DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 44

YAY, what she said!! LOL

Nanny...let's see if your BST can beat my VF eclosure record!!!

~ Cat

Come on down; and be prepared to stay for a while. That would be about the time I need to plant new seeds and clean out the beds for spring! I could always use the help!

here I am a poor old nanny who is a newbie to BF's and you are just a pickin' on me...shame on you!

I don't think 5 days or less is gonna happen here. LOL I am not even sure what the "norm" is for BST.

Wow, wouldn't a road trip to plant things in February be fun? I swear it is so miserable up here then. I'd just like to go away from Jan. 1 to March 15.

Oh man you all are talking about snow already! Argh, we had the snowiest winter in over a hundred years here last year! The only good thing about it is it helps protect more tender plants from the crazy freeze thaw cycles we get up here. Almost every plant I planted last year came through like champions. : ) The year before we had hardly any snow but lots of freezing from ice storms and most people lost lots of plants. The rhododendrons and birch trees were not happy at all. The birch trees where all hanging over across the roads so tall vehicles couldn't even fit under them. It was very pretty but not convenient at all!!
http://davesgarden.com/tools/blog/viewimage.php?did=43593

LOL...I can just imagine a mini-caravan of cars headed for Texas in February! By February, I am so sick of heating bills, snow, ice, and scraping the windows on my car before I can drive anywhere. Last year I slipped on the ice and broke two bones in my ankle. Planting seeds in the warmth of Texas sounds great!

You might want to carpool down here to save on gas. Yeah, maybe we could arrange some nice sunny days with highs close to 80 for you.

Maybe I'll just figure out a way to beam myself down to save on gas.

We used to go to Floridia around the middle of Feb. That was my saving grace to make it through the winter!

My DH has an uncle that lives in San Antonio. They are going to be moving to outside of Nashville TN. in 2-3 years when he retires. They have already bought the land, 50 some acres I think it is.

now there's a switch, heading north to retire.

Oops..I got a better pic of my "?" chrysalis today. Will try to get one of the BST after I am sure it is dry. Will it it hurt to put them outside during the day and bring them in at night? We have curious raccoons and such at night so I hate to leave them out. So far they have been inside.



This message was edited Aug 28, 2008 3:19 PM

Wow Cat, that must be a record short time spent in a chrysallis!

I've had GF's in the chrysallis for a while now, and nothing happening. I put their crate out on our deck (very hot back there, facing south) two days ago, and the next day, 4 eclosed (one more today).

I had two BST's eclose today, one beautiful female, but the other one's wings stayed wrinkled, and wouldn't unfold. I left him in the crate while I went to the shelter at 7:30 and when I got back home at 1, he was no better. He's tenacious, doesn't want to give up, it breaks my heart. He's strong, but those wings just aren't cooperating. I even tried misting him, hoping it would help him unfold, but it's not happening.

It's funny hearing you all talk about snow. It's why we moved down here to SC in 2006 and we've loved our winters since!!! We lived in northwest CT, where I grew up, and the winters were intense. I'd be happy if I never saw snow again, but glad I have the memories of it.

Sorry about the crumpled wing Thea. Hate to see that happen; I put them in the freezer to sleep rather than have a lizard or wasp get them. Usually it happens when they loose grip and fall, or get tangled in a plant etc.
Great shot of the Question Mark chrysalis nanny, that one leaves no doubt.

I don't know why I don't keep my camera in my car, but for some reason I always leave it at the house. When I pull in and I see a butterfly, I tend to go running through the house to get my camera. My parents are getting used to me answering their "Hi, Melanie" with my return shout of "Tiger Swallowtail!" or whatever butterfly it happens to be. So when I came home today and responded to Mom's greeting with "Butterfly Sex!!", she didn't seem surprised. I said they were swallowtails to which Mom replied, "The black ones?" I muttered, "They're all black" but kept running.

And speaking of running, the butterflies kept fleeing but I got a few pictures anyhow. One of the neighbors was out power walking and asked what kind of bird it was. I told her it was butterflies having sex; that's why it looked so big. Dad reports that while delivering mail today he saw two Gulf Frits. But what I've got here is two Spicebushes, I believe.

Here's another shot. I'll have to check the camphor tree down the street (Dad spotted it for me). My spicebushes are still very small, but I'll look them over, too.

And in an example of why you don't need pesticides because nature can figure it out on her own...I was plucking Monarch cats off the milkweed when I noticed a ladybug right smack dab in the middle of the aphids. I'm hoping she was laying eggs that will hatch and eat all the little aphids.

I rounded up three big Monarch cats which I just don't understand because I thought I turned over every leaf on those plants two days ago! Where do they hide? I also brought in another Zebra Longwing egg. That's the report from Tampa!

Melanie

LMBO. Butterfly sex!

Buterfly sex indeed!!! LMFCBO = laughing my furry cat ---- off :o)

My mom called me up the other day to say she was watching two lizards have a go at it. Makes you wonder what this world is coming to when your own parent calls you up to say you should've it.

Bet that would have been a good photo for the nature photography contest we have out here :o)

~ Cat

cute and sexy.... I think that cat. I took a picture of must be a moth of some kind. I have searched and couldn't find any butterfly that looked like him and he wouldn't eat passion vine or parsley. Out he goes..
My BS are very green. Guess they will turn darker. They are 2 days old. I keep them in my warm garage. Safe from critters.

I had a really green one and it stayed green all the way to the day it eclosed. I still can't believe they come out of that little thing!!

I think that it was a moth caterpillar. Check this guy out and tell me what you think: http://bugguide.net/node/view/142676

yep, that's him.
Thanks, Mellie

I finally got some pictures off my camera to share. I've only had Frits and Monarchs visiting the flowers for the last few days. Here's a Monarch on Zinnia : )

Fritillary on Verbena. Pretty sure a Great Spangled : )

A common one in the yard. I never try IDing these. It did have a black spot but I couldn't get a good picture that showed it.

Another Great Spangled Fritillary on Zinnia.

I found 4 more BST cats on Rue. Here is two : )

Mrs. Ed I just finished reading your article. I loved it! All the pictures were beautiful! One thing I found odd was there was no where for me to comment or I would have posted this there?

Added - Oh silly me I just didn't scroll down enough!!

This message was edited Aug 29, 2008 10:51 AM

Yah, Dave and Terry are trying to fix the formatting.

Got a pic of the BST chrysalis today!

Don't you just love those two little silk threads? When I was cleaning up after the last batch left, I was pulling on those threads on the stick and couldn't believe how strong they were!

Even DH has found this interesting. He checks them out everyday when he gets home!

Yah, my DH watched the first one do all the wandering. We didn't know what was going to happen, but he stayed out in the heat and humidity and watched.

The Autumn Joy Sedum is starting to bloom. Good thing because the Phlox have almost had it.

Having fun with my new macro.

I didn't know there were Frits as far north as NH Meredith!! I was probably seeing them when I lived in CT, I just never took the time to study butterflies then (though I still loved them, always).
I'm wondering if this is a Variegated Frit caterpillar, I just found several out on my passionvines. It looks so much like the GF cat, only a lighter brown, with white stripes running the length of it's body. Can anyone verify? I have both VF's and GF's always in my passionvines.
Meredith, do you have a lot of BST's in your Rue? I hope to find some to grow next year, for my BST's. I'm finding the poor little cats in the little bits left of my dried up old parsley plants, and I'm so worried about feeding them thru their pupation. I have some small dill plants that have popped up, and hopefully this awful heat will break one of these days and bring some new life to my parsley plants!

do we think this is a fritillary of some sort? Today I have had two of these dancing around and resting on these leaves in the neighbor's locust tree. Shouldn't they be over on my flowers???

Cabbage Whites

Mrs-Ed...that looks like some type of worn out Emperor...perhaps a Hackberry. They like to perch on trees and well, if there's fruit or butterfly brew around...they'll have a go at that.

Might be wrong...

~ Cat

Is this a Varigated Frit??