Daily pictures #97

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1265681/

Wow, that thread was getting long! Here's one of many Gulf Frits that were in my yard today. It helps when you have passion vine on two sides of the house!

sunkissed, I love those pictures, especially the last one of the Palamedes Swallowtail. I haven't seen one of those in a while.

I did see three Zebra Longwings in my butterfly garden today. They were hitting up the porterweed, tassel flower, and Spanish needles.

Here's another shot of the Zebra nectaring on the porterweed.

And one more of the Zebra just for fun!

I went to repot some orchids in my shade house and found a stunning discovery - a Gulf Frit chrysalis. This thing must have traveled 30-40 yards to get to where it is. It never ceases to amaze me how far they'll wander in search of a good hiding place.

I walked around the house ready to go inside when something fluttered around. It was a Carolina Satyr! I was glad to see it since I haven't seen one around the house in a long time.

And finally, I wanted to share a picture of my Polydamas cats. They had just molted and they always look so black and velvety afterwards it makes me want to pet them. I just wanted to share it with all my DG friends since I know many of you never see these cats.

Melanie

Now those are interesting cats, Mel! Great shots.

Thanks for the new thread too. :)

Russell

Hey everybody - I'm insane trying to rehab some monarch cats (4) who aren't doing their thing. Good news is though, that 2 of them, after being offered different kinds of MW have started to eat again - common MW. None of the cats were pulled from the common MW so it's strange for the preference, but if it gets them thru this "phase" and on to migration, well it'll be worth the insanity.

There are 19 chrysalis and 3 big cats ready to take their turns.

On Saturday, almost at once, about 10 of them all started marching around to find a spot to hang from. I moved all of them into the large enclosure that the BST had occupied. Fortunately (?!) the last remaining BST chrysalis popped about the same time and I released the last of them.

Not much butterfly watching here - mostly cabbage whites, an occasional Eastern Tigertail and the motley crew of skippers and hairstreaks.

Thanks for all your pics and the updates. I've read that conditions are fairly poor and migration numbers expected to be low again due to drought and warmer temps having caused host plants to bloom out already. Back to tend those in sick bay!

A.

mellie, last summer I didn't see one single zebra longwing. This year they are all over the garden. Maybe the wetter weather is the reason...I know my passifloras are growing wild with all this rain.

Good luck with your monarch cats Amanda.

Here's another species that I collected down in the Texas Hill Country back in July -- Crimson Patch (Chlosyne janais). These guys feed on members of the Acanthus family, such as Flame Acanthus and Firespike. We don't get them really in North Texas but they are found in the Austin/San Antonio area and southward.

I spoke too soon!

Towards the end of the afternoon I saw a Zebra Swallowtail and a Monarch!

The sufur and skippers are omnipresent, but still cute. :)

I saw a BST cat today nibbling away on the bronze fennel,and a little after that a male and a female Bee Tailed Hummingbird had a feed meeting at the same.That was delightful to watch!!

Great photos Melanie, Amanda, Dale. Good on you juhur7, those BST are lovely. Dale the Crimson Patch are gorgeous, Mel, those Zebra Long wings are beautiful, please send some my way please. :) Guys, I was so excited to have seen my 1st Monarch in the garden for the season. The other must be an American Lady?

Ooops, I can't find where to upload my pix with a new feature on my pc this morning.!

Hurray Lily! I'm glad you've been rewarded for waiting patiently. :)

Thanks Amanda, not so thrilled for the fact that I'm NOT able to post my photos at present.... Oh, the Monarch returned today. It is a 'boy' Monarch I think, so no eggs hunting yet. Well, I did kinda peek at the Milkweeds, just in case. lol

It can't hurt to look. :)

Agreed. lol

O.T. Has anyone have problem with loading photos to our threads? I have. Tomorrow I'll be visiting a local botanical garden that's said to have imported at least 30 different species of butterflies. I'll have alot of pics. to share, but if I can't upload them. I may as well cry.

This message was edited Aug 23, 2012 7:13 PM

...botanical garden...

Yes, I don't have the choose file button either. One of my friends on the orchid forum said he was told to delete cookies then log out and back in, but that hasn't worked for me yet.

Melanie

Yep, admin's staff advised me the same .... but how do I delete cookies? LOL, I can eat cookies. ROFL.

Finally! It worked. You can usually go under "Tools" then "Internet Options" to find where to delete cookies.

Melanie

Here's a White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae luteipicta) pupa. The butterfly should eclose within the next hour or so.

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

What a beautiful thing!

I think Zebra Longwings have taken up permanent residence in my butterfly garden. There's always two or three of them when I go outside. Then, I got a picture of a Monarch doing what they do best - laying more eggs on my milkweed!

Melanie

Love all the posts. I have been living in the butterfly garden this summer...
My aunt sent me eggs of the Zebra Longwings from Florida,, I haven't seen them around here, but have lots of passion vine, so am hoping they will like being transplanted. Have lots of chrysalis so keeping fingers crossed.

Milbert's Tortoiseshell. This is the 1st I have seen this year. Starting to get a lot of butterflies, so hopefully I will get some time today to take and post some photos. We should be releasing 5-10 monarchs a day through the middle of September. DW says the ones she's releasing are really strong and fast, so it looks like they are the migrators--time to start tagging!

Happy gardening

Bruce

Mellie, I'm envious that you have Zebra Longwings in your yard all the time. I have yet to see one of our native Zebra Longwings in my yard. Of course, I raise them (from stock I got in south Texas), but those stay inside my flight cage and I'm very careful about making sure they don't escape. For people like me that monitor population movements and range extensions, etc., artificial releases always cloud the science. We get them naturally in north Texas some years, and this is one of those years as they've been reported in the Duncanville area about a month ago. I'm keeping my eyes open! A more regular visitor most years is the Long Tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus). I had this one show up yesterday afternoon in my yard, so all of you other north Texas Dave's Gardeners, be on the lookout.

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

I've been gardening for some time, but only recently have I been "getting into" butterflies. I received a Passiflora incarnata some time back, and have fallen in love with the flying flowers! The Gulf Fritillaries have moved in and are really putting on a show. I believe I have also seen a Zebra Longwing, but it didn't stick around for very long. I was out in the garden this morning and wanted to share a little of what I saw.
I also have a question. Maybe you can identify for me…Is this small cat above the Gulf cat, a Zebra Longwing cat? It's so small, it may be to early to tell….
Pic. #4…There's some mating going on, and pic. #5…Three's a crowd, and they all took off! :-)) Happy Gardening All!

Tim, in pic #1 you've got a Gulf Frit cat that just molted. That's his shedded skin above him. For future reference, Gulf Frit cats are orange with black spikes, and Zebra Longwing cats are white with black spikes.

I have the Zebra butterflies but I have yet to find any cats. They must be somewhere...I'm just glad to see the Zebras are back because I didn't see a single one last year. Our mild winter surely helped them out this year. I've got Long-Tailed Skipper cats all over my butterfly pea out front. You can see where they've folded over the leaves to make their little shelters. I haven't been bringing them in, though - they do all right outside.

My Polydamas are purging and it's a smelly mess in their tank! They're starting to settle down and a few have built their sling. Can't wait to share pictures of the adults with everyone!

Melanie

#1 Variegated Fritillary, #2 Silver Spotted Skipper, #;s 3-5 are of DW tagging a monarch

Dale?


From a neighbor. I have no idea what to do with this critter . . . ..


A.

Thanks Melanie for the education. That explains a few things that I've seen. :-) So much to learn!

Orange Striped Oak Worm?

WOW... some wonderful cats!! I have a BST cat in a most unusual area not anywhere near a host, & I wonder if it will emerge soon as the chrysalis has moved a little & changed color. I hope it emerges before winter as I haven't anywhere to keep this one "fella"!!! I am so excited too as I rarely get chrysalis anymore & I didn't see any ST adults to justify this!!! hahahahaha.

Help with IDs please. I've posted more pics in this thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1276934/
Thanks, Becky

Unbelievable! I just came in after counting 20 Gulf Fritillary chrysalis's, all of which decided that my front porch was the place to be. Looks like 1 may have emerged this morning.? So exciting to see!

Great pics. and all the butterflies activities folks! I can't post any pics. right now but enjoy all your photos. Please keep those coming.

Our monarch's for today. 8 total