't wait!
Here is one that's said to mimic the PVST, but it has no tails.. I was out about an hour ago when it lit on the rotten fruit tray, I could see it was clearly a Red-spotted Purple. . Got about 8 super duper shots. Will only post a couple.
A pretty good ventral view:
Here is the dorsal view of the RSP. I was really glad to see this one here!
Ooh, I'm so super jealous! I've only seen one RSP and that was last year when I was in KY. My pipevine is starting to take over other plants but I just know that if I trim it back the Polydamas will come. I can't believe I haven't had any takers on it yet. Send me your Pipevine STs!!
I bought a new camera today and I'm going to put it to good use tomorrow. The Museum of Science and Industry has a butterfly garden, but I've never been. I don't think it used to be nearly as big as it is now. Anyway, they're hosting a high tea for Mother's Day so I'm taking Mom and we're going to have tea with the butterflies. It's one of those gardens where the butterflies fly around inside! You can check out their website: http://www.mosi.org/bioworks.html
One thing I like is that they only use native Florida butterflies so they can accurately show visitors what would actually show up in their yard. It's fun to see the exotics, but MOSI is trying to take more of a teaching and learning approach. One of my Zebra STs is going to eclose tomorrow! I wonder if it's tacky to bring your own butterfly to a butterfly garden? My critter keeper could be a fun centerpiece for the table, LOL!
Melanie
Smiles @ Melanie..
I was actually surprised to see the RSP, they really don't show up here very often.
Sounds like you and mom are going to have a blast. MOSI looks like they have the right idea showing people what to expect in the natural setting with NATIVE butterflies! I would love to see places like that in every major city of the US.
Congrats on the new camera!
Melanie, what a great idea for your mom! I think your "centerpiece" would be a big hit!
Debnes, that RSP is just gorgeous! I would love to see one.
I'm making PVSTs as fast as I can for y'all. These guys were all lined up munching on this flower. I took about 10 pics from the back where you could see the whole cat and they were all blurry. I only took two from the front and they were fine. Go figure. Here's one of the front shots with just their heads lined up and eating furiously.
I decided to go back out and try taking another shot from the back b/c they looked so cute all lined up. Apparently, they didn't like being photographed and decided to abandon that flower. All but one were headed back to the vine.
Oops, those are probably Polydamas caterpillers. Hard to tell them apart. Whatever they are, I'm sure they'll be lovely when they grow up!
Hi everyone! Mom and I had a great time today and you can see all my pictures here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/846119/ I hope to get some gardening done tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some new pictures. It seems like every weekend I've been busy or had something planned. I cleaned up half my bromeliad garden a few weeks ago and now the other half beckons. A gardener's work is never done!
Melanie
I'm not sure if this is a young or old Monarch, but it was having difficulty flying. Hopefully it was older and perhaps finishing its' life.
Hello again! We've got another newbie to the obsession in our forum. Please see her post in this thread, username meadowyck and help her out: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/831056/
Melanie