Oh yeah!! The Tigers have entered the building

Yes the day finally came! A female TST came to visit. At first when she was sailing through I didn't know if it was SBST, BST, or TST...... Then she floated down all over my Cherry tree.. she must have has at least 5-6" wing span.

I have to apologize for the pics, not as good as I could take, but I was about 20+ feet away and stayed until she moved on to flowers to nectar.. I didn't want to spook her. Just whispering, "Lay all the eggs you want pretty Tiger!"

I'm so dang excited!!

:-Deb

So she moved on and I wanted to get just one more pic while I could... Still not great. Today was overcast, hard lighting to photograph in and no time to set the camera.

Now I suppose I will have 3 active cages.. Will definatly need to take these in before they are visible to all the preditors in my back yard. The eggs are green and it took a real good look to find them.

:-D

Deb, you are so lucky!!! She's a beauty and great pics!

Yeah Deb! What a nice find!

~Adrienne

Thanks Adrienne and Rox! I had been watching for a few weeks.. Always a few males here, all day... now finally!!
So psyched! I got a good shot of the eggs. Also figured a way for folks who don't have macro to take pics of itty bitty subjects. I use a magnifying glass when going around to check plants, so I just put the glass over the camera lense.

:-)

LOL! I had to look up what a TST was and saw just a regular Tiger Swallowtail butterfly....then I looked at the map and NOW I see why you're so excited. :))

The eggs would be impossible to find here as I have full grown 60 foot tall Cherry trees and the neighbors have some, too, I'm sure. Even if I only looked at the leaves on my property that I could see while standing on the ground, I'd be there for a week with my little magnifying glass, and I'd still probably miss them! I don't see how you could have found them, either, even with a smallish tree. You must have a really, really good eye!

They love Cut & Come Again Zinnias, or old fashioned Zinnias, if you have any.

Suzy

You're right Suzy, they visit the Zinnias regularly. Glad you see why I was making such a commotion about this. For many years they have been flying through my yard, only stopping a couple of times. This year I was determined to be armed from the get go, with all I have gathered (learned), and prepared over the years. The nectar plants have been key for TSTs staying for hours in the back yard this year for the first time. And having the cherry tree is icing on the cake! Sooner or later a female was bound to come. Kinda glad she started out slow with only a couple-few eggs.. I will have to keep checking for more I couldn't find yesterday. When these that I have caged hatch, I will know to look again for more cats.
Someone a few blocks over from me has a large Cherry Tree... I didn't know until my mailman told me today. I will have to go look at the tree, and make friends with that neighbor, LOL!

I planted lots of very large White and Red from seed this year:-). They also love the H. Daisies, and the Milkweed blooms.


:-Deb

WOW!!! Great egg photo! Those would be near impossible to find since they blend in with the leaf coloring!!! Dwarf cherry trees would be the way to go...no way would you be able to find those eggs 10 feet up in the tree :o)

Congrats again!!! Keep us posted on the eggs and cats. Am so happy for you!!!

Got any cherry saplings to trade? Heh Heh...actually I tried growing a cherry tree I purchased online but it died. Not sure I'd even get TSTs this far south.

If you plant it, they will come!!! YEE HAW!!!

~ Cat

Suzy,
He's beautiful!!

:)

~Adrienne

Get that third cage going Deb!!

Congratulations on your TST! And good pics, too!

OK, can some one please fill me in---please tell me what are 'H. daisies', and, are 'old fashioned zinnias' 'Benary Giants'? That's what I planted. Hope that's right!

I have seen some swallowtails around but not too many yet. We have birch, ash, and willow trees--will they work for host plants? http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1372

We don't seem to have Wild Cherry in the yard, anyway. Thanks. t.

Thanks everybody!
Cat, I got the Cherry tree from Forest Farm... great place to get plants. Ended up buying 4 bc the shipping after 2 would have been the same as 4. I didn't even care if it would get too big, I had to have one for TST. I will pot it up larger until I have to plant it at sister's in Justin. I will have to propagate myself some in the meantime. Maybe some of the cuttings I'm going to use in the cage will root..
Yeah Suzy I think it may be a male after all..real nice colors..
Sheila, I have 3 large cages, and 1 chrysalis box (1' cube with screen on all sides), and 3 smaller ones. I hope I can keep from bringing some in after a while. I wanted to take in some pvst's just to see the process all the way through for documentation. I will probably stop taking pvst's in after this last brood. They are poisonous and maybe birds can learn to stay clear of them. Eventually they will have to.
I don't think the poison will kill necessarily, maybe just make them so sick they avoid them. With this number of species it would be very difficult to cage all of them, so I have to stick with the one's where numbers suffer the most caging as many of those that I can. I really want to observe as many as possible this year. It's been a long time coming.
I was just about to post this and your reply came through T! Thanks! H Daisies are
Amblyolepsis setigera.. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/64298/index.html They are in many of the pics I have taken of butterflies since they began blooming in March. I'm working on a good batch of seeds to share when I know if they are good.
:-D

Now that we're talking Cherry trees...what dwarf variety would ya'll recommend for zone 9 that could possibly also work as a larval host? This area in the deep south tip of Texas doesn't have a freeze period per se...and to keep the tree from suffering in the hot sun I'd plant it between the house and west side fence where it would plenty of indirect sunlight but only about 2 hours of direct sunlight.

Prunus ilicifolia???

~ Cat

Deb, that is fantastic! I was hoping someone would get some TST cats. I haven't raised any myself...just the two-tailed tigers. For some reason, even though there's lots of black cherry trees, I never see the TSTs using them. But who knows? Like somebody said about the larger trees, you can't really check the higher parts of the tree. Cat, I was wondering if there is any form of cherry trees that grow down there in the wild. You'd have a better chance with something like that, I would think. I have 2 TTST chrysalises from last year (as well as this spring's) and I'm beginning to wonder if those are ever going to emerge.

Cat~ There is a variety of Cherry endemic to Texas called "Prunus serotina var. eximia", that only raches 40'. If you believe the blazing sun all day is too much for it, you can plant it in partial shade just seeing it gets enough water. Also it take many many years for it to reach the heights they say.

A friend I consulted on this says she has a lot of what would be larger trees in her yard, they just prune them well and keep them at a managable height. That is what I plan to do with this one, and some of the other plants that would grow too big if they were left as planted. Another thing is if it is.. If the plants are used as larval hosts, they would be getting pruned a lot anyway, in order to give cuttings to caged larvae. I hope that helps some..

Thanks Linda, I watched your accounts with TTSTs and they are awesome too.. I hope some of the chrysalises are still alright... Some take a little longer to emerge after winter. I had 4 BSTs all winter, and all of them eclosed escept for 1, and it was dried out. Hopefully this year you will get another go around or 2 with them. I will be watching if you do..:-).

:-Deb

I'll need to research up on native cherry trees...don't think we have anything but something called barbados cherry and suriname cherry which as far as I know aren't larval host for TSTs.

I don't need anything taller than 10 or 12 feet in my yard...already have mature oak trees that are 20 or so feet tall as well as citrus trees that are about 10-12 feet high. Neighbors all have mature oaks or ash trees or cat claws.

Thanks for the info...I'll read up more about it. Never can tell what will show up!!!

~ Cat

Yep Cat~ Then too~~ with an entirely different genus "Magnoliaceae", which TST like even better, you might have more possibilities than with prunus.
Do you have Liriodendron tulipifera...It is an excellent larval host for TST, a texas native, and might work better than cherry (prunus) ever could anyway. I have wanted a Tulip Tree since first seeing them...and especially knowing they are a great TST host.

:-D

Deb, that "var. eximia" black cherry is what grows around here. It doesn't seem to need very much water. At least, I've never watered the ones on my property, anyway. We probably have a similar annual rainfall to San Antonio, maybe a bit less. Doesn't Tulip Tree only grow in East Texas?

As far as I know Tulip Tree grows all over Texas.. All the way to zone 9... It does require rich moist soil, and should not be planted near foundations. I look forward to being able to have one some day.

;-D

Okay...gonna have to research that tree...and keep it bonsai size!!! :o)

~ Cat

FYI, those surinam cherries are a non-native plant considered invasive here in Florida. I see lots of TSTs around here, and I'm thinking it must be because of the magnolias. I don't think I've ever seen a cherry tree around here. Dad actually saw a TST out front today; they seem to love our blue plumbagos (pic below was taken a while ago, but it's a pretty regular sight).

Well Cat~ Where there's a will.... yada yada...:-D

Millie ~ what a super picture of the TST.. the blue on the wing really pops with your plumbago!

:-S

I agree! Beautiful photo! I have 2 small Plumbagos in my yard. I will have to watch them more closely to see if they get any visitors besides the Cassius Blue butterflies (for which it is a host plant).

I would love to get so TSTs here! Not much going on in my yard here lately. I saw one GF. That was it. Nothing else. I guess the Butterfly Ball is somewhere else.....

Oh, I have GFs all over the place! Butterflies and cats!

Great photo Mellie!!!

Deb...I think we're all part of the Yada Yada Sisterhood - Heh Heh!

Are you going to start a thread of the TST life cycle?

~ Cat

Ooh, I didn't know Cassius Blues laid eggs on plumbagos! Now I'm going to have to go inspect mine. Although according to my little book I have here, I'm right on the border line between "resident" and "stray". At least there are plenty of plumbagos around; I think just about everyone in Tampa uses them in their landscaping.

Very good Millie!! I am so happy about that! The blues are so beautiful!!

Cat~ Yes, I suppose making a new thread would be the best thing.. I am waiting for the eggs to hatch now..They have changed, but I don't have any pics to compare. I want to make sure I have viable cats before starting the new thread.

See, one has turned darker, and the other one has turned white...

The white one looks empty? Do butterflies lay blanks? :o) Am still facinated by those little green eggs...green eggs and ham...sam I am :o)

~ Cat

I was thinking thet the first thing they eat is their shell... weird huh?

Yes, butterflies can lay blanks. And have you ever had eggs that didn't stick to the leaves? I think those are usually not viable also. Sometimes I like to watch the new little hatchee coming out and eating its shell. For some reason, I think the GST cats are so cute when they're newly hatched. Today I found 3 tiny cats and an egg. Seems like when I have only 5th instar GST cats left, that's when I find some more. I've released 3 of the GST butterflies so far this year.