DAILY PICTURES #108

I'm not seeing near the usual numbers of any really , A few silver spotted skippers , no Red Admirals the past few weeks .
One female monarch a week ago ,, A few missing cat chewed milkweed leaves since then in the garden ,

And here is a week old chrysalis , and a j hanger that will be tomorrow I do not know where #4 caterpillar went , but #3 is still growing well .
Here is 1&2 ..

Well LilyLove, you can join the club, but now I am OUT! I spied a monarch at the swamp milkweed and ran out to discover that I've got eggs! woot!

Hey Mrs Ed!!! Where is the marching band when you need it?! Tubas, trombones, and maybe a Trumpet! Whoopdeedoo! What a perfect little egg! I assume you have more than one? I'll bet the Senecio is what caught her attention! Congratulations...my but you have waited :-)

Thanks Vit! I have found about 4-5 little ones, but I have not checked the whole plant thoroughly. I"m afraid I disrupted her when I got to the plant with the camera. She appeared to be nectaring and flew off. I did a quick check of the other plants.

Now the real problem. I have never had great luck with rearing these cats. Lots of OE. We'll see how it goes.

What is OE?

a nasty parasite

http://monarchparasites.uga.edu/whatisOE/


I just got home from errands and caught a monarch laying eggs on the common milkweed. Also saw a hackberry emperor but didn't get the camera in time.

Thanks for the link Marna...very interesting. I believe you will have good luck with these caterpillars because you have waited so long and earnestly for them.

Well Lilylove, I guess its just us chickens. I have seen a few butterflies, but still no BF eggs or cats. my passion flower vine just bloomed, maybe i will get Fritillaries.

LOL, scarletbean! Don't get discouraged; even me get a little lucky. Knocking on woods. Just as I complained I saw NO butterfly activity in the garden. That very same afternoon I found several BST eggs on my big pot of fennels and Parsleys. Yesterday, 24 hours later, upon close inspection; I found a 'tiny monster' hovering over one of the eggs shells. I suspected it was a lady bug's larva. So I transfer it onto a sunflower where there were abundant with a supply of aphids, and an adult lady bug. This morning I found the remaining eggs number intact. The lady bug larva hung on the aphids-laden Sunflower. So there is actually hope for ME. Yeah! So from me to you; let's there be Frit's cats in your garden soon!

Marna, last year I too lost a good number of Monarch cats. I didn't know what cause their ailment-- 'til I learned about the mentioned nasty parasites. Hopefully this year it will be far away from our butterfly gardens. Congrats on the new found (Monarch) eggs.

I have seen lots of silver spotted skippers and tiny little skippers but today I admired this lovely buck-eye.

memays I think their all staying south where it is warmer ,, Saw a Question Mark today , a few Skippers in past few weeks ,,
other than about ,, too cold , they love the warm sunny south ..

Then I walk back to the garden , a painted lady a red admiral , a azure . a monarch , a multitude of cabbage white , various skippers .

and this , a rarely in my gardens , a really bad pic of an American Snout
But I tried ,, oh well

J7, nice to get a variety on the same day. They like your weather too. It's so hot and muggy here that they stay in the shade until almost dark. Anything that moves during the daylight gets chased by birds, wasp, dragonflies or robber flies.

Well I saw my 20th Monarch this season, Still around the honeyvine Milkweed , it is there favorite here.. If i have seen that many ,, there have been more , much better numbers ,,
Very few Swallowtails this year ..

Honeyvine is a nuisance weed here but I let it grow at the end of the bean and cucumber rows on the poles , the Monarchs love it .
on row fences with morning glories it use to look good ,, that or sweet peas ..

ooo, J7. Let's see pix of that vine.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/68440/

Mrs_ ED This is it in the plant files ..

I missed yesterdays male monarch , and a female today on the coneflowers . that's 22
I have three small chrysalis , one is late , others are small ,


These today outside , they will not be collected , there about to pupate , since my cage efforts are a question , I will leave these alone ,, Really happy they returning , I am ..
Here we go

Allrighty then one at a time it is , sight load problems ,,


These today outside ,

last attempt

Well J7, i wanted to see YOUR plant. :D

Mrs_EDThe male monarch on honeyvine milkweed
Post #9895046 this thread above , back about a week ago July 16, 2014 that is what the Monarch is on ..
I will get new ones after the storms ..

As of this morning, I've 4 newly hatched BST cats. Yay!

It's really exciting how much activity you all have. Congrats on all the new eggs, cats, BF! We have very few in our own yard...BUT...I am sooo excited!

My husband and I went to Chicago Botanic Garden yesterday. It's a fabulous place, but I have particularly wanted to see the "BUTTERFLIES & BLOOMS" exhibit (which is seasonal) for just about forever and we were finally able to go.

It was about the most amazing thing on the planet! It was so hard to leave that we spent over TWO HOURS in there!

There were butterflies EVERYWHERE...it seemed like zillions of them, but I guess it's really no more than 500 at one time. They were landing all over us...my husband walked around with two "Giant Owl" BFs from South America "parked" on his shirt back and the back of his jeans...for over an hour! People kept excitedly telling him over-and-over that he had Butterflies on his back. They were on my head and on our cameras. It was just sooo cool!

Also, while we were there, they released a bunch of new young butterflies all at once. We took lots of pics, but I haven't had a chance to sort through them. Hopefully there are some decent ones to share. I'll try to upload some over the next couple of weeks.

Lily _love Good going with the BST cats !!! Congrats ^_^

Nutsaboutnature That sure sounds Fun !!! and Educational .. ! Besides I would believe it to be plain old Delightful !!!^_^

Mrs_ED , here's the vine , mine on a field type garden fence

perhaps another view

looks good. what's that big leaf in the middle? Sunflower?

That's a large (sun leaf ) the plants grow sometimes , that part of plant must be happy , likes where it is , There is a Sunflower to the right just out of the pic .
That is only the vine ..
When their happy their leaves will get larger like that . like a big decorative Morning Glory sometimes ,,
I always refer to it as Northern Kudzu for Monarchs .

#23 a while ago today

Juhur, your vine description had me chuckling - we fight kudzu all over the state.

I am so excited - last summer I planted maypop vine - which appears to be in a kudzu-like state of its own - and this morning I found what I'm pretty sure is a gulf frit 'pillar. I've brought it inside and have fingers crossed to nurture it into adulthood.

I know many of you are 'pillar experts - I am not, I ordered from Monarch Watch last summer, and was a miserable failure - only 1 made it to adulthood.

This time, I am beside myself because this 'pillar was not mail ordered but born in my very own garden, and I hope I can do a better job.

Wish me luck

memays) yes Vines can be Fun, Kudz-u do ...lol

here you go ; Good luck ..

Pic of today's release , my third release , #24 That has been seen here
After I posted this four Monarchs and two Rufous Hummingbirds dancing around the garden

So that is now 28 Monarchs this year .
I am seeing if the final number gets near the migrators in millions , like if 28 approx , averages 2.8 million hibernators .. only playing , you know .





This message was edited Jul 31, 2014 7:04 PM

one pic loads.
silver spotted skipper

iddy biddy baby monarch.

Mrs. Ed - good luck with that baby! BTW - how often do you check for eggs and are there any tricks?

I see little nibbles on my spicebush, but no cats to be found. And somebody is munching on my wild hibiscus (supposed to be a host plant for the sphinx moth I think) and my monarda - but no insects.

Good lucks Marna with the itsy biddy baby monarch. Speaking of Sphinx moth caterpillar, memays, I think I may have two in the garden. One on my Angel Trumpet and the other is on my potato plant, both must be 5th instars. Marna, sphinx vs. Mandusa sexta? What say you? thanks.

Sorry Lily, I don't know moths.

Memays, I check a few times a week for eggs. But mostly it's when i see some ovipositing activity that I can be successful. The taller varieties of milkweed are easier to see. You can sit on the ground and look from below. The A. tuberosa though, I can't do that. I usually grab by the top of the stem and gently bend the stem to look at the undersides of leaves.

I have more eggs out there right now. I always worry that the eggs will hatch and not have good food if I bring them in too early.

Aww, I've forgotten, sphinx moth larva will feed on different host plant. The one I've indeed are of those Manduxa sexta that feed on the nightshades. Happy butterfly garden everyone.

Mrs_Ed, I'm curious about A. tuberosa as host for Monarchs. Do you get many cats on it or are other milkweed species preferred?

Ivy, there is no telling where I will get the cats. I do not think one is more preferred than another. I have even seen them laying eggs on whorled milkweed that has tiny little leaves. Why they would choose that over the big huge leaves of common milkweed, I do not now.

I did see a gal laying eggs yesterday on the tuberosa.

I have seen a female Monarch today , yesterday , more chewed milkweed leaves , I will wait for the two remaining in the cage to hatch , before trying anymore .
I have some small skippers by the dozen Delaware skipper they might be ..

The cats love the wild aster pressing into the milkweed , I will try the Vines on the Syrica Milkweed ,, They use that cover pretty good !

I really enjoy it when I get large groups of any of the Butterflies ,, Watching them flittering around is very life enhancing ,,
Mrs_ED good going ,, Baby cats and Eggs ,, Sounds like food ,, lol food for living anyway ,lol


This message was edited Aug 1, 2014 3:32 PM

Have five babies waiting to chrysalis. 3 monarchs and 2 black swallowtail. Two of the monarchs and both black swallowtail should turn chrysalis next week. Can't wait.