Melanie's Back

Hi everyone! I've been out of work on disability for fibromyalgia and ignoring the world due to my social anxiety disorder, but I'm making an effort to get out there and socialize again and I figured I couldn't go wrong with the great people here on my favorite forum.

I'm actually off to see the rheumatologist in a few minutes but I'll leave you with one of my favorite Zebra Swallowtail pictures. When I get back, I'll share some pics I took in West Virginia where I visited Grandma last month. I got to see some butterflies which were new to me which is always fun!

Melanie

Melanie, welcome back. You were truly missed. I'm not the only one, but many others have missed you too. I've found you through the butterflies that you've added on DG. They (butterflies) are symbol of angels. I'm so glad you're here. There are lots of blooming flowers here....please send some butterflies my way. lol.
Kim

Lew,
I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-H20. Someone else here on the forum has one and I was so impressed that I bought one when it came time to upgrade. I like that it takes really great pics without me having to fool with the settings because I'm just not good at that at all. I have to admit though, that butterfly was still drying it's wings and being very cooperative. But I get good pics even with the "wild" ones!

Melanie

Ok, after dinner I'll post some of the pics I took in WV but just for fun, here's a bunch of Spicebush Swallowtails. We got our own little colony at the museum (MOSI - Museum of Science and Industry) where I volunteer in the butterfly garden/exhibit. I was cleaning their cage last fall and had them all sitting on the tank cover and thought, "I have to get a picture of this." They're just too cute!

So glad you are back to posting on the forum again Melanie....you were definately missed. I do hope you are getting better and know that you will find the butterflies the most theraputic hobby around. Love the Spicebush cats!!
Lew_Tex...You are in for a treat when Melanie gets to posting her photos.

By the way folks - and I need to post this in the daily thread, too - you should submit your sightings to the Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) site at www.butterfliesandmoths.org/

Click on the identification tools and send them your photos and they'll scientifically certify which species you've got and add it to the records for your county. I had tons of fun doing this in WV. Also, once you know for sure which species you've got, you can submit it to the BugFiles. I noticed today there was no picture for the Sleepy Duskywing (which I saw for the first time in WV) and knowing that BAMONA had identified it in my photo, I felt confident when I submitted it to BugFiles.

And here it is:

Also saw an American Painted Lady which you can tell by the two large spots it has. The Painted Lady has four smaller spots instead. I had seen some around my house earlier this year and went back to look at the photos and realized what I thought were Painted Ladies were American Ladies. Hard to tell when they're flying around.

My Grandpa used to have a garden about an acre in size, but after he died, Grandma just let it become lawn. You can still see where it was marked out and lucky for me the wildflowers really moved in. Whenever I visit she tells the guy not to mow the area so I can chase butterflies, LOL! I had never been to WV as early as April and it was mostly dandelions, violets, and clovers. The dandelions were a real hit with everyone including this Juvenal's Duskywing.

On a side note, going that early in the year, I got to see tulips and daffodils and had total bulb envy for all you Northern gardeners. Then, I remembered my bromeliads and orchids and felt a little better.

I do a lot of genealogy research when I visit WV so I end up in a lot of cemeteries which are actually good places to find butterflies. Unfortunately, a lot of the cemeteries are overgrown and next to forests which is good for the butterflies but makes me kind of sad. Even in the nicely kept cemeteries, the colors of the fake flowers will fool the butterflies and draw them in. Here's a Spring Azure I saw; there were a bunch of them in one area I visited. I had never seen one before.

Thanks for the info on getting ids Melanie! Loving your pictures. Sweet of yor DGM letting the wildflowers grow for you. LOL!

Dad saw a moth in the cemetery so I took a picture. It's an Eight Spotted Forrester Moth according to BAMONA. It had never been reported in the county so I was happy to have added it. A lot of smaller, rural counties don't have reports for butterflies that you just know have to be there so I think it's important to report those sightings. I visit my ancestor's cemeteries over in Johnson County, KY and I saw on BAMONA there were reports for only 19 butterflies (not a lot of lepidopterists, I guess) so I sent in a few of my own. I mean, they didn't even have the Spicebush Swallowtail listed and I knew I had a picture of one of those. There was a lady at the foot of the hill where the family cemetery is and she had let her garden "go native" - it had all this echinacea and was covered in Silver Spotted Skippers and Great Spangled Fritillaries. Saw my first Hackberry Emperor at her place, too. But nobody will know unless you rat those butterflies out, LOL! Just think of the butterfly guidebooks you buy - they also depend on reports of sightings to be more accurate as far as range and what butterflies you might see (or not) in your area. Ok, here's my moth.

Grandma's great! She's more of a bird person, though. We got her a new hummingbird feeder since her old one had a crack in it. My aunt down the street had already been seeing them and then when I was sitting on the porch one day I saw one fly up to the wreath on the house before it realized the flowers were fake. But we got a new feeder at Lowe's and it didn't take long for them to find it.

I also saw some ladybugs doing it and that made me laugh.

Since there was all that clover in Grandma's garden there were always Clouded Sulphurs flying around. I even saw a pair mating and one laying eggs but they were too quick for my camera. A lot of them were in their white or "alba" form which kept fooling me since I wanted to see the endangered West Virginia White (no luck, there). But here's a Clouded Sulphur which I thought was neat since I'm always seeing Cloudless Sulphurs in FL.

Next to the sulphurs, the Meadow Fritillaries were probably the next most prevalent butterfly. Oh wait, except for the mass invasion of Tiger STs. But more on that in a minute.

The Monarch is the official WV state butterfly, but I think they should change it to the Tiger ST. Or maybe the Zebra ST. Seriously, I found three Tigers that got whomped by cars going along route 10. Grandma lives on route 10 and they tend to fall toward her yard. You can watch them fly from mountain to mountain. Once, I got stuck in a traffic jam and I watched them flying over the interstate. They're EVERYWHERE! I guess because tulip poplars grow all over the place. I found six eggs while I was there and tried to feed them cherry back home but it didn't go so well. Everytime we drove anywhere I would just marvel at all the Tiger STs flying around. Oh, and the females tend to be dark form like the one in my picture. See the stripes?

Also saw some Pearl Crescents which makes sense because there were a lot of pink asters around. I'll have to get the book out and compare them to the Paheon Crescent which is what I see in Florida.

Saw one Variegated Fritillary which was cool because although they're supposed to be in my area, I never see them. This one was basking, puddling, or both.

In WV, you don't really say Grandma and Grandpa. It's Mawmaw and Pawpaw. My Grandpa was always "Pawpaw Ray" to me. He also liked to eat pawpaws and planted a bunch of them around the house. So Zebra Swallowtails (who host on pawpaw) always remind me of him. That's one reason I was happy to see several in his old garden.

Saw this Cabbage White at my aunt's house. I know they're an introduced species and kind of a pest, but I can't blame them for being butterflies and doing what butterflies do. On an odd note, we don't really get these as far south as I live in Florida, but I saw one about a month ago and got totally confused. Thought I had a sulphur at first, but I got a book out, and sure enough, the Cabbage White has invaded Tampa.

Here's a Silver-Spotted Skipper which are kind of rare around my part of Florida (although I've raised them before) but they're super common up north. I think we make up for it by having billions of Long-Tailed Skippers.

And now, another good reason to use BAMONA to identify insects. I saw this cool moth that had just emerged drying its wings on a small pawpaw tree. Turned out to be an Abbott's Sphinx Moth. And mine was the first record of it in that county. I've already added this picture to the BugFiles.

Nice photos and your contribution Melanie, thank you for your BAMONA website.

Cool and creepy moth Mel! Great picture, glad you put it in the bugfiles too. Your other shots and talking about the pawpaws etc were a delight. Glad you have surfaced again on DG.
Got to get to bed, should have long ago.

Excellent photos! Welcome back.

Russell

Love your pictures!!!! Didn't know about the BAMONA website.

Thanks! Yeah, BAMONA is really helpful for the butterflies that are hard to tell apart like the skippers.

Melanie, where are you? Hope things are going well with you and family. Look at what I've found today. A rare visitor to your area. But this is quite common here. I just love it. A variegated Frit.

Nice .....I didn't get any eggs /cats this year. I forgot to plant pansies and the violets I have didn't draw them in.

Sheila, the wild violets we've here, those that pop up everywhere in my garden....they didn't bloom this spring for the most part. I was wondering perhaps the garden has became so shady that they refused to bloom?

link to the BAMONA website? not finding it.

Here is the thread where she addressed that.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1179609/

thanks, Sheila.

:)

I'm here. I just got a new video game for my DS and I've been a little addicted to it. Virtual gardening is almost as fun as the real thing, LOL!

Nice to 'see' you Melanie.

Mellie:

if you're on Facebook, there's a game called "gardens of time". I don't play it, but keep getting requests from other players for it.

:)

I get all types of fb requests. I don't do them because you have to allow access to your info. I don't play those games but I do play on pogo.com ; but haven't seen anything like that there.

I'm playing Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands and it's a lot of fun. I've been a little sick lately (stomach virus thing) so it's been something to do while I'm stuck inside.

Melanie

Hope you are up and around feeling better soon.