Daily Butterfly (etc.) Pictures. #95

We came from #94, with the new season excitement.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1249809/

I'm looking forward to a great year.
The Red Admiral population explosion slowed a bit recently, but getting some others.

1 = Painted Lady. I was actually taking a picture of the Iris "Moonlit Sea" when this one plopped down for a picture.
2 = First Monarch of the season in the yard. Yay.
3 = Question Mark. I get more of these than Commas
4 = Eastern Black Swallowtail. Repeat picture, just cuz. I've had 3 of my 8 overwintering BSTs emerge this week.

Nice photos, Mrs. Ed. Thanks for the new thread.

A.

So lovely Marna!

Agreed, so very lovely Marna, thanks.

Yep, it was indeed time to start a new one, thanks Marna. Love the shots you offered for us.

We have enjoyed a lot of butterflies so far this year, so glad to see after the poor counts last year around here. The American Ladies, Varg. Frits, Mourning Cloaks, Q Marks, and especially Red Admirals were very active up until last week. This week the Pipevines and finally the Black Swallowtails are showing up nicely. Monarchs have been drifting in and out for weeks at the most I have seen four at a time in my yard.....so many more that spring last year!!
Too tired to show pictures....night all.

Nice pictures! I have still not seen a BST or GST this year....I was looking at my pictures last year and noticed several around this time. I wonder if they were in my yard because of the drought...lack of flowers in the wild made them flock to my house....now that we are coming out of the drought, maybe they have more choices...I don't know. I am happy to see the variety so far.

Hopefully this weekend will be great with some Northerly winds in South Texas.

Russell

I finally got a Zebra Longwing picture of my own! It was flying through my new butterfly garden and was attracted to the jatropha. I knew they liked it, but this one just kept returning to the jatropha over and over. Makes me wonder how fast plants produce nectar?

It did hit up the porterweed once or twice, much like the Gulf Fritillary in the second picture.

I've seen more Painted Ladies this year than ever.

I always have lots of Duskywings around.

Mellie, which Jatropha is that? I tried to grow one from seed - Buddha belly? Didn't work.

I caught a cabbage white laying eggs today on my cleome plants that I had potted up to trade. I guess they won't be going anywhere. Who knew?

Hope you're all enjoying the day. We had heavy rain yesterday, but nice breeze and bright sun drying things out for me.

A.

And there are still tons of Monarchs around since I've been raising them.

Melanie

Hmm...I don't know what kind of jatropha. It was just sold as jatropha. They become a small tree and as you can see, have light red flowers. I think the Zebra Longwings would like any of them. I notice they like red flowers in general. They love my firebushes, too.

Melanie

Dad found two more Giant ST cats on the rue! They were pretty small so he must be getting really good at finding them. Always good to have another set of eyes out there!

Melanie

I would love just to see a GST in my yard! I had them a couple of years ago, but not since. must have lost a host plant somewhere I guess. I have a small rue though. I keep an eye on it.

Love those longwings.

Happy Birthday to Crit!

My Polydamas ST decided to come out during dinner. I hid it under some pipevine so it should have a safe night.

Melanie

WOW! It's huge!

Thanks for sharing. :)

Silver Spotted Skipper and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (I think)

Apologies to all about being out of pocket so long. It has been very hard to land at my desk, with all the changes in my life.

Marna good to see you, and your fine pics!

Glad y'all have kept the threads going so well, Marna, Mellie, and Sheila! Mellie, your Dad is awesome!! Hoping to see GSTs soon, I have plenty of Z. clava and some other citrus when they're ready to show up!

I watched a PVST lay LOTS! of eggs over the course of a few days in my back yard. I will attempt to get pics of the babies today, but I have a lot to do.

The school garden looks amazing! The plants have really dug in over the last 3 years, getting established very well.

#1 Pipevine ST Ovipositing
#2 PVST eggs on A. macrophylla bloom stem
#3 G-Fritillaries (no explanation necessary)
#4 5th Instar result of #3
#5 Question Mark

So far it's been an outstanding year for butterflies, still waiting for the usual suspects to show up with great anticipation. :-S...
GTSY all!

Welcome back Deb!!!!

Here's a Tiger ST I saw while walking through the swamp today. I also saw numerous Zebra Longwings. They were all nectaring on button bush which is in bloom right now. It's a great butterfly attractor and I've seen it grow as far north as WV; it's also native!

Melanie

Duh, I forgot to say great pictures Deb! Love that one of the Pipevine ST ovipositing.

Melanie

Good pictures all!

WTG Dad....that's due to your training Melanie!

Good to see you posting once again Debnes! It was great to see you at RU last month too!

maybe third post is the charm....I am new at these postings . I got from AmandaEsq that this is the new thread.....so here is a copy & paste of my last attempt.
" I am so jealous, y'all have such a large selection of B'flies. I try so hard to do plants that attract BF and hummers. Has any one heard of the green sand for a bfy puddle? I got the beer receipe but how about the green sand for elecotrolties and minerals? I have a pond and lost all my frogs last year but the hummers and bflys are already around even though I do not have the varity that y'all seem to have...I guess Jersey is not a prime spot. R there any Jesey growers out there? everyone seems to be from TX or FL or some other nice warm spots."

Help is much appreciated.
The attached pictures are from 2005, haven't had much luck in raising any "cats" since.

Quaqbe...posting will seem like old hat soon....welcome! We didn't have hardly any butterflies last year, but this year is abounding....maybe it will be a good year for you up there too.
You say you lost your frogs....are they still in winter mode maybe? Ours here haven't been croaking much so far, weather is still a bit cool at night.

No, they are gone.........had the spring cleaning done and not a frog was found.
Last year was not a good year for bfys at all, but so far this year I have dozens of the Red Admirals...........I guess its their ten year cycle thing, but we still don't hasve much for them to eat so i am making up the "bait" and some green sand for puddling hopefully that will help until there are more flowers out.
Do you have swamp milkweed in your garden? The last year or two mine has gotten some kind of blight and the bfys did not lay any eggs on it at all....hoping this year is better.

Crit wrote:
LEW .... I am sooooooooooo jealous of your passion vine!!!! I want one (or more if they come in more colors than purple). I just have to keep looking 'till I can find one. Can you give us pics of the little guys on the vines?

++++++++++
Sorry for delay. Been out of town. Love to share pics of "the little guys." We have 50 to 60 of all sizes right now.

Does anyone have a picture of the GF chrysalis ? I'm not sure what I'm looking for.

LEW

Lew, they look like a dried leaf. Brown and funky looking. The ones I raised inside seemed to wiggle with the breeze. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them and I have never seen one in the garden. I am not sure where they go. With that many caterpillars, you should find some for sure. Do a search on google images and you will see them. Cool pics!

I saw my first GST today, but it was in a hurry and I couldn't catch up to it for a picture. I will be on the lookout for a return visit.

Russell

Here's a Pipevine ST that wouldn't leave my pentas alone today.

Melanie

And a skipper I happened to catch on the Spanish Needles.

Melanie

our 1st eclosure of the year! Hoping for many more, as we are starting to find monarch eggs now.

Here are some pics of Gulf Frit chrysalis. One thing when you go to look for them....don't bother looking on the vines. Unless they are confined they will be 10-15 foot away probably. Then look for a stable structure, most of the time they will crawl up. The last picture is the clearest I have ....the first and second are examples of where they might be and what you are looking for. The curved shape is them moving their bodies to get more sunshine.

BCH...congrats...hope for lots more too.

This message was edited May 12, 2012 4:51 PM

Thanks for the kind comments and WBs all! And welcome all newbies!!


I had to work today...:-...

HAPPYMOTHERSDAY! To all the moms here!

Wish I could post pics off my iPhone.

1. Not the best picture, but I love these! GST
2. A first for me in the yard - White-striped longtail (I think)
3. GF on lantana
4. This one was attacked by something!
5. The Queen doing her thing.

Russell

Great pictures....looks like a bird missed the sulpher.

Thanks Sheila. Looks like a perfect bite on the sulphur! Here is another first for my yard.

Question Mark on Lantana.

This message was edited May 13, 2012 2:25 PM

Russell:

I'm envious of that White-Striped Longtail. We had then up in North Texas briefly back in 2007 (which was about the best butterfly year I can remember), so I've kept their host plant, Least Snout Bean (Rhynchosia minima) ready and waiting ever since. And what a great picture of that female Cloudless Sulphur with a beak mark ripped out of the wing!

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

Lots of BF activity in our garden today. Please correct me if I get an ID wrong. Still have a lot to learn.

#1 - American Lady
#2 - Checkered White
#3 - Queen
#4 - Many Question Marks - on rotted banana having "happy hour" or actually "happy day" I think. LOL.
#5 - Red Admiral

This message was edited May 13, 2012 2:52 PM

Thanks Dale. It has been a great day for the butterflies. I always seem to have more visitors when the wind is blowing form the North for some reason. DG has been giving me trouble uploading photos today. I have a few more to share, but I haven't had any luck posting them yet. Thanks for the info of the host plant. I saw another longtail last year, but I don't think it was the same variety - possibly Dorantes.

I am going to try another post with the rest of the pictures.

Russell

Wow Lew....here I was excited about 1 Question Mark...LOL. Great shots!

Russell