DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 17

Continued from: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/766456/

Looks like many signs of fall are showing lately here in North TX. We still have a lot of butterflies in the garden, and more due to come through directly. I use many different things to tell fall is coming, but the main teller is among the birds I get in my backyard. Yes, along with the butterflies, birdwatching is a serious thing to me. In spring I shift to major butterfly mode, but after they've all migrated or hibernated in fall, a new bunch of friends show up and some leave for the outskirts.
Robins have been MIA for almost a week now, and the hawks are beginning to visit at least once a day. Besides that, I have seen a wee yellow birdy I only see in September on it's way from Northwestern US to Mexico and South America. The ones worth sharing will be posted in the Bird Watching forum here at DG. Here is a post I started last night:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/767618/
In a butterfly garden there are thousands of insect species, and not killing them with pesticide leaves a lot of winter food for certain birds. Some of the most adorable birds you will ever see spend winter here in North TX. I have already begun adding to the list what I see here and provide habitat for every year.

Back to the subject of butterflies>
I have really been enjoying all your pics and stories!! Some of you in the far south, will just be picking up steam about now, and I can't wait to see all that.. Especially Becky, and all of you there in Florida should be getting much more activity. I can't wait to watch and take a back seat to all of your fun and serious work conserving butterflies. I should be here almost as much, with or without pics to show. If anyone would like to reach me by phone, just dmail me and I will gladly give you my phone number, or you can give me yours and I will call. I am listed under "Ability Lock Service, Fort Worth TX 76148" :-S

Of all the butterflies last week, (which were awesome).. One in particular stands out. I never really knew how beautiful the Brazilian Skipper was, until I saw these coming out of the rolled up canna leaves and chrysalids. Not just an ordinary brown butterfly to me now. They have won me over! I am now plotting where to put the cannas for next spring now, hehe! Probably in the back somewhere, because I expect they will get a little (or a lot) chewed up. :-D

The profile shot>

We had fun with little skippers.. Ben set the one on his hand inside here with the other one that had just eclosed, so they could say hello.

Cat! Your White Striped LT Skipper
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3935652
is definatly one for the books. Maybe the next on will open it's wings for a dorsal view.

:-D

Deb...have you ever heard those Brazilian Skippers as they fly by you? You can hear their wings flapping...sounds like a little motor boat :o)

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!! I was out taking a quick look around the yard and I saw a spider on the cannas and it had a Brazilian Skipper cat in it's jaws!!! UGHHHHH!!!! Oh well, killed the spider and only counted seven tiny cats. Not sure where the others are...it has rained plenty and their nests were full of water...yet those were still moving.

~ Cat

Oh noooooooo! Cat!
Hopefully you got the main one away from the other cats now. Spiders usually spread out pretty well, and you can take your week without worrying about the skippers.
Yesterday when I was releasing the butterflies, I was looking for a good place to set one of the Giant STs down. I was about to set it down on one of the Batfaced Cupheas when a spider exactly like yours lept out of one of the blooms. Wheww! That was close!
Found a safer place on a good ole white zinnia... The GST was still not ready to fly well, and would have been a sitting duck.

A while back I posted in the bug ID forum about a worm that was eating my canna. I was told it was a leaf roller worm. I sprayed and killed them. Now you guys have me worried that they are the cats of the skippers. They are starting to tie the leaves closed again with silk.

Are these "worms" the same as the skipper cats?

chris

Unroll a leaf and take a pic Chris, and let's see.

Chris,

Take a look at the Brazilian Skipper on the bug files. There are several photos of caterpillars for comparison.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/1308/

~ Cat

That Brazilian skipper is too cute. Whenever I see a skipper's fuzzy little head I just want to pet them.

Cat, did I see you say that you don't get Tiger STs because you're too far south? I can't imagine they would come to FL and not TX.

Caterpillar update: the first ZST didn't make it. Somehow, he wandered over to the other side of the cage and was hanging out wth the frits. He was down in the floral foam with his head sticking out. At first, I thought it was just a piece of dirt. Don't give up hope as I still have three eggs left to hatch. The one that died had been an egg for a while so it's entirely possible he picked up a virus or parasite or something. The other three I "harvested" right after they were laid so let's hope they'll be ok. As for the frits (possibly one ZLW) I had two hatch today. I have a third egg and it looks like it's about to hatch. One of the other cats keeps hanging out next to it like it wants to help free him. I just put in some fresh food and they're all sort of happily squirming around.

Oh, and Dad was working outside yesterday and had a Gulf Frit land on him. He was really sweaty and he thinks it was trying to "puddle" on him.

Mellie,

Yep, sad to say...but it's twue, it's twue!!! We don't get ZSTs here.
Check out the distribution map on the butterflies and moths website. Bummer...and if you click on the Texas...it's gets even sadder :o(

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1353

Odd...GFs don't puddle out here...although they do gather in small numbers on the same nectar source. A few months back a woman was helping out with the school's butterfly garden...she had on some Bed & Bath lotion - brown sugar and coconut or vanilla...can't remember exactly what it was...but butterflies kept landing on her!!!

Of course, Tawnys will land on you when you are walking by them...it's always fun to find one perched on somebody's hat :o)

~ Cat

Deb, I agree after seeing your pics, those guys are great. I love the big eyes. They have such personality in their look. Glad you found a new favorite and I can see why. Very cute and congrats on your success with them. I have cannas and will certainly be looking for anything out of place on them. Maybe I will get lucky.

Leslie

Cat - Love the photo of the spider and the butterfly. Not that I like to see that, but it's a cool photo!

Deb - Love your photos of your son with the skipper! I wonder what Ben will be when he grows up? LOL!

I, too, like the Skippers! And I love that long tail one! I get them here too, but have seen just a few lately. It's weird so few of any butterflies here. But I have a LOT of dragonflies and frogs! Yes, Cuban Tree frogs. I am hoping my snakes eat them all! LOL! I was out watering the garden beds tonight past dark and when I went to the front door, I was startled to almost run into a King Snake. Here's a photo as he was hi-tailing it away from me. I think I scared him, too! LOL!

This message was edited Sep 4, 2007 9:40 PM

That's it Leslie! Look for chewed places or rolling of leaves. I sure hope you find some!

Mellie~ The cage your dad made is very cool, and I would love to have one like it, but when it really really counts, I use the gladware cages. I wrap the floral foam with either a baggie or some foil and tape it with duct tape, fill it with water, and place it in the 1/2 gallon container. Make holes the size of your stems in the tape, and put in plant. It stays hydrated this way.
Doing this will keep them in a small area for their own safety, besides, they really don't need to be wondering around in captivity with other species anyway. Too many accidents can happen.

Remember how I did the sulphur eggs? They all turned out safe and sound. More in chrysalids, and even more cats from 1/2 inch to 1" long now. That wouldn't have happened without using the gladware cages.

I hear ya Cat.. and there is a tease for me in there.. The map shows they come to places so close to here. Enough to make ya nuts, lol. I still planted the Pawpaw, rofl!

How funny becky!! That snake is very cool! I like the idea of inviting him to a ctfrog dinner.. That's a really hard thing to deal with, but the good Lord put everything in place, and if we are patient we see those things in time.
You knew all that though, lol!

I finally got a picture of the lady who was laying all of the monarch cats on my milkweed!!!

This message was edited Sep 4, 2007 8:01 PM

Jataylor, love your picture! I can see one of her offsprings hanging on the stem just eating away! Nice shot to get them both in the picture!

Deborah

and another pic .....she was more skittish than the GF's ..wouldn't stay still for very long.

I am having so much fun with this butterly garden ........ I never suspected that it would be so successful .........

Thanks for the comment on the pic, however, it would be hard not to get a picture of a cat on that milkweed right now ....... yesterday evening I counted twelve cats !!

Deb...how do you think I feel with Paw Paw growing in pots here?! ROLF!!!

Jataylor...great photo of the down beat of that monarch's wings!!! Cute caterpillar in the photo too.

Becky...good to see you posting again!!!

I took photos of another dratted spider on Sunday...not good!!!

Way cool James!! She can see how safe it is to lay her eggs there too.. Glad you finally caught her in the act! I am glad you are seeing how simple it is. Can't wait to see you try some other species, lol!
I had several mpnarchs in the back when I went outside today.. They were having an early migration tailgate party on their way south. It looked like they had been resting out there. Not sure if the 'she' laid any eggs. I will soon see.
They moved on.. down your way most likely.

Yikes Cat! .. Real good pic!

I caught one in the act today too. Hadn't seen a monarch all summer long until today. I have been neglecting my milkweeds, and they were loaded with aphids. So I went through 4 milkweeds plants in one gallon pots, and cleaned off the aphids. The monarch laid way more eggs than the plants can support, so I had to cull some of them. But better that the ones I left will have enough to eat. They're in my cage now.

Has anyone tried to grow milkweed inside or in some type of cage to keep the aphids off?

Mark

The show has begun...

chris

Wow! That is so awesome, Chris!!
I'm so glad I found this forum last year!!

Mark,

I use soapy water in a spray bottle for the aphids ........ am unsure if it would have an adverse effect on the cats ..... I haven't used it since I have had the cat explosion !!

Here is the latest saga with my monarch cats ...............

and another pic from this morning ..........

You guys have been busy!!

Chris!! Fantastic job you are doing, they look great!

Wow, That is one super clear pic Mark ;-)

James, A lot of folks use a bit of soapy water to get the aphids, seems to work well, and your cats look fine. I have so many insects out there, I don't know them all, nor have I seen half of them. Also released a few thousand ladybugs earlier on this summer.
At one point my MW was so covered with aphids, and then they are gone. I procrastinated the soapy water long enough for whatever it is to find them and eat all except very few. :-) Also I've noticed that the A. incarnata gets them worse than the A. curassavica for some reason.
When I cage the cats I wash the aphids off of the edit *MW cuttings*. (lol, thx chris) The aphids don't hurt the cats. . they just suck some of the nutrients out of the plant, and make it look a little tacky. :- LOL



This message was edited Sep 5, 2007 11:57 AM

Deb, You wash off the cats?? lol

Now I know why all the cats are at Deb's house....sign out front says..."free sponge baths" lol :)

This message was edited Sep 5, 2007 5:54 PM

If I remember right, the monarchs with the 2 black spots on lower wing are males. If that is right then I have 2 males and 17 females. Those are gonna be 2 happy men.

Wowie Chris!
Surely there are more male BSTs in the vacinity.. They will find that pack of females pretty quick I think. Your place is definatly marked now.
Yes the males are the ones with the scent glands on the lower wing.

:-)

That's pretty impressive Chris! I like the rack you made from them to pupate on.

Mark

Deb

Have a look at this....................... http://www.simplesite.com/CROCOSMIA/5330379

Mark

I cat-napped a Buckeye cat I found on some Agalinis plants in town and brought it home on some of the plant I cut and stuck in water. It's kind of big, so it'll probably pupate soon. If I could be sure they would like the "official buckeye host plants" I have quite a few of, I would have brought a couple more smaller cats.

Palamedes ST hanging out in the backyard this evening. He was in the part of the yard that never really dries out, and he kept landing on the ground so maybe puddling a bit? By the way, I'm going to have to plant my pawpaw seedlings this weekend. They have three or four little leaves, but the roots are starting to poke out the bottom of the pots!

Becky, when I let the 19 monarchs and 1 sulphur go today, I whispered your address in their ear as the flew off.

Mark, I would love it if the monarchs actually pupated on that thing. That is what I made it for, but they had different ideas. They pupated all over the screen top of the plastic box you see in the background. I took the ones off the middle and hot glued them to the bamboo skewer thing that I made.

The 'worms in my canna are brazillian skippers. Fly-girl told me that back on June 2nd. I didnt even know what a brazillian skipper was. What a difference 3 months makes.

Mr crocos, great video, there is so much to look at I had to watch it again.

chris

Whata find Linda!! (cat napped, lol) Your right, it looks ready to pupate very soon. That bit of Agalinis might just be enough. Which host plants do you have there at home?

Mellie, great shot of Palamedes girl!!

I've got so many plants that Buckeyes supposedly use...native Snapdragon Vine, Buck-Horn Plantain, Frogfruit, Texas Paintbrush, wild petunia (ruellia)...and recently I heard they use a native plant called Snakeherb...I have two different kinds of that. Picky Buckeyes...I couldn't resist taking a cat home when I saw a few on the wild agalinis plants in town.

I came across two Brazillian Skipper cats this weekend as I was cleaning up the cannas. They were both huge, I placed them on a plant that I knew where they were and both are morphing now. Then at the same area that I found them, today was a BS fluttering from leaf to leaf laying eggs. I don't know if it was the light / shadows, but they looked light blue on the burgandy leaves. Now that I know where they are I can take a pic later and maybe get a first instar too.

Hope to see the egg pics Shiela. The ones out here look a pale green then turn a brownish mauve when they age.


Linda...congrats on finding that buckeye cat!!! The back fields are filled with native plantain and flitting buckeyes but I never can find a caterpillar on them. Have been looking for eaten leaves, frass...anything that would be a tell tale sign but nada!!! UGH!!!

~ Cat

...and a Brazilian Skipper egg - the brownish mauve one.

~ Cat

Same color to me right now as your first pic. Good shots Cat!

I am waiting on my Silver Checkerspots to eclose. DH got out his micro and took this shot of one. Fancy little things.

This message was edited Sep 5, 2007 9:51 PM