Slurping up the nectar. Yum!
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 44
And finally, here's the piggies. I like to throw the leaves on top of them and watch them eat their way out. I think they enjoy it, too.
Melanie
That is kind of cool mellie!
Can somebody tell me if this is a Cloudless or an Orange Sulphur...they look they same to me and I am trying real hard to Id correctly !!
Velnita- Gorgeous Buckeye! How cooperative of it to coordinate colors with the flower!
Lovely swallowtail pictures! I was stalking a Giant Swallowtail this morning, but it was very active and was not still for a moment! I have many really bad photos. Oh well.
The Giant Swallowtail must be the bully of the butterfly set, because every time it flew by all the sulfurs, gulf frits and skippers hopped up and flew a short distance away.
Cute little skipper.
I bought this zinnia in a pot a couple years ago and it has reseeded itself all over. It one of the most popular plant in my yard with the butterflies.
Gulf fritillary. I liked the way the wings looked so golden from this angle.
I love those zinnia shots.
I'm not sure what this one is. He(she) is old and worn but rather large.
chamathy I think that may be a black form tiger swallowtail.
A Skipper? on porterweed.
Thanks Meredith. That would be likely I guess since the pale ones are the most common large butterflies to visit my garden.
Shari
I searched tobacco budworm and could not find anything good about them so I went out and collected them all. Atleast the ones I could find. I just wanted to show a picture of how varied they all are. It makes it tuff to id!!
This morning while I was plucking those yucky pests off my petunias I noticed one of my babies made a J under a hardy hibiscus leaf. I thought it was an odd choice. Lol
Oh my goodness, something happened to my Gigantica. I was just out there 3 days ago, admiring the huge blooms it had. Now look...... It's almost gone, blooms and all.
~Lucy
Ah ha! I see what it is. : ) There are hundreds of them. : )
I kept checking on him because I really want to see one actually change to a chrysalis but I guess the only way is to bring them everywhere with you, even to the bathroom ; ) Because after lunch he looked like this.
Congratulations Lucy!! : )
No way can I feed all of those hungry mouths. They are huge. Most look big enough to stop eating tho. If all those hatch, I'll have to wave my arms to get out of the house. lol : )
Wow Meredith, he didn't waste any time. I guess it being as warm as it is, it doesn't take them as long. I know in my house, it takes a while longer, especially if you try to watch them. : )
I know how you feel about worrying if you'll have enough to feed evrybody!! It's getting like that here with the Monarchs. I found one today that I swear was eating a Dahlia, maybe hoping it was a milkweed. It could have just been a coincidence that the exact spot he was had been chewed but the chewed marks looked fresh not brown around the edge. I moved him to another milkweed but he was on a a. currassivica and I don't have any of those left. Unfortunately I don't think I'll get to save seeds from them for next year because I was late to get them going and the only one that managed a bloom got eaten up! lol
I hope to get some of the pipevine swallowtails this year. My second year of growing aristolochia for them and still waiting. BlueGlancer I love that photo of the cats all over the pipevine.
Wow, congrats on the PVST cats! They DO eat a lot. And congrats on the Monarch cat that pupated. Keep those coming, migration is already going on for some.
Linda, those are Polydamas cats on the Pipevine. Congrats Lucy! I love their chubby bodies; they're so cute.
Meredith, I've said before that my caterpillars like to make their chrysalis when I'm brushing my teeth. I have been known to take the critter keepers with me into the bathroom. I still have yet to see a Monarch make its chrysalis from beginning to end. I keep seeing part of it. Mom has seen them do it and she got all emotional because she thought it looked like they hurt. I assured her that we wanted to them to become healthy chrysalids because that's what they're supposed to do.
Melanie
Lol mellanie your the reason I said I guess I need to take them to the bathroom if I want to see it!! : )
You really do; I think they know when they're being watched. I know caterpillars don't have the best eyesight, but I'm guessing they can see a large human face staring at them!
My Monarchs are finally starting to move to the top and make their silk buttons. My milkweed needs a break (and so do I)!
Melanie
I agree - when ever I get close to look at them they usually stop what ever they are doing and don't resume until after I leave them alone for a minute or so. Next time I see a MOnarch make a J I am going to carry it around with me! Really : )
ooooo, love all the pictures... Polydamus????
Criminy!!! I drive to the ranch for the day and come back to almost 60 new posts!!! Aye....it's hard to keep up at my age :o)
LUCY --- congrats on the Polys! Now send some out here!!! I have a huge aristolochia I planted just for them. So far no takers and the I've had to trim back the vine as it likes to climb up the telephone pole on the other side of my backyard fence :o) Wish the Polys were as abundant as the Pipevines. Those buggers number into the hundreds.
MEL --- that skiper in Post #5487215 look like a Southern Broken Dash (Wallengrenia otho) to me. I usually associate that skipper with the "3" design on the underside of the hingwing. Let me know what you think.
Great photos everyone. Welcome aboard VELNITA :o)
Okay...now to catch up with today's photos from the ranch too...the milkweed vines were blooming and there were skads of butterflies. Must've been at least 100 Fatal Metalmarks on them as the milkweed vine I was checking out was intertwined with clematis drummondi (it's larval host).
Here's a photo of a six Fatal Metalmarks on one bloom. So just imagine about the same amount on the other blossoms :o) I have yet to look for eggs or caterpillars - do want to raise those but just never make the time and the c. drummondi vines are all over the ranch.
~ Cat
This message was edited Aug 30, 2008 7:54 PM
It's been raining most days so there are puddles everywhere at the ranch. Was able to get a few shots of Giant Swallowtails puddling - I love to see those big buggers in groups!!! Here's four of the big beauties.
~ Cat
Some others puddling - mainly Checkered Skippers and Erichson's Skippers and a Southern Dogface mixed in. There were about six other Southern Dogfaces in the group but when I moved in closer for a photo they flew up. Puddling sulphurs are common so I didn't wait around for them to settle back in :o)
~ Cat
This message was edited Aug 30, 2008 7:51 PM
Ah here are the blues - Ceraunus and Reakirt's. They are puddling on the gravel rock - am assuming minerals and salts leeched up after the rain.
~ Cat
As for the vining milkweed - I photographed Pipevine Swallowtails, Giant Swallowtails, Queens, Southern Dogfaces, Fatal Metalmarks, Snouts, Ceraunus Blues, Reakirt's Blues, Variegated Fritillaries, Gulf Fritillaries, Brown Banded Skippers, Checkered Skippers, Sachem Skippers, Clouded Skippers, Common Buckeyes, Bordered Patches and one lone Southern Skipperling.
Am only going to show the Southern Skipperling as most everyone has seen the others and I get the luxury of calling them yard bugs :o)
~ Cat
ps...EF - that's a Palamedes :o) I got real familiar with those when I was on a TDY in Georgia.
This message was edited Aug 31, 2008 8:04 AM
Oh my goodness, Cat. I rarely see BF's puddling around here. Not many minerals to get out of sand, I guess. Every now and then, I will see one, but nothing like what you have. Those are just beautiful.
~Lucy
just beautiful. I am going to the feed store tomorrow and get some mineral and salt blocks.
Lucy,, will the pipevine come back from the roots?
I hope so, Elaine, and maybe it will put out some more leaves down low on the stem. I dunno, never had one, before this one.
Speaking of salt blocks - we have one out in the back pasture for the deer. I went and chopped away at them to get some bits and got the idea to 'seed' the larger puddles on my way out with the bits I'd shaved off. I am hoping if they are puddling on the gravel and areas with scat and receding water - hopefully when I go back next weekend the water will have soaked into the ground and the butterflies will come to the areas where I tossed the salt bits :o) Time will tell.
~ Cat
Just had to show off the GSTs again...it's not very often I get to see them in puddle groups.
waaahhhh, I want some Giant Swallowtails, too
Elaine, I think that's a Palamedes. Polydamas only have yellow - no blue or orange. Plus, they only have one yellow band. It's either that or an Eastern Black Swallowtail, but I lean toward Palamedes because the yellow has that "smudged" or airbrushed look to it. And the Palamedes is very common - in fact, it's the most commonly encountered swallowtail in Florida. Now, if I could only find me some caterpillars!
Cat, I think you're right about my skipper. I usually don't try to ID skippers because they all look the same to me. Bugguide.net actually had a picture of the Southern Broken Dash that was taken in my county and it looked just like my butterfly! I thought the color of the butterfly was really pretty. It was that nice rusty brown color, kind of like an Irish setter.
Two of my piggie Monarchs are in their J and one is preparing. I was talking to one, convincing him that it was ok to let go. He was hanging on with one proleg which was really cute.
Melanie
Edited to say that I meant to agree with Lucy about not seeing butterflies puddling here. I even live in a rural suburb that has cows and such, but I don't see butterflies puddle in the pastures either. Again, there's not much to be gotten from sand, I suppose. I've thought about trying to "recreate" a puddle with salts but I wasn't sure if it would work.
This message was edited Aug 30, 2008 10:02 PM
I've seen small BF's on cow chips in the pasture, before. Another thing is I don't get them to come to rottening fruit either here. Sometimes a lil butterfly or two, but nothing else. I still put stuff out tho.
Palamedes,, what I meant.. duh here. It sure was the lonely one.
Palamedes, Polydamas...they're both Greek heroes. You were close!