DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 59

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/947471/


Melanie, like the butterflies, has emerged from hibernation! Of course, my cocoon involves Grandma's quilts, a few good novels, and a hot cup of tea. My preferred hosts are cheeseburgers and spaghetti, LOL!

Mom woke me up this morning (at 11:22 am, LOL) with some exciting news. She spotted a "Giant Tiger Swallowtail" as she called it, which I explained was not a mutant crossbreed but just a plain old Tiger ST. Well, not that they're plain or old. Anyway, after laying in bed for another minute, the urge was too strong to fight and I grabbed my camera and went outside to find this lovely basking on a fern.

Nice TST Melanie; Mom is getting pretty good, way to watch!

Glad to see some of you found the MOSI blog! Kristen, my boss, actually left a note the other weekend asking for me to take some candid shots of me and my partner, Christina, working in the garden. Of course, that was the day it poured buckets so I haven't taken those pics just yet.

The teas we host are very nice and that's why I started volunteering there. I took Mom to the Mother's Day tea and was disappointed that there was no one on duty to free the butterflies that had emerged. So I figured instead of complaining, I could be that person! And now I am! Let me just say there is nothing more fun than walking in the flight cage with a butterfly dangling from my finger. Even the cynical teenagers that volunteer at the museum are impressed. For some odd reason they had a Christmas tea this year which I thought was bad timing since we had few butterflies. Fortunately, one of the Monarchs decided to make his chrysalis while I was there so I walked around the tables and let everyone watch.

And speaking of dangling butterflies - here's a Polydamas I let loose last week.

Thanks Sheila! Having lots of butterfly plants outside Mom's office window is helping her to see them and get used to identifying them.

Since I no longer fear having a gall bladder attack in the middle of the woods, I went hiking today! I have never seen so many Zebra STs flying around. I only found five eggs and a baby cat, but there should be some serious egg laying going on soon. I saw one male trying to "persuade" a lady butterfly, but she wasn't having it. I thought the guy flew away to soon - but if a guy isn't willing to make the effort, he's not worth it!

I also spotted several Spicebush ST and about five Palamedes (one of which almost flew into my face) but I couldn't get any pictures of them. They just don't like to settle down.

I had to chase this Buckeye around for about five minutes to get a pic. The Zebra STs were all over the place, scaring off all the other butterflies.

Same deal with this Checkered Skipper. This one was kind of small, at first I thought it was one of the Blues. These guys are very skittish and hard to take a picture of.

Ok, this isn't a good pic but the silly thing kept landing at a bad angle. That orange thing at the bottom is a Phaeon Crescent. There were lots of them flying around and claiming their territory.

FYI, the nectar plant most in use these days, and what you can see that Zebra ST on is sawtooth blackberry. I hate the thorns on the thing, but the butterflies like the nectar.

Melanie

I have two of the five Varigated Frit cats I brought in make a chrysalis. I want to get a better shot of it later, but didn't want to disturb it just yet. It really gets freaked out with the slightest movement right now.
Anyone give me an idea of the time it will be in the pupa stage?

I thought they were a lot like the Gulf Frits so wouldn't that be about ten days or so? Love that chrysalis, too!

In other exciting news, I was taking my compost pail out to be emptied and there was a Silver Spotted Skipper on my bromeliads! I know they're very common in other areas, but I hadn't ever seen one in Florida before. I bought a false indigo last year hoping I could attract them but it hasn't even leafed out yet! I think the butterflies are spreading the word about my house. I had my first Red Spotted Purple last fall and now a Silver Spotted Skipper!

Melanie

Sweet!!! Always fun to find a new one.

Wow, Sheila, the variegated frit's chrysalis looks just like a piece of jewel. It's so colorful!

Isn't it! Josephine has a picture in the bugfiles http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/3944/ and it is different than mine. Also TPP (Cat) has one there as well and it is different than Josephine's or mine. I wonder if they change colors in that stage? Need to read up on it.

I'm in love ... again!!! What darling those little ones are! I better hurry up and plant my spring garden. Thanks Sheila.

I love the VF chrysallides also...I think they DO vary! I was thinking about mistletoe today. I found a piece lying by our new shed...maybe there is some high up in one of those trees. One property that has nobody living there near us has some mistletoe near the road that is accessible. I know the owner wouldn't mind if I check it from time to time. I really want to see a Great Purple Hairstreak cat!

Oh Linda, I hope you do too. I have the butterflies here but not often. You sure can't check the mistletoe when it is up so high.

Can you imagine trying to spot this little green thing in a whole mess of mistletoe if you weren't pretty close up?
http://bugguide.net/node/view/134907/bgimage

This message was edited Mar 14, 2009 9:39 PM

I hadn't ever looked it up. That is by far the most plain jane cat and ugly chrysalis for such a beauty of a butterfly I have ever seen! It is a wonder there aren't more GPHs, I doubt the birds could see the larvae stage.
I love the belly colors. http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/3447/

Sheila...congrats on the VF - I've raised those before and they make the most beautiful chrysalis. So much metallic gold and copper and all that Mother of Pearl coloring - Nature sure does bless us with beauty in the smallest of things :o)

Linda...do hope you find a GPH cat :o)

I've sat back in the golf cart with my binoculars in hand and looked over mistletoe growing on the mesquite trees for hours and haven't seen one yet! Of course, that stuff grows just about on every tree...so much to look at and it's all green - I'd never be able to find a cat way up in the tree tops where that stuff grows :o(

Read that the cats climb down towards the trunk of the tree and hide themselves within the bark or under loose sections and bark to form their chrysalis. I haven't gone about prying away pieces of bark yet...am too afraid to encounter a scorpion!

~ Cat

I noticed your picture, Josephine's and mine are all different; does the chrysalis change colors during the process?

The ones I raised never changed color...but seems they are variegated after all :o) Josephine's seems to have more white and yours more copper/orange. Maybe it depends on what plants they eat?

Here's a photo of one of mine for comparison again :o) Seems mine shows more detail on the wings and antenna.

~ Cat

What was your's eating? Mine was taken off of yellow pansies.

The caterpillars are starting come back. Today at the museum I gathered up twenty Cloudless sulphur cats, five Monarch cats and one Monarch egg. Good thing the milkweed is coming back fast!

Melanie

The Polyphemous Moth cats were hatching this morning. Here's one piece of that paper bag with the eggs. I have more! And some still haven't hatched. I hope they're eating the live oak leaves!

Great news Melanie!

Those are some cutie little wee things Linda.

Oh Linda, wow! How big those cats. get to be? Please keep us posted of their progress.
Kim

They say it gets to 3 3/4 inches...so BIG! And takes a long time to grow up. Which is why I'll be putting some outside later on. I've got too many....don't want to use THAT many containers. They seem happy on the live oak leaves, good...because there is not much else available right now. But I found it hard to believe those little bitty things would eat something as tough and leathery as live oak. Some are social feeders. I swear, there's at least nine on one fairly small leaf!
http://butterflies.aa6g.org/Butterflies/Raised/polyphemus.html


This message was edited Mar 16, 2009 10:50 AM

I was lucky to have found a pair of those moths in the past. I wished I can find them again in the garden in the future. Thanks Linda for sharing the link with us.

Linda,

Way cool on the Poly moths!!!

Sheila...my VFs used native Nodding Green Violet (hybanthus verticullatum) as a larval host.

It's good to see everyone posting their cats, eggs and butterflies. I've been working so much these past few weeks that I haven't had a chance to even check my backyard :o(

I drove out to the ranch for the weekend but it was chilly and drizzly...not a butterfly in sight either. However, since the drizzle was light and sporadic I hopped on the tractor and tilled up an area close to the ranch house.

Also walked around tossing a huge batch of mixed seeds and hopped back on the tractor to till the soil again to cover them up. Am hoping the deer won't venture so close to the ranch house and nibble everything that sprouts to the ground but I must say I saw tracks in the area where the woods start...not a good sign! Am going to have to make a scarecrow or something to keep them away! :o)

Will have to take photos of the newly tilled and sowed patch next weekend as it got too dark by the time I finished to drag out the camera. Wish me luck with my ranch 'butterfly' garden this time around!!!

~ Cat

Good luck! I have 3 more tiger cats hatched today, that's all of the eggs I had. I saw a tiger butterfly yesterday flying along the road as we left our place yesterday, seemed like it might be headed here, but couldn't see any more eggs on the tree today. Meanwhile, a few of the moth cats are eating some new Cedar Elm foliage I had put in for the cats. But most prefer the live oak leaves. I've seen a black butterfly around today, but don't know which kind.

I hope you do have better luck with your meadow this year Cat.

I have three of the V Frit cats in chrysalis now, two still eating. Didn't see any more but then we had a few days of rains and 37 degrees just after I brought these in. So glad I found them.

Wooohooo, I'm besides myself. I finally found my first Eastern tiger swallowtail? It was mesmerized with my hyacinch!!!

Look at that Tiger filling up it's tank!!! Great shot, glad you got to take it Lily!!

I think it visited my pansies too, but spent most of his time around the fragrant hyacinchs. I must have snapped dozens of pix.(es) lol.

But it didn't cost anymore than one! Don't you love digital instant and low cost!

Gosh, don't I ever! LOL I don't remember what I did before digital age. lol.

I remember! Had to use up the film first. Then wait for it to be developed. And then it had to be converted to something other than a print. Had to be scanned or put on a disc or CD. Nice photos!

My sister got a digital for the first time a couple Christmas' ago. She went with me to the butterfly exhibit that next year and I took about 250 pictures and she took about 16! She hadn't gotten use to being able to shoot and click anytime she wanted. She felt like she had taken a lot! LOL! When we used to have to pay for the developing and the film we all took a lot less.

It took me awhile to get used to be able to take all the pics I want. During the winter I take on average 75 pics a day. During the summer between birds, BF's & plants I hit 300- 400 pics a day! Of course alot get trashed too... LOL

Yeah....but it doesn't cost you anything but time!!!!

They need to quit making new digital cameras!!! Each year for the past five years I've bought a new camera with my tax refund :o) So far I haven't done so this year...but I could be easily swayed :o) Am really wanting to find a digital microcope to photograph butterfly eggs and first instar caterpillars :o)

~ Cat