DAILY PICTURES # 110

Oops , C_A_Ivy Nice actually great photo of the Coral Hairstreak I don't get that one here ,

If you want to have a little fun , enlarge photo #4 ,, the Frit is looking at the camera ,, lol
Drinking a drink through a straw as if saying here's looking at you kid ,,,,

This message was edited Jun 15, 2015 5:33 PM

Today I registered my pollinator garden with the "Million Pollinator Challenge". I heard about it on the radio yesterday and it's worth checking out. Here's a link:
http://pollinators.wpengine.com/about/#beecounted

Dome I enjoyed the link

saw a medium size question mark this morning ,


What is this ? Anyone I know it is a Satyr , what kind

This message was edited Jun 16, 2015 2:58 PM

juhur, nice to see that satyrs are active. This one is a "Little Wood Satyr" which is trying to get warm with its wings spread.

C_A_ Ivy all the rain , and this morning early , trying to dry them also I would imagine ,
Coudy like it is today then the sun shines , I have little Duskywings , ( they look to be ) roosting under a poplar , they poof out when the sun shines , then go back to hiding under the tree leaves ,, I have no idea what their larvae are using ,no registered host plants here for them , and they are brand new, just emerged ,
I keep looking though ,

Here we go , 3 o'clock afternoon today .. First Monarch of the season , She was laying eggs , so these are taken at a distance

1st Monarch for the season! Congrats Ju.

Been seeing these for months here , Red Admiral
Still far away ,, camera shy .

At last I do have action on my A. Syrica milkweed! No picture yet, but I have some tiny cats.

Woohooo ' tiny cats!!! I am happy for you Sheila.

So glad to hear they are starting to show up.
I found Asclepia curassavica in six packs at my local ACE hardware and bought three of them to add to my butterfly garden. I have two full grown "tennis balls" gomphrenas blooming now but mostly bees are visiting them. I have seen a few Monarchs over the past month so I have hopes that some eggs were laid.

Early in June, a female Sleepy Orange oviposted on Coffee weed (Sennae) which I had planted in a large pot. Couple of weeks later, lots of green cats and five were added with Sennae to the caterpillar house. Ta Dah!!! Today was the big day for emerging from early morn 'til afternoon. Five fresh adults.
Hopefully I will get some Cloudless sulphurs soon on the remaining Coffee weed.

Sheila , great news about the cats ,,!!!

C_A_Ivy ,, love the pics ,,; the info also ,,

Sulphurs , Something ate 15 Alfalfa plants between noon and 7 this evening , I never saw a thing , No Bf's, No cats No nothing , Sigh ,, sometimes it ain't fair at all . grin , I know it was though , no green of anything remained , only a few leaves on hard stem ,, it was ,,,

I am doing the happy dance! finally something eating the monster milkweeds!

Monarch Cats !!! We all wish here lol
hope you get to see them fly when they metamorph !!!

I'm happy-dancing too, for you! Please give them a GPS and tell them to program in my address. lol
Thanks Sheila, in advance. :)

Sheila, what lovely stripped kittens you have. Wow. lots of baby food too. Keep us informed on there progress.

My third sighted Monarch and an I do not know Duskywing , cannot find this anywhere
The photo's enlarge okay ,, everything is camera shy ,

juhur, nice to see a monarch on a strong healthy milkweed. Good job.

By the way your unknown is a Clover looper http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/16953/

C_A_Ivy , thank you !!! for the ID ...
Today's Pearl Crescent , the Hummingbird got away

Today's no ID , another one of those ,, These are small 1/4 inch to this one barely over a 1/2 inch , The yellow head and upper wing should be a give to ID , not so far though
Enlarged this is missing an anther or antennae .. Tiny these are

C_A_Ivy , I was wondering if I showed you this Look at the left side first pic )accidental , lol ,,
Followed by today's not so good
A giant Fritillary and a Question Mark

juhur, a lovely Great Spangled and Q Mark. I noted a Blue Bot fly and a Golden eye Lacewing under the leaf in the one pic.

Your lovely moth visitor is an Orange Mint Moth http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4544/

Thank you Ivy , My photos do match well enough for me to ID often times .
I appreciate the help sincerely ,,
How is your garden viewing , anything exciting ?, well at least mood raising ?

I have lots of nectar flowers in my "Jungle" but only a few flying visitors. Everything is lush from rain and more is forecast this weekend. Still getting skippers and a friendly Carolina Satyr and Wood nymph. Moth activity has really slowed down but several "Mardi Gras" caterpillars are on the Cone flowers and Black-eyed Susans. With summer heat I'm hopeful that butterfly activity will pick up.

1. Sachem female
2. Swarthy Skipper
3. Carolina Satyr
4. Wood Nymph
5. Pipevine Swallowtail (Recently emerged and hanging from Indigo seed pod}

Lovely pics. Ivy. How do you get those common MW to bloom? I had them in the shade, they didn't bloom. So I transplanted some into a container and placed the pot in sunny area, still no signs of blossom. :(

Lily-love. sounds like you are doing the right things with plenty of sunshine and somewhat dry conditions. Maybe a high phosphate Miracle Gro would help. Common MW has formed pods and seeds here.

Those are great the pics , Ivy ,

liliy , hopefully your milkweed will cooperate with some blooms

I keep getting the same BF's . not a lot of here this here so far

Hi all - hope everyone is enjoying the summer. I'm loving July - seems like the butterflies start coming out more and more. Sharing pics of Gulf frit and Black Swallowtail, raised in the condo, and Eastern Tiger, Eastern Tailed Blue, and Cabbage White from the yard.

Those are really nice to see memays ,!!!

Great pics. I had a lovely swallowtail like in your last picture in my garden yesterday, she had discovered the Agapanthus and was going from one flower to the next.
Trying to be patient but where are all the monarchs? I have flowering and seeding milkweeds in the garden and not a catapiller in site. I have two huge Gomphocarpus (tennis balls) making seed pods. The bees are having a hay day on them.

I love those photos too, memays. Congrats. Domehomedee, I've yet seen a monarch here either. I saw black swallowtails, and collected 3 cats. to raise indoor. The two smallest one didn't survive the indoor condition. My third one just spun its silk and formed a J shape. Hopefully I'll have a BST soon. memays, thus far, you've great success, please keep up the great work.

I was able to take some pics of either an Oregon Swallowtail or a Western Swallowtail. They are very much alike and I am having trouble getting the exact ID. She fell in love with my white David phlox. Then my battery ran out. Recharged. Then, I didn't see her anymore so I am thankful that I took them when I did.

beebonnet, nice swallowtail and gorgeous white phlox.

Finally some black swallowtail caterpillars on the overgrown parsley. Several went into the pillar house for protection from the spiders, wasps, and dragonflies.

Great pics everyone!

Oh...so much beauty in just one thread!

We have very few butterflies again this summer. I did see a gorgeous Monarch on some greenery in Evanston, IL right at the shore of Lake Michigan. We were walking around an art fair and, of course, I didn't have a camera.

These three pics are all of the same butterfly though the color looked totally different depending on the sun (or lack of it since we had thunderstorms shortly after I shot these).

It's obviously a Hairstreak, but I'm not sure if it's a Gray or something else.

Beautiful photos. I just love looking at them.
That black swallowtail cat is just gorgeous. I am wondering...what is the pillar house and maybe you could take a picture of it? I think I know, but not really sure.

? Pillar houses??? :)

Questions and pretties ,Always make a Wonderful Thread !!!


Red Spotted Purple .

I found some good information on when the Monarchs should be in my area. If you look online you can find your lattitude: http://www.travelmath.com/cities
and then check out when the butterflies should be in your area here: http://www.monarchwatch.org/tagmig/peak.html
They will be at their peak here in central California in late September early October.