Today I had my Meyer Lemon tree outside so that the bees can pollinate and low and behold I had three Red Admirals feeding on it. YIPPEE!
Red Admiral visit
A treat for the butterfly, when so little is blooming! Yea!
Wow, I didn't think we had anything still flying up this way!
I was very surprised to see them also. They are out there right now on my butterfly brew log. By the way, here is what happens at night on the log.
Goodness I didn't realize there were that many moths out at night this time of year either; or is that an older pic?
Yeah!!! I hadn't seen a Red Admiral in months but last week a couple showed up on my brew on one of the windiest days we've had. Go figure!!!
Don't ya just love stepping outside at night to take a peek at your bait log!!! There's always a bunch of moths on mine too. Usually a black witch or two but mainly lots of medium sized buggers.
One time I just shined the flashlight from the back door and got the fuzzies scared out of me! There were these two beady eyes looking up at me from the bait brew bowl - an oppossum!!!
The dogs are usually pretty good at keeping them out of the back yard but they still manage to sneak over the fence and raid the tangerine tree or hit up the bait brew bowl!
~ Cat
Well, I had two monarchs eclose today, and was wondering what to do with them since it has been cold and hardly any flowers around for nectar, then it hit me, we have some milkweed still flowering at the greenhouse, so I took them there. They will have a good and safe environment, and it so happened that they were male and female, so i am hoping to to find some eggs on that milkweed.
I still have four more chrysalids that are about to eclose, so I will end up taking them there too.
Josephine.
What's with these butterflies eclosing in this weather?! Same thing happened to me with some Zebra Longwings yesterday. At least the sun came out today and it warmed up slightly :o)
~ Cat
Great Josephine! I only saw Queens since October, and then neither the last month. My milkweed was gone after the last freeze we had.
Hope the pair does a good job of laying eggs....but then their offspring will defoliate the MW in the greenhouse. Let's pray for an early spring lol!
It will be very interesting to see them flying around in the greenhouse, we might start a whole new trend, if this keeps up.
Sheila, that is a recent pic of the moths on the log. Poor monarchs! have they lost there way?
Speaking of moving them into a greenhouse, Sheila I thought of you when I put the female green lynx in there with her egg sac, I know just how much you LOVE THEM! I woke up one morning and it was real cold, there she lay belly up on the ground. I put her in a specimen container to add to my collection figuring she had passed. About a couple hours later she came around. I couldn't bear to see her demise since she was such a good mother and hadn't had a meal in a month. I took the cutting with the egg sac and moved her in the greenhouse where she is very happy and will probably die of old age. LOL Let me know when you want me to send you some nice little spiderlings.
Have a great day!
Peg
Whaaaa!!....NO thank you!!! You can keep your little butterfly eating spiders thank you! LOL!
I am going to get a bait log up today though so I can see if I have any night visitors!
Datura...you are tooooo kind!!!
Those spiders are voracious :o) Seems everytime I am walking around the back pastures there is a butterfly in the clutches of one :o( Oh well, I know they have to eat too - but please...not my butterflies!
Here's a link to a butterfly predator photos thread I started a while back - you can see just how many of the spiders in the photos are Green Linx!!!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/773652/
~ Cat
I hate those! They deliberately lurk near the flowers that the butterflies prefer, then when the butterfly comes to nectar, grabs it and kills it. I didn't have many until this year. I think something must have happened to disturb the balance between the different spiders around here. Species that usually are more numerous dwindled to very few and the green lynx became the predominate species. Next year I hope to change that. I have no pity when it comes to that one. They have to die!
Hey Girls, I released three more monarchs in the greenhouse today, have two more chrysalis left, and five of the gulf fritillaries. Wow!! I feel rich!!!
I can't match that Josephine!! You win!! I only have two Giant Swallowtail still in chrysalis. I feel my cupboard is bare in comparison. lol!
I bet there is a party going on in the greenhouse! Are the others sharing in your excitement? Keep track of them as to the life span in the GH, that will be interesting. Also I am curious if they will mate and lay eggs there.
Well, that is what I was hoping for, but today I couldn't find the two that i released yesterday.
The greenhouse is pretty big with lot of places to hide. The three that I released today were all females do that guy is gonna be quite busy, it would be nice if they laid eggs and we could continue the family.
Does it have an automatic sprinkler system, or does it stay a bit chilly in there? Maybe they will appear with the sun this afternoon.
It has automatic sprinklers and it is heated, you don't suppose their wings got wet and they are weighted down?
I put the plants on a table today, so the sprinklers won't get them there, we shall see what happens.
I think I saw Josephine's Monarchs fly by here on the way to Mexico!!!
Does anyone on here tag monarchs? Am curious as I've never seen a tagged monarch in my yard or at any of the butterfly parks but have read of their sightings from when the reach Mexico.
Ya'll sound you're having way too much fun baby sitting butterflies. If ya'll lived closer and within the Guava Skipper's territory I'd send the chrysalids I've got to you!!! They really are beautiful butterflies...too bad they don't venture far from here.
~ Cat
I sure would love to have them Cat, I wish we lived closer too.
Josephine.
Me too Cat.
As for tagging, I only tagged one with the Botanic Garden one year. That year we didn't have many butterflies and I gave the Bot. Garden 12 of my hand raised Monarchs to release. I didn't think to order any tags last year, or I could have tagged about 44 at the migration season. I need to do that this year; I have signed up with the Monarch Watch group. I had pictures of several of the tag numbers and looked them up later that year, but they hadn't been reported.
I realize the spiders eat the butterflies, but I try to keep a eco balance in my yard. I am depending on my birds and others to feed off the spiders. After a long conversation on a bus one day with Dotty Woodson she told me she does not spray anything, she depends on each species of insects and birds to maintain the balance in her yard. The hummers will eat spiders and use the webbing for thier nests and so on and so on. I would hate to see my precious butterflies eaten but it is a part of the cycle of life. My problem is that I can't bear to kill anything...oh yeah, except for fire ants and roaches!!! LOL Guess that shoots a hole in my eco balance doesn't it?
Have a great Day everyone.
Yeppers...that eco balance is relative indeed!
I've been checking my passion vines and guava tree daily - and keep finding little spiders - which I do kill - smack! Right between both hands or squished between my fingers!!! Dratted buggers suck the guts out of my first instar cats! :o)
~ Cat