My Question Mark eclosed today! This is my very first butterfly!
We came from here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/896317/
This message was edited Sep 1, 2008 2:22 PM
Daily Butterflies Page 45
Oh that's so cool Nanny!
The assassin bug on the right is sizing up the meal of a lifetime on the left, a Spicebush Swallowtail. Don't worry. He didn't get it. He did, however, try. Amazing eh given the size difference?
Giant Swallowtail.
I saw this Monarch on Saturday when I was at Sheldon Lake. The butterflies there were amazing. I wondered if the reason we are seeing fewer of them is because so many parks, schools etc. have butterfly gardens now. Maybe they're just more spread out.
Is that last one I posted a monarch or a viceroy?
Viceroy!
Thank you Nanny! I checked it against a Queen but I forgot about Viceroys.
Hackberry Emperor.
This picture is horrible, but I don't know how y'all take such good picture of sulfers. They hardly stop moving and they seem to glow!
So if they have a more orangy color does that make them an Orange Sulphur versus a Cloudless Sulphur???
I have seen this little guy ID'd somewhere, but can't find it now.
I think that's an Eastern Tailed Blue. I can't tell the sulfers apart. That's why I just called mine a sulfer! Yours has big spots like an orange one.
Thanks Elphaba, that's it...gee are we the only ones around today??
Well, it is labor day! Maybe other folks don't take butterfly pics on labor day! Maybe they're busy eating barbecue. It's been really dead around here. I think everyone prepared for the hurricane and canceled plans. Now, we're having a nice day (although overcast and breezy) and yet it's absolutely quiet outside.
Any idea on how long I should wait before I let my guy free? It was around noon when I found it had eclosed. Don't think it had been long before that.
Melanie's been sleeping most of the day. I think I have a touch of the cold that's going around my office. I've been really congested.
I think that Sulphur might be a Southern Dogface although hopefully someone else will come along and give their two cents. You can see from the backlighting that your sulphur has some black on the top side. Cloudless sulphurs won't have that. Mostly what I see around here are the Cloudless, but I have gotten Orange-Barred Sulphurs as well. Lately, I've been seeing what I think are Sleepy Oranges flying around.
Funny you mentioned sulphurs...I went out collecting lots of eggs from my cassia and my senna. I knew I had different species because I saw two different kinds of sulphurs laying them, plus the eggs look a little different. Well, today some of them hatched and while they are usually solid orange-looking, these cats look white. I'm so interested to see what I have, but I guess I have to wait for them to grow up a bit.
Melanie
I'm here....I envy your Question Mark! And I haven't seen a Viceroy in too long a time, but that's a great pic! All of those are pretty. We had barbeque yesterday, but there's still leftovers, so will probably have some today also. My Queen cats are growing well and I found one more egg on a milkweed. Haven't had very many butterflies around today. Just GFs and a sulfur or two.
This message was edited Sep 1, 2008 4:36 PM
Enjoyed everyone's shots. I haven't seen too many butterflies this year, but this pretty one was around for a little bit today.
Woohoo!! Nanny way to go with the question Mark. Great photo; you will be using that often in the future. I am pretty certain that your darker sulphur is not a dogface. But I am not good at identifying sulphurs. Look at the comparision link website and click on sulphurs/whites and pull them up. Not sure which hairstreak you have but you can see those on the same link.
EL ....nice shots! Way to go on the Viceroy, we don't get them up this far. I need to visit Lake Sheldon, is it near Houston? I lived down that way but rarely went to a lake other than Conroe.
De......Nice Giant Swallowtail pic!
Now....drum roll please...lol! I had a Monarch, and a Gulf Frit yesterday afternoon!! The GF was laying eggs!!
Here is my Monarch which unfortunately was Male. But I forgave him lol!
I saw my first Monarch this year today.
I haven't seen any monarchs yet in my yard this year, but my milkweed has really struggled and is now just really starting to get going. I hope to see some soon! Nice pictures!
Sheila, I've lived here forever and I've only just started discovering what this town has to offer. Brazos Bend State Park blew my mind. Then, I was at the Houston Arboretum which is inside the loop and I saw a coyote -- a coyote, downtown! Sheldon Lake State Park is another little gem. The birds are the most amazing thing to see there but I've also seen alligators and water snakes and bullfrogs. The Education Center which has a couple dozen ponds also has a butterfly garden with gorgeous native plants that are labeled, so you'll know what to find for your own garden. Here's a link with info:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/sheldon_lake/
Cool Monarch shots Chamthy and Sheila! That gulf frit egg laying is quite nice too!
Here's a weird skipper shot.
Thanks for the link, I saved it. A lot to be said for State Parks.
mellie thanks, yes I noticed the blck on the top side. I am going to go to the side by side site and take a look! I just know that I have 2 different kinds at least!
Took a quick drive to the park but the skeeters were too vicious. I lasted only about 2 minutes. Did get a nice shot of a GF on button bush.
~ Cat
Nice shot Cat.
Sulphur
Cabbage White and a wasp in mint.
Cabbage White up close.
Buckeye in same mint patch.
Off topic...
I want to post this for those of you who have enjoyed Trois' pictures over the years.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/898769/
edited to say....
I had forgotten they started a Memory Garden Forum. Here is the link for Trois. [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]
This message was edited Sep 2, 2008 1:52 PM
Thanks Shelia. I found that on the Bird Forum too. He was awesome.
Glad to say that my buckeye has some nice narrow leaf plantain now. I realized that I had a few plants out on the alley, so I dug two up and planted them for it. He's finally eating again! Not as quickly as the BSTs or Monarchs, but at least he's eating!
Ah...today I felt blessed. First of all, there's eggs on my Hop Tree. Then, I saw some kind of tiger twice today...whether two-tailed or regular TST, I'm not sure, either way it's great! The eggs...probably GST, they don't look like TTST or TST, I'm just glad to see them. I checked the neighbor's Hop Tree also, but I can only check the lower half of that one and I found nothing. If it was on fairly level ground, I might be able to check the rest of it by getting up on something...but it's pretty much inaccessable that way.
Didn't see much today ay all. some whites and this Orange Sulphur
And Silver Spotted Skipper
Cool cat Mrs. Ed.
Linda, sounds like a great day.
Nanny, wow! Beautiful photos! I love that sulfer.
I pruned back my duranta bushes and cape honeysuckle so there's been no butterflies today...anyone want to see mosquito photos? ROLF!!!
~ Cat
This message was edited Sep 3, 2008 9:52 PM
No, thank you on the mosquito photos, Cat. They would probably bite me right through this screen. lol
~Lucy
I'll pass on the skeeter pics also. I am seeing enough of them! A friend is always telling me that with the stuff she sprays on herself, they don't bother her. Yeah...thing is, skeeters rate people from one to ten on how much we're attractive skeeter-bait. I'm a ten and she's probably a one or two. No matter what I spray on or use in my yard I'm gonna get bitten if there's any skeeters in the yard and I'm outside. They just LOVE to bite me through my clothes if they're thin enough. Oh, here's one pic I took of one of my two older Queen cats. The 3rd cat is still an itty-bitty thing. Saw another Queen butterfly flying around here today.
Ooh, Linda put that pic on the bug files, it is so clear. There isn't but two cats under the Queen.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/14/