I had four Cloudless Sulphurs flitting about my garden today. Here is a pic of one of them resting on the Red Dragon Persicaria. It stayed on this leaf for several minutes.
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 50
Here's another one resting on a dead leaf on the ground. The color is not real good because the sun was so bright.
Here's another one showing 3 of the Sulphurs on the Hot Lips Salvia. I had to darken the photo so the butterflies would show up better due to the brightness of the sun.
Man have I been busy! Time to catch up with everyone. Well, I thought if I left the Polydamas eggs on the pipevine that the butterflies wouldn't lay anymore, but I was wrong. Here's one of the swarms that hatched.
Not all of those eggs were a bad thing, though. Notice in the picture that the eggs on top are yellowish (and yes that's a train of caterpillars, too). The eggs on the bottom are more orange and that's because I believe they're Pipevine ST eggs! Yes, they will lay them right next to each other - I've seen it at the museum, too.
Naturally, the Polys are still hanging around. That's my car in the background - the butterflies are good about coming right up to the house. Even more so since my porterweed has gotten larger.
My Zebra ST cats are getting big and plump. They vary from black to green with some varying shades in between. This guy has a cool violet thing going on which I think is awesome since purple is my favorite color.
Dinner's ready so I will continue with today's photos after I have a full stomach!
Melanie
Mmm...Melanie is full. I worked up quite an appetite today because Mom and I volunteered with the Tampa Bay Estuary Program to help restore a park over in St. Pete. I had gone to a workday there last year and this one was to follow up on the work we had done. The project has been led by one resident and he's done an amazing job restoring the land. I was happy to report to him that I had spotted a Zebra Longwing, Gulf Fritillary, several sulphurs, and eggs on the Red Bay trees! He planted a lot of butterfly plants so he was happy to hear they were working.
When we got home there were several butterflies visiting. The Polydamas was back and an amorous Cassius Blue was using his best game (but it wasn't working). I was super excited because this Palamedes ST was present and cooperating for pictures. I bought a Red Bay last week so I'm hoping for eggs soon, but I checked and I didn't have any yet.
Here's a top view of the Palamedes.
The Gulf Frit was hanging out on the porterweed and making the Cassius Blues all nervous.
The aforementioned Cassius Blue...
So after I cleaned up I went out to pick some pawpaw for my very hungry cats. I ended up with two more Zebra ST cats, too.
Now, if you scroll up to the top of the thread there's a post where I'm asking about a weird moth-looking thing in a mesh bag that was on the Red Bay I purchased. While I was out picking food, I felt inspired to look for cats on the Red Bays, and wouldn't you know I found more of those things? Here's a picture of one. It's sticking out the top which I found odd. The one from my tree is still sitting in its Gladware home. I'll tell you what it is if it ever comes out.
Despite the fact that it was starting to rain, I kept at it and found an egg on one of the bay trees. Then, I spotted this guy! I think he's a Palamedes.
I'll have to discuss my Palamedes and Spicebush comparison research once I've compiled more data, but for now let's just say I think he's a Palamedes. To give you an idea how big he is, I took a picture for perspective. I can't wait to see him become a butterfly!
Melanie
I want an energizer palimedes... lol all I have now are Yellow Sulphurs and Gulf Frits.
Elaine
Same here Elaine, all I've are yellow Sulphers and G.F. and a few Monarch/Queens.
I had my first BST eclose today! Collected three BST chrysalis(es?) and brought them into the screen porch. Here's a pic of the baby.
Barb
Bjf, congrats on the BST baby, she/he looks beautiful!
Marsue..... Sorry, but way back up there you posted some great pictures and asked a question. Yes, it is a Monarch and looks like it had two skippers (maybe Firey skippers) in the pic with it. Welcome to the thread!
I do hope you stick around with us on the HBBF forum, it is a very colorful thread most of the time.
Melanie.... Love the pics of the eggs and cats on the pipevine. I had some action on my wooly pipevine and looked for the eater...it is a green cat very tiny right now, but I bet it isn't a good guy. Do you have any idea what it might be?
EF and Lily....I feel your pain (jealousy) with Melanie flashing all those great shots. LOL!
BJF.....Congrats on the new arrival!!! Hope you have many more to come. (You're hooked now!)
Sheila
Marsu, does your Hot Lips Salvia get full sun all day? Mine is growing, but not blooming very well.
Elaine
That is my complaint too Elaine! It out grows a lot of my salvias but puney on the blooms.
This message was edited Oct 19, 2008 8:19 AM
I'm blushed and in pain with jealousy, ROFL. Sheila, sometimes I feel like I need to make my vacation correlates with the butterfly's migration path, so I can enjoy the journey along with them.
Marsue (Marilyn), welcome to the forum, pull a chair next to me, we can learn so much from everyone that posts here. Thanks Sheila for noticing Marilyn in the room, lol. When I scrool through her pictures, I thought I was at HOME in our Midsouth Forum. :-)
Gray Hairstreak
Hairstreak again with a big fly and a little fly.
Here he's on the lower bunch of pentas to the left. Right after I took this photo, a big anole dived on him from above and ate him in one gulp. That's nature though, and I do love watching the anoles too! Besides, most of the time, he's eating flies and not butterflies.
Monarch on a Cosmo this morning.
Very pretty GP! You even got its little foot.
Thanks for the welcomes, everyone! Very pretty photos that you all have posted. Hi, Kim--it's good to be on this thread with you, too.
Thank you, Sheila, for the ID on the Monarch.--and yes, those were skippers in the photo with the Monarch. I have an abundance of skippers around here. They love the lantana, the coneflowers, the Hot Lips Salvia, the zinnias, the Red Dragon Persicaria--just about anything that blooms--LOL
EF, the Hot Lips Salvia is in full sun all day except for the very early morning sun. Once the sunlight comes over the fence, it is non-stop sun all day on that flower bed. I have two of the Hot Lips and they have both flowered all summer and continue to flower. The one in the photo above was given to me this past spring and was just about 3 inches tall at the time. As you can see, it has grown tremendously. The bed that the Hot Lips are planted in is a lasagna bed that my DH and I made last autumn. It has a lot of horse manure in it, which is why, I am sure, that the plants in that bed have done so well! LOL
Here's a pic showing the abundance of skippers in my flower bed.
GP, how do you get such sharp clear photos like the one of the Monarch just above? My camera doesn't seem to take photos that clear (or maybe it's the photographer--LOL).
Here's a photo of a skipper on my Samantha Lantana. I bought this particular lantana because my DGD's name is Samantha. Notice the honeybee, too. I was thrilled to find several honeybees on my flowers this week. It has been literally years since I have seen a honeybee. Hopefully, the little critters are making a comeback.
and here's either a moth or a butterfly--I don't know which--that was sunning itself on a rock.
Why does everybody have buckeyes but me?! I'm so jealous! That's a gorgeous one you have there Marilyn!
Just a Gulf Fritillary from this morning.
Elphaba, thanks for IDing the Buckeye for me. I wish I had some Gulf Frits--I haven't seen one all summer but that doesn't mean they haven't been around--I just haven't seen one. I did have an American Painted Lady which I thought was a GF at first--shows you how much I know (or don't know) about butterflies!
This photo was taken in August.
Wow! That's a beauty. I don't have any Painted Ladies either! I've seen them in the forests around here though. I have yet to see a Buckeye!
I wasted too much time today trying to get a picture of this one, a Spicebush Swallowtail (I think! -- The black ones are as confusing as the monarch-like ones!) I really love spicebushes, but find them hard to photograph.
That's a great photo, Elphaba. You seem to have the BF's that I don't have. I have seen a couple of big black or dark blue butterflies around my garden in the past couple of months but they would never stay long enough for me to photograph them. :o((
Today the Blue Angels were performing at the Jacksonville Air Force Base which is just about 10 miles from us. I could hear them so I went outside with the camera in hopes of getting a pic of them in the air. I didn't get to see the Blue Angels but while I was outside I spotted two Am. Painted Ladies, another Buckeye, some little skippers, and a small silver butterfly which I should know the name of but have forgotten :o((. At one time they were all feeding on one of my purple mums but I couldn't manage to get a picture of all of them at the same time. However, I did get a few good shots (out of 77 photos I took while I was out there--LOL)
Here's another one
and here's that beautiful Buckeye
and one with the Buckeye and one of the Painted Lady BF's
That is sooooo cool! I'd be out-of-my-mind excited if I had more than one at the same time!
I was! I must have been outside taking pictures of those butterflies for at least 30 minutes. Now here is one of the little silver butterfly and a skipper, too.
The sun was so bright that the silver butterfly's color looks sort of washed-out.
Here's a close-up. It's hard to tell whether this little fella is coming or going--LOL. Maybe someone can ID it for me.
