Daily Pictures #93

Beauty!

Russell

Very nice.

Well I've seen just about every kind of BF, except still no zebra longwings. But I haven't yet caught a good photo of them...but got some caterpillar photos for you all...they move nice and slow...lol.

Sherri, congrats! BTW, is that a Sulphur cat. on cassia? I winter sow some wild cassias seeds, they germinated, I need to harden them and move them outdoor soon. Thanks J. looking forward to seeing yours.

Exciting sightings today. Mom thinks she saw a Zebra Longwing while on her walk today. They have been known to hang out at the other end of the street near my neighbor who grows "wildflowers" (it's weeds people, but some of them are beneficial and native). I'll have to keep the eyes open near the passion vine.

I went on a hunt for milkweed today at my fave nursery but came up empty. I even went to Home Depot and Lowe's to no avail. Home Depot had some last week when I stopped by but they had sold it all! I guess someone else has the same problem as me. In good news, at my fave nursery, I spotted (ok Mom spotted) a Polydamas and a White Peacock! I also saw a Spicebush, Cloudless Sulphurs, Monarchs, and some crazy skippers. It's good to see the butterflies are showing up. Here's the Polydamas Swallowtail enjoying some pentas.

And here's the first of many Monarchs to fly out my door.

Melanie

Hey kids - here's the pic of the BST that eclosed on 3/22. I released another today but the camera was not cooperating. What fun!

:)

So nice to finally start seeing more butterflies on the thread, and in my yard!
Just happen to catch a BST nectaring on verbena that I was out getting a picture of this morning. First one I have seen, so I didn't expect it...almost missed the shot entirely.

Yes Lily it is...probably the big yellow one...I've seen them each day in the yard. I have about three cats on the cassia that I can see, they are hard to find...really blend in.

Melaine...my cats have eaten almost all the milkweed I have. I did find some nice plants at S. Seminole nursery here in Winter Springs good sized healthy and only three bucks, and Lukas Gardens has some, but they are small and expensive. Only problem is when I bought more milkweed I got more cats and eggs. I have tons of seedlings coming up in lots of pots...and only two very ready to go large cats still chomping on the last bit of leaves...maybe things will dwindle a bit so my larger plants can grow back some leaves. My husband has been asking at HD and Lowe's and they said lots of people are asking for milkweed.

Shelia so glad you are seeing butterflies now also. ☺

Amanda I have just started seeing BST here...my camera can be a real pain sometimes trying to take a close up.

I had a nice surprise this morning when I was scraping the bottom of the milkweed barrel - I found another Queen! I knew there had to be more than one. After that, I went to the movies (The Hunger Games, which has a poignant moment with a Pipevine Swallowtail in it). I started thinking I was across the street from the other Home Depot so maybe I should go check for milkweed. And SCORE - they had some! I got home to find Mom "couldn't wait for me any longer" and went to our fave nursery to also buy milkweed (their truck came in today). It is currently living on the patio where it is behind a screen. All in all, I have eighteen pots of milkweed. Mom's going to leave a couple out for them to lay eggs on. I said they could keep on looking - I've had it up to here with Monarchs. They're like the tribbles from Star Trek, LOL!

Question - I've lost a few of the Monarchs. They get that stringy look if you know what I mean? I don't know if that's connected but in one cage I've been finding things that look like little grubs. I've squished every one I see but it made me wonder if one of the cats was parasatized and that's what came out of it? Has anyone ever seen anything like that before?

Melanie

OOOO....had 2 Mourning Cloaks today!!! I got a pic of one...have to unload the camera!

Mourning Cloak!

I know Mourning Cloaks are common in some areas, but we don't have them down here and I want to see one! I keep hoping when I visit Grandma in WV that I might see one. Maybe one day...until then I'll just try and be happy with my Polydamas Swallowtails and Zebra Longwings, LOL!

Melanie

First photo of the year for me. Red admiral on the lilacs. in MARCH.

Nice! I tend to see Red Admirals early in the spring; they're one of the first caterpillars I can find. But I guess for your zone that's pretty amazing. Those little suckers are fast, too; nice shot showing the red and blue on the wings!

Melanie

Nice one of your M.C. Nan. Oooh Mrs. Ed. Congrats on your "first" of the year butterfly photo the Red Admiral!

Nice one Mrs. Ed!

I hope the BST are better this year. I had no success last year with them.....something seemed to be wrong with all of them. I did plant a new fennel baby yesterday for them to lay eggs on!

Nan, me too. I have grown Fennels in years past. I skipped a couple years, now I reintroduced them back into my collection. I overwintered few of the Parleys last year. Half of them didn't survive, so I've added a few more. Looking forward to a better year of butterfly garden this year myself.

There were 2 BSTs eclosed 2 days ago. Last fall I had a good year with BST. But I didn't have one single Monarch caterpillar, I had no idea what went wrong.

Yay to everyone who are seeing butterflies. Looks like it going to be a great season for it. Lilac already, Mrs-Ed!!! We still have snow, on the ground here. I was thinking, with the warm weather we had last week, that I would at least see crocus but none showed up. It turned into Winter again. I did bring in my BST chrysalis in the garage. It seem to have changed color, in the abdomen area, a little. Turning brownish and not as shinny.

Melanie, it does sound like the Monarch cats you had die were parasitized. I had a lot of Queens like that one year and a few Monarchs. Sad but farmers release them in mass to kill caterpillars feeding on their crops....then they reproduce and move on to butterfly caterpillars in our gardens!

I found one chrysalis that had a thread hanging from it and I knew I'd seen that before and that it was bad. I culled a few chrysalises that weren't quite right and a couple more caterpillars that didn't make it and I haven't seen another one of those grub-looking things. I've never had a big problem with parasites in my yard; I wonder where they're coming from.

Melanie

A few of the Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) caterpillars I'm currently raising. They're about at the stage now where they'll start eating me out of everything I've got to offer them (willow, hackberry, elm).

Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com

I've got the same problem with Monarchs. Unfortunately, I've had to throw a few of them out due to parasite infection.

In happier news, the first Queen made her chrysalis. My Giant ST is starting to get really big, but I know he'll get even bigger. I think I might have scared up a Red Admiral when I left this morning. I hope that's what it was anyway. I've got a lot of pellitory growing in my front flower beds and I would love to raise the caterpillars again this year. Mom thinks she spotted another Zebra Longwing but we have yet to get hard evidence of their return. I've certainly got enough passiflora for them.

Melanie

Ha, "a few"

Wow Dale....that is more than a few!

Russell

And that's not even all of them! Mourning Cloaks oviposit in clusters, so there's probably between 150 - 200 total. It's a great way to start off the year.

Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com

That is quite a sight, Dale. If I didn't know any better I'd be creeped out! :D

Very cool Dale!

Released another BST this morning. That makes 3. She wasn't quite ready to fly, but I overslept so didn't know how long she'd been waiting for me to release her. I suspect she'll figure it out. No photo, but she was small and lovely. :)

Mom released a Monarch this morning since I was still sleeping. I had another one get stuck in its chrysalis which I find is usually associated with an OE infection. I still have lots of good-looking, healthy chrysalises so it will be Monarch mania around here for the next week or two. Meanwhile, my Giant ST cat is getting ready to molt again. They grow up so fast!

Melanie

Exciting news - I saw my first Zebra Longwing in over a year! Mom and I went to get our hair done this morning (I look fabulous, by the way) and on the way home she wanted to stop and see our old house. So we were stopped outside on the side road and through the fence I saw some lantana growing (it's invasive around here). Then, swoops in a Zebra Longwing to nectar on it! I'm so glad to see they're back - we had a couple of rough winters but with this one being so mild I was hoping they'd make it up here again.

In other news, I brought in four more Monarch cats; the butterfly was out there laying eggs so we should have a steady stream of the little guys. I wanna know where the Queen went and why she can't come lay more eggs, LOL! Also, my Giant ST is getting to be pretty good size. Check him out!

Also, my passiflora "Lavender Lady" is blooming! The Gulf Frits are eating it, but not too fast (for now). I haven't seen this plant bloom since I bought it; I was on vacation when it bloomed last year around this time. Check it out, too!

Melanie

That's awesome news and awesome news (especially that you look fabulous). :)

Thanks for sharing - makes me more eager for the season.

A.

I Had some visitors today.

Checkered White? This is a new one for me. Haven't seen one of these in the yard before.
Cloudless Sulphur on Senna Alata - should have lots of cats soon!
Gulf Frit - amazing they haven't found the passiflora yet.
Red Admiral
Another Gulf Frit

I also saw one male ruby throat hummer today. Buzzed right by my ear when I was concentrating on taking pictures of the BFs. I also have quite a few monarch cats devouring MW. This is shaping up to be a good year on the Texas coast.

Russell

Glad things are going well in Texas. All I ever hear about are droughts and wildfires so it's nice to see that it's not all one big wasteland. Oh, and that does look like a Checkered White to me (unless you guys have other White butterflies over there).

The native plant society is having a sale tomorrow so I'm hoping I can score some good butterfly plants at low, low prices! At least get a red bay tree to replace my one that died. I want my Spicebush buddies back!

Melanie

Have fun Melanie - that's the best plant sale there is. :)

Best wishes to you Melanie, Russell. Great series! Love them all. My passi, the native kind just broke dormancy this past week. They do have a mind of their own when comes to choosing a place to resurface. Found a couple of them too close to my walk way, that I may have to move them. Grrrr. Oh Mel. I love your Lavender lady passi. I once had her in my collection and lost it to winter freeze...that has been several years past.

Mel, we must be thinking the same....I am going to a master gardeners plant sale tomorrow. Hopefully I can pick up some natives too. I am happy to see some wildflowers popping up this year - we have been getting a little more rain lately. I just returned from a wildflower scouting mission and found a couple of other varieties that don't normally visit my yard.

Variegated Fritillary
Phaon Crescent
and another Checkered White

Russell

I forgot about this guy....he was literally bathing in winecup pollen!

Russell

That's so funny, wonder if he is really happy or really annoyed.

I was just thinking if the little guy was sneezing his "wings" off. lol Nice find there Russell.