We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/848741/
I was sharing all those pictures of my caterpillars and my Zebra Longwing got mad that she wasn't included. So I made her the cover girl for the new thread!
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 37
Ahhh...how cute! I was outside this morning sitting there eating breakfast and watching for butterflies. And who comes to visit but a pipevine swallowtail, happily laying eggs on my pipevine! I never had anything on it last summer, and I am so excited! I just made little houses to raise some gulf frits and the two swallowtail cats on my parsley yesterday...now I am going to have to make another one for these. I am so excited!
Kim
Woohoo!!! I was able to photograph a Palamedes Swallowtail (Papilio palamedes) today :o) This is a regular for ya'll that live in the south east but we don't get to see this in south Texas so this was a real treat for me while I'm temporarily in Georgia. It's missing the tails but heck, it's a first for me so I won't whine too much!
~ Cat (temporarily in Brunswick, GA)
This message was edited May 31, 2008 11:19 AM
Also photographed this dragonfly just outside the dorm - I'm not up to par on my dragonfly identification - and probably never will be but this was a gorgeous looking predator :o)
~ Cat (temporarily in Brunswick, GA)
Cat, I'm glad you got to see one of our Palamedes. I haven't seen too many of them since last fall when there were a ton. There are plenty of dragonflies right now; I was talking to my Dad about how many there were in our yard while I was out watering. They also seem to like the plumbagos.
In sad news, I caught one of my Zebra ST cats eating another one. They're bad to do that. In happier news, the Polydamas cats are doing well. I went and got a different kind of pipevine (pretty sure it's a. trilobata). I've provided them with that and the a. tomentosa so we'll see what happens. The nursery where I bought it also had a. gigantea, which I have mentioned is the kind my cats keep dying on. One reason I went with the a. trilobata is that I've seen fifth instar cats eating theirs at the nursery, and even the one I bought came with a couple of caterpillars on it. So it looks like they will survive on this kind. The guy at the nursery said he had been watching several clutches but that he thinks the wasps are getting the caterpillars because they've been disappearing.
Not that I'm any kind of scientist, but one thing I noticed is that the a. gigantea smelled a lot worse than the other two. I can't help but wonder if that is an indication it has a higher level of toxins in it and that is what was killing my caterpillars. Something to ponder...anyway, here's a few of the cats that came free with my plant.
While I was pulling in the driveway I saw something flying around which is not all that unusual because the Blues are generally making their crazy flights around the plumbagos. But this looked a little larger and sure enough, it was a Gray Hairstreak. I haven't seen these guys in my yard for a couple of months or so. Like every other butterfly in my yard these days, it was on the purple porterweed. That nectar must taste really good to them.
Melanie
Yesterday was my b-day and I got the wonderful gift of a Tiger Swallowtail sticking around long enough for some good photos. : )
They mostly fly high and patrol, rarely do I get to see one nectaring on my flowers.
Meredith, what are those flowers?
Hi mellie here they are. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/126301
Mellie...
Bummer on the chomper. That has happened to my last instar Queens - one even went so far as to eat through a chrysalis.
I saw another three Palamedes Swallowtails today. They seem to prefer the wooded areas and just would not stop for a photo :o) I also saw what I think were a male and female (dark form) Eastern Tiger Swallowtails. They too would not stop and I was not able to keep up with their flight.
Am going to go on the Okefenokee Swamp tour that is offered by the Recreation Center this Sunday. It's pretty much an all day affair - leaving at 8am and not getting back to the compound until 6pm.
I hope I get to see lots of wildlife :o)
~ Cat
(Temporarily in Brunswick, GA)
ps...can ya'll tell me if this is a female Horace's Duskywing or what butterfly it is.
This message was edited May 31, 2008 6:03 PM
Ahh...phlox. The blue reminded me of the plumbagos I have. I've been reading about butterfly color preferences so it made me curious.
Cat, I want to go to Okefenokee! Look for the giant hooded pitcher plants. The pitcher plants in Okefenokee swamp get much larger - up to three feet tall. I've seen pictures but I hope to go there one day and see them for myself. The Palamedes are often found in swamps due to their host plants. They're also the most commonly encountered swallowtail in Florida. As for your cute little duskywing, if he's not Horace's then I think he'd be a Juvenal's duskywing. They're so hard to tell apart. Glad you're having a great time!
Melanie
Mellie, can you share what you found about butterfly color preference? I have seen conflicting info on it.
Mellie...
Have camera...will travel!!! Will look for those giant hooded pitcher plants.
Am going to take my backpack to put my camera and equipment in as well as some snacks and bottled water. I'm not sure if the tour offers food and refreshments...but I'm not taking any chances with the heat and humidity out here.
By the way, the grass area near my dorm that has a variety of butterflies flitting in it has some purple flowers at the top of a stalk. It grows in the ditches where there is water. I don't know what it is but the Black Swallowtails like it. It's the one that duskywing is nectaring from above.
Oh, and there is lots and lots of passion flower vines growing wild out here. Wish I could box a bunch up and ship home but it's against policy to dig up plants etc.
~ Cat
ps...There's a BST in this photo of the plants
The book I'm reading says that butterflies prefer purple. Not straight-up Crayola purple, but more of a magenta like you see with native echinaceas. It also says yellow is a strong butterfly attractor, particularly yellow daisy-shaped flowers. Of course, considering that butterflies see UV light and a much fuller spectrum than we can comprehend, I think our notion of color vs their notion of color are completely different things.
Cat, you found pickerelweed! That's a favorite of the Palamedes as well since it is a wetland plant. You find it at the edges of ponds and in ditches and such. I love the blooms myself. There's a post office near my house that has a large pond next to it and there is just tons of pickerelweed blooming all around it. It's so pretty. Where I go hiking the pickerelweed has been missing for a while because of the drought, but I started to see it return recently when we got some rain.
Pickerelweed - never heard of it!!! Wish I could take some of that with me to plant at the pond. I bet it would thrive there!!! Will have to put that on my list of plant trade wants when I get back to Texas.
Haven't seen any Palamedes on it - as these are out in the sunlight - perhaps I should start checking those ditches and stream running through the forest!!!
Here's some kind of duskywing and a skipper on it too.
~ Cat
It's so funny how the things we take for granted in one area are new to someone else. The guy who gave the butterfly ID lecture I went to was saying how pickerel weed is a good early season nectar plant. I guess by late summer and fall it kind of runs out of nectar. Like butterflies, purple is my favorite color but I don't have any wet areas where I could plant pickerelweed. I suppose I could try a container, but even those dry out so quickly.
Cat that Palamedes and the duskywing are just gorgeous! I have pickerel weed in my pond. I haven't had any Palamedes but the other butterflies and my hummingbird love it. It looks like it's about finished blooming now though.
Melanie, that hairstreak is really pretty. That's a great shot.
Meredith, your flowers are as pretty as that butterfly! Wow!
Linda, my passion vine is Passiflora Sanguinolenta. I hope it won't kill them. Here's a picture of a gulf frit that I took at the Houston Arboretum today.
I was hiking through the woods and saw two Question Marks. Neither would let me take a decent photo though. This is the best one and as you can see, it's quite terrible.
and finally a Monarch at one of the butterfly gardens at the Arboretum.
Melanie, It's good to know that they like magneta purple verses a crayon purple, and I will have to get some yellow daisy like flowers. I have black eyed susans, if those count, but I need others. Thank you so much for sharing that. : )
Elphaba, Thank you - I'm glad you liked it : )
I need some pickerel reed. Here butterflies in my aunt's yard in central Florida. I need white duranta and pawpaws..
Zebra Swallowtail.. so pretty
Zebra on Tithonia
OMG! You had a zebra swallowtail and a zebra longwing! I've never seen either! Congrats on the great butterflies and great pictures. I love them!
Hairstreak that let me take his picture. Hope he's OK.
Whoa! I haven't seen a ZST yet...are they found in Brunswick GA?
I went on the Okefenokee Swamp tour today. Had a lovely boat ride and saw more alligators than I wanted to. Then we walked the Boardwalk Trail to the Observation Tower. Ohhh it was soooooooooooo hot!!!
I saw gobs and gobs of Tiger Swallowtails but none would land for a photo. The forest was full of the plant pictured below...I also saw a caterpillar on it. Am thinking it was a Tiger cat? Can ya'll tell me what it is and what is the plant?
~ Cat
Also saw plenty of these buggers...the locals called it a Yellow Fly and said it's flying teeth :o) I didn't get bit by any but they tagged along during the Okefenokee Swamp boat ride.
This bugger landed on my thigh...so I smacked it and just had to take a photo. Nice eyes!!!
~ Cat
Cat-
I think that plant is a Bay tree.
Adrienne
Cat that plant could be a Sweetbay magnolia, Magnolia virginiana. I have two of those trees and the leaves in your picture look very similar to mine. It is one of the host trees for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. That cat in your picture looks like a Tiger cat. But, I just can't see the gold ring around the neck though.
Possibly a Spicebush cat? I have a Swamp Red Bay, Persea palustris but are they host to Tigers? I know they are for Palamedes and Spicebush. The leaves of both trees are very similar.
Cat, so glad you had a good time at the Park.
Meredith79, happy belated birthday! Glad you had butterflies on your birthday.
This message was edited Jun 1, 2008 9:33 PM
ZSTs can be found all up the east coast I believe, but you won't see them unless their host plant is nearby. You have to know where the pawpaws live.
I was thinking the plant in Cat's photo was either a magnolia or bay tree. Magnolias tend to have darker, glossier leaves so I would lean toward one of the bay trees. Of course, that would make it a Spicebush ST. That's my two cents. And Cat, it's not the heat, it's the humidity!
Melanie
Not sure what those trees were...it doesn't look like the magnolia trees I used to have in my yard when I lived in Tennessee. The leaves on the trees in the swamp seemed softer and a shiny new green. Oh well, still haven't gotten a Tiger photo. It's been raining during the day and it has become extremely hot and humid. Clouds in the sky in the afternoons make it shady - no butterflies flying about aside from Common Checkered Skippers.
I need to get back on the trails through Tribute and Butcher Park here on the compound. Perhaps the weather will be more agreeable later in the week. I want to see more Palamedes and Tigers!!!
Saw this poor BST today in the field across the dorm. It rained Sunday and Monday so am thinking this one eclosed during the bad weather and wasn't able to dry and pump up its wings properly.
~ Cat
Well, I went for my training at MOSI and it was a blast. On Saturday I have orientation and I'll be working with one of the other volunteers who will continue to show me the ropes. Cat, I mentioned your caterpillar on what appears to be the bay tree to the lady at MOSI. She asked if it was rolled in a leaf and I said no, so she thought it was a Palamedes. I see in the photo there's a folded over leaf so I guess it could have been a Spicebush. Of course, I was talking about how I hadn't seen any Palamedes around the house this year so one visited me yesterday while I was watering. Naturally, I didn't have my camera!
My monster Monarch cat has made his J and Mom promises not to get all emotional when this one goes into the chrysalis. I got to pin some Monarch chrysalids at MOSI and it made me feel happy that mine came out so well. I also got to move some Cabbage Whites to a new tank and new yummy pepper grass. While walking outside, I saw my first White Peacock of the year and we both yelled at it to go lay some eggs! Looks like I'll be having lots of fun with the butterflies!
Melanie
I am not knowledgeable about BF's but I think this is a Blue Morph...
That's a beauty!
That would be a Red Spotted Purple. Blue Morphos are a tropical butterfly found in Central and South America.
Well, color me purple! Thanks for the correction!
One from today.
Yesterday, I photographed one of these in my neighbor's front yard and one in my backyard. Red-Banded Hairstreak?
Here's the other one.
I wish we got more Red Spotted Purples here - they're so pretty. My MOSI boss saw one not too long ago but they're few and far between. I had a Polydamas on my plumbago when I pulled in but by the time I got the camera it was gone. In other news, my first Monarch should be eclosing tomorrow from the looks of it. Mom watched over the third one as he made his chrysalis today. She's naming them in alphabetical order like they're hurricanes. So far we have Alice, Mr. Big, and Chuckie. I had to show her how the head capsule and skin come off all in one piece. I don't know what she thought it was but now she's informed.
And in other news that I know will excite many of you, Mom has spotted a hummingbird. I didn't report it at first but she's seen it three times now and Dad has spotted it once. So now I'm declaring it official. In all cases it was spotted near the front door and Mom saw it feeding on - what else?- the purple porterweed. There must be the butterfly equivalent of crack in that plant. There's also a firecracker fern nearby and it would surprise me if the hummingbird was feasting on that. Dad saw a hummingbird years ago on the plumbago, but this is the first one he's seen in a while. Reports vary as to it's color and Dad's a little colorblind so he's not a reliable witness. I'll show them pictures and see what they say.
Oh, speaking of the purple porterweed, Mom saw a Zebra Longwing divebombing the Monarch to chase it away. At the butterfly festival next weekend I will be buying lots and lots of purple porterweed. Dad went to get the paper the other morning and saw a large moth that looked like a "furry butterfly" feeding on it. It must have been large because he said it looked almost like a bat. I've seen the butterflies land on the purple porterweed, then go to the blue (which is planted right beside it), and then go back to the purple. It's kind of bizarre!
Here's a pic from this weekend of the Gulf Frit coming in for a landing on my now infamous purple porterweed. You can see the blue mixed in with it.
