Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 13, 1 by TexasPuddyPrint

TexasPuddyPrint wrote:
Went out to the ranch today for a look around. Checked the rue I planted alongside the house. I counted at least 37 Black Swallowtail second instar caterpillars!!! EEEEK!!! Am leaving them on the plants though.


Also got lucky and spotted a White Striped Longtail Skipper (chioides catillus) laying eggs on Texas Snout Bean in the back field. Never could get a photo of it ovipositing. Dratted butterfly was fast!!! Checked out the plant I saw it on and found this egg thingy.

Doesn't look like any butterfly egg I've seen?! Least I think it's an egg??? Needless to say when I walked back to the golf cart to set the camera down I lost track of which plant it was!!! (the fields are full of Texas Snout Bean).

Initially I'd given up on finding that egg again and drove back to the ranch house to eat lunch but Mom was still cooking so I drove to the back field again. This time I brought out the big magnifying glass and found the egg thingie!!! WHEW!!! Also found a big caterpillar and a small one. A good day indeed!

Oh...and I tried to dig a few of the Texas Snout Bean vines up...talk about a long, looooooooooooooooooong tap root! I gave up after 10 inches. So hopefully the ones I brought back will survive. I've transplanted them and added some root hormone powder home - they wilted on the drive back but hopefully they will perk up and I can then go back in search of cats and eggs next week. Will have to check for seeds...the pods I saw were still green.

~ Cat


This message was edited Aug 12, 2007 8:12 PM