DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 41

Mrs Ed, your moth is somekind of underwing moth. I had one on my patio a few weeks back and I found it really neat. I also have baby Black STs - nine at last count and I still have eggs that haven't hatched yet!

Yay!!! more swallowtails.

That moth is really cool looking Mrs. Ed. Congrats on the cat too.

At the bottom of this picture in the middle is the head of a little anole eyeing what he's hoping will be his lunch.

ooooooo scary!!! Well I don't have that problem up here. Just birds.

I found another cat.I have to get my new escape proof cage ready before I bring them in though.

Well, at least it's a native anole and not a Cuban one. Nice Polydamas, too! Amazing that it held still long enough. I'm in between stops right now and making a pit stop at home, but I'll be back later with lots of awesome butterfly photos!

Melanie

Comma or Question Mark?

Couple of better shots..I hope ..though I just got some more if need be!


This message was edited Aug 9, 2008 2:13 PM

and

Is it possible to tell without seeing the underside? I'll be interested to learn about that one.

As for the anole, he was a tiny fellow and I thought his eyes were bigger than his stomach, but after seeing those pictures of the preying mantis stabbing a hummingbird, I guess size doesn't matter!

This spicebush stopped in briefly before the polys chased him away like they do all the other butterflies.

Nanny, look at my Comma here, you can see the white comma on the wing. The question mark has a dot under the comma. I don't know how to tell without seeing the underside like this.

Mom and I went to the butterfly talk at Hollie's Nursery here in Lutz. It was a general butterfly gardening talk, but I enjoyed it. I talked to a few ladies and told them I volunteer at MOSI and one said she would be interested in volunteering now that she's retired. So it looks like I have recruits! I also had a lot of fun pointing out the Polydamas cats to people. I was good and only bought two plants - some more fennel for the Black STs and some cat whiskers. We have the white cat whiskers but they had purple (my favorite color) so I had to get it. Come to think of it, my book does say that purple is a butterfly's favorite color, too.

But before I even left the house I checked out the visitors in my garden. The Frit was out early - probably so he could beat the Zebra Longwing to the porterweed. And yes, it's purple!

At the nursery there were many species wandering about. Of course, they had to stop and start as we have been in and out of thunderstorms all day here. This Spicebush ST was checking out the red pentas.

The duskywings don't just hang out in my yard, apparently. Also, Hollie's has a big cassia plant, and I found four caterpillars and snuck them out. There was a big lubber grasshopper and spiders and beetles in the cassia so I was just rescuing them, LOL! I think they're Orange-Barred sulphurs, but they're still kinda small.

We came home to drop off the cats and I saw this boy Monarch hanging out, almost like it was drying its wings. I didn't see a chrysalis nearby, so maybe he got caught in one of the rain showers.

And then a Spicebush came to my plumbagos! I pointed it in the direction of my Spicebush. Lay me some eggs already!

I thought I saw one of these fly by me, but Mom spotted it when it was stopped. This is the first Checkered Skipper I've seen in months.

And this is probably one of the many Polydamas I've raised. They really have no reason to leave my yard. Lots of nectar plants, host plant, other friends to play with, etc.

After regrouping, Mom and I headed to the USF botanical gardens for the Bromeliad Bonanza (bromeliads are my other passion). After I bought my plants, we took a stroll through their butterfly garden. It was a lot of the usual suspects, but I was happy to see this Gray Hairstreak. He may lack tails, but he's alive!

The sulphurs were actually being good about sitting still, except I couldn't see them and kept sneaking up on them and scaring them. I finally spotted one before I walked up on it. This is a Cloudless Sulphur.

Mom spotted a Pipevine ST, but all I got was this blurry pic because another ST came and chased him away. Plus, Mom is on call this weekend and her phone rang so we had to go. : (

But on the way back to the truck I saw this White Peacock and couldn't resist. All in all, a good day for butterflies.

FYI, my skipper cat made his chrysalis. I tried to stay awake but I gave up. I'm just glad he made it ok. I kept wondering how that big head capsule was going to come off.

Melanie

Hello all. I have been a lurker here for a while, but now have photos to post. I'm afraid I don't know the name of this one. It is a beauty and cooperated with my picture-taking efforts quite nicely! The gardens were alive with butterflies and hummers today.

Barb

Here is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, I believe. Correction welcome, if needed.

Beautiful pictures, Barb. : )

Wow, what a haul Melanie! Lovely!

Barb, just beautiful!

I want to share a comparison! I just took this shot of a chomped up pipevine having dinner.

And now the mirror image except it's a Spicebush!

A little orange skipper. I don't know what kind but cute!

just beautiful pictures.
Welcome Barb., I think that is an American Lady (first one) Eastern Tiger S. second one.
Elpha, that little lizard could not possibly??? eat that butterfly? I had a tiny one on my Passion Vine today. I will move him tomorrow if he is still there.
Mellie,, great pictures of your latest trip. I wish my mom were closer to do those fun trips.
Here is a 'Male Southern Dogface' I think.. corrections welcome
Elaine

AAhhhhh! I get it now...shot I had a shot like that And I deleted it *&%*#@!!

I find it in the recycle bin and though and I could see the little comma! Thank you!!!

This message was edited Aug 9, 2008 10:19 PM

Welcome Barb! You don't have to have photos to jump on in. We're more than happy to just talk butterflies (and caterpillars of course).

Elphaba - nice pictures! Imagine, swallowtails on plumbago, LOL!

Anoles (those little lizards) will indeed eat butterflies. At MOSI, they sometimes get in the flight cage and I get the net and transport them outside. I had one young boy who gave me a big thumbs up for moving them and not killing them. I like anoles - they eat other insects. I just can't have them in the butterfly cage where everyone is captive. Plus, you can't blame creatures for doing what comes naturally.

Ooh, went to Borders this afternoon and they had a book called "Butterflies of the World" in the bargain section. It was only 9.99 and it was normally $35! Can't wait to start flipping through it. It's more like a photography book, but there is information about butterflies too.

Melanie

Welcome Barb, great pics!
Elaine...Not sure, but I think you may have a Cloudless Sulphur. Fairly certain it's not a Dogface. Check the sharpness of the upper wing and the dark round spot of the upper wing on the DF (last picture). http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/images?l=1436
It is a great shot, those sulphurs are spaz fliers!

Elaine, I watched this little anole for a while. He tried very hard to catch a butterfly, but while I was watching he did not succeed. In fact, the butterflies started avoiding those pentas. Hopefully, he caught some of the flies buzzing around and had a nice lunch anyway. He was really cute and really determined but the butterflies seemed able to take care of themselves!

The Tersa moth uses the Penta as it's host plant. If you have them, could be he was looking for cats on there.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/1429/

Could be Sheila. I went out there to look for tersa moth cats and forgot what I was doing! I saw the little anole leap after one of the polys. He missed. It was comical really!

I have noticed a serious decline this year in anoles. I used to have lots of big ones everywhere. This year, I have very few at all and the ones I've been seeing are young ones, newly hatched. Something wiped out a whole generation.

Mel, the swallowtails only seem interested in my plumbago late in the day when they are mostly shaded. When the sun is on the plumbago, the butterflies ignore it entirely and only drink from the nearby pentas and that yellow flower that I can never remember the name of. I'm guessing plumbago doesn't release its nectar until evening?

Here's a duskywing, often ignored because she's not very pretty, poor dear.

Hmmm...they hit up my plumbago all through the day - and the Tersa Sphinx moths are on it at night!

Today at MOSI I got to release a Pipevine ST, several Polydamas, a Long-Tailed Skipper, and a White Peacock. I always have fun talking butterflies with the guests. One man was really interested in what plants he could use to attract butterflies so I gave him a couple of our brochures. I had a sulphur laying eggs right in front of me so I waited and just picked them all and brought them into the lab. I also found two Spicebush eggs on the camphor tree. I saw a Spicebush ovipositing, but it was too high up in the tree for me to reach. : (

I love the duskywings, and they apparently love all my new nectar plants. During the slow parts of the year for butterflies, the duskywings are often the only ones I see. I like that they keep me company when all the other butterflies are elsewhere.

Melanie

One of my PVSTs finally made an appearance, eclosing this morning. It hung out on a Mexican Sunflower plant after I let it go later.

Okay, I am pretty new to Butterfly gardening. I fostered about a dozen monarchs that were released in June, but have tons of Butterflies nectaring in my butterfly garden now. I would like to confirm some ID's on them.

I think this is female black form ETS?

Common Buckeye?

Yellow form female ETS?

Giant Swallowtail?