DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 40

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/874052/

I posted this cutie in my other thread, but for those who haven't seen him, this is a Spicebush ST cat.

We've had some great pictures on this thread - good job everyone! As for those predator wasps, I read where they'll take a cat back to their young and feed it to them in pieces. Ewww - so kudos to everyone who saves them!

I had four piggie Monarch cats when I came home. There are more, but I just took in the ones who were nearly full grown. Two of them are making their J right now. When I unloaded the car I put my pipevine plant next to the other one by the front door (I took it with me to feed the cats). Well, the next morning I walked out the door and the Polydamas was laying eggs on it already! They don't seem to have found the pipevine in the backyard, though...here's the Polydamas on the purple porterweed with my car in the background. Yup, I pull in right next to the butterflies!

Here's my little skipper cat. I'm pretty sure it's a Long-Tailed skipper, but they're still small and other skippers use the same hosts. So we'll see what develops! I have at least three; I didn't want to unfurl all their leaves and risk hurting one so I'm leaving them be for now in the butterfly house.

My Zebra Longwing friends have been around as well. I had two on the bougainvillea yesterday. There's one ZLW that is a bit larger than the others and when I saw him compared to another one I could really tell the difference. Again, he's on the porterweed in front of my Beetle.

I also had a large sulphur (maybe Orange-Barred?) laying eggs in front of me so I gathered up some of the eggs and brought them in. I'll have to go out there and look for more; it got so hot I had to come inside.

Melanie

Ahhhh...where are all the butterflies hiding?!

Am still waiting for the long tail skippers to make use of my blue pea vine. They used it last year but I didn't collect eggs to raise.

I've been working late most days and barely get home before the sun sets. I did get a couple of nice surprises today when I scared up a Giant Swallowtail and a Guava Skipper that were roosting amongst the plants lining my front walkway :o) I backed away and let them settle back in:o)

Ended up using the garage entrance to get into my house and was going to take some photos but by the time I changed clothes and flipped through the mail it was a tad too dark. Didn't want to disturb either of them with the flash...so I left them snoozing :o)

We're on edge now too - Dolly, a tropical storm with the makings turning into a hurricane on Tuesday, is headed for Brownsville which is about 60 miles east of us.

~ Cat




This message was edited Jul 21, 2008 8:57 PM

Mrs Ed, cool cat!

Snuzer, way cool photos of the GF especially that last one.

Love all the photos!

I had a TST on my Anise Hyssop yesterday. Last year I only saw small butterflies on them so I wasn't sure if large butterflies would nectar on them. He stuck around for some time, and let me take lots of pictures.
I also wanted to say that I've been trying to decide if I think the butterfly populations are down like others have talked about. Right now it seems it is a very good year for TSTs. The Monarchs have just started coming around here so I can't say whether or not they are in higher numbers or not yet. However this is the right time for them to start arriving so so far so good here in New Hampshire. I am noticing less fritillaries than last year. I don't know if this was already said but I think it is very normal for some species to flourish some years and not others due to the whole predator cycle. If there are a high number of caterpillars that gives the predators more food to flourish as well. I think after we have a bigger than normal year people are expecting that again and when it doesn't happen it makes it seem as though there aren't as many, when there is probably just a more normal amount. Does that make sense? I have a hard time expressing my thoughts in type some times. Wishing everyone well and butterfly filled days ^_^

Meredith, well stated! I understand what you're conveying. I'm new to butterfly gardening, and learn new info. about them every day.... For me, I've seen various in the garden and pretty happy with what I've seen....quite a few.

It's interesting that TSTs are present up North as well as down South at the same time. I've seen a few in early spring here, and sporadically there after....in fact I saw one yesterday when it was puddling....

Mellie,
Is this the Hoary Edge skipper you've mentioned? There were several of them nectaring yesterday, some of them has slightly different marking...perhaps the difference b/w males and females? What are their hostplants? If anyone could share the info. on this skipper's hostplant? Thank you.
Kim

Thank you Kim, I haven't been butterfly gardening for very long (this is my fourth season). I was thinking about it due to my own first experience with Monarchs. The first year in my new home I found milkweeds growing naturally all over my yard. That year there were an amazing amount of Monarchs. I would have 5+ of them on one butterfly bush at a time. If I had all the plants I have now I'd imagine it would have been even more so. I had their chrysalis all over the place, it seemed every where I looked there they were. So the next year when I was only finding a few here and there I thought I had done something wrong. I just couldn't figure it out. Then I read somewhere online that the previous year had been a record breaking year for Monarch counts. Ahh that's why, I had thought, so I didn't know if that was maybe what has been happening to some people this year. Except it seems with Black Swallowtails, for me it seems possible because I had some here last year and they weren't listed on the butterflies and moths website as being observed here. So that has me thinking that there were high populations last year and that's why they found their way here. Now I only have had two sightings this year and even though I have a lot of plants in the parsley family I have only found one cat and it has already hatched and gone. I had never had them before last year so I didn't consider this less than normal, but I would be much happier if there were a dozen devouring my Rue like last year.
BTW I am going to look up your Bf's host in my guide and I'll let you know if someone else doesn't sooner.

I looked up the Hoary Edge Skipper and it says its host plants are mainly Desmodium (Broad leaved tick-trefoils) but also other legumes. It says accounts also mention Baptisia tinctoria (Wild Indigo) and Lespedeza (Bush-clovers) : )

Bingo! I've various Baptisias in the garden! Tada!!! That's the exciting news! LOL. Thank you, Meredith for looking up the info.

As far as BST this year for me, I've parsley, fennels growing in numbers. No butterflies nor cats has been sighted here yet.

Last year, as I recall my first discovery of Monarch cats was later in the season. I planted more common milkweeds this year too. Nothing eating them down just yet, in fact they're blooming and seedling abundantly at present......I'm waiting patiently for those 'purdies' to make their ways here. ^_^

I mentioned yesterday on thread 39 that I watched a wasp kill one of the many cats that were on my fennel. I could see them from my sunroom window. Well I did get up off my tush and cut all those branches with the cats on them and put them in my all ready full cage. I lost count at 43. This is a pic of those rescued BST cats.

Deborah!!! Dear Deborah, please send some of the babies my way. Just kidding! How awesome is that? Bravo!!! for your endeavor, I'll continue to search for mine, and I already have a cage ready to house them babiez.
Woohooo, if they're now in Ga. they should/could be found in my neck of the woods soon. Thanks.
Kim

p.s. Mellie, I did look at my little sassafras tree closely this morning. The young tree is barely a foot tall. I did see some holes on a few leaves, but what were rolled up under one leave wasn't caterpillar, but its adversary, the spiders -- two of them!

WOW! Millions of cats, Cordeledawg! Hope you have lots of fennel! Elphaba-- Thanks for the kind words! Meredith-- I LOVE your pictures of the TST on the Anise Hyssop-- very pretty! You must have had fun watching it!

I'm afraid I've become a lurker: I've been watching this forum when I can but I've just been too busy lately (more hours working at the animal shelter) to contribute. I just want to say, all of these beautiful photos are so inspiring!!! And the enthusiasm for butterflies, I love it!!!! So far, I've been raising a few BST cats, and have 7 in chrysalis at the moment, but though I've seen quite a few adult BST's in the garden, I just am not finding the number of cats I found last year at this time. I had one batch of GF cats on my passi vine; I think they may've formed their chrysalides under the deck close by, and probably were found by the lizards and/or wasps. I found one newly eclosed GF dead on the ground near the deck. I had one more lone GF cat and I brought him inside; just as I thought he was about to search for a spot to pupate, he died, and I haven't had any more GF cats since!
Meredith, I noticed your lovely photos and am jealous of your healthy anise hyssop, it's beautiful!!! I started a BUNCH of seeds, and none did well in peat pots over the winter, so I put some seeds directly in the garden in the spring and ended up with two plants, but they're STILL tiny. I hope they make it and end up as lovely as yours!!

Meredith, I'm so glad you mentioned the anise hyssop. That's another common name for the agastache I bought at Lowe's. It was covered in skippers and bees, so I'm glad to see the larger butterflies take advantage of it as well. By the way, both my parents said the smell was really familiar and that they thought they might have made a tea out of it back in the day. And FYI, another common name is hummingbird mint, so let's hope it attracts some of those as well!

Kim, sorry I forgot to warn you about unrolling those leaves! I've "discovered" my fair share of spiders as well. It's like the lottery - eventually you'll hit the jackpot and find a caterpillar! Glad to see you have a host plant for your skipper there. It's neat to see another skipper uses the desmodium. If it wasn't a host plant it would be another weed I yank out of the garden. But I'm letting it grow in my weedy area down by the road and it seems to be staying there despite all the complaints about its invasiveness. Right now I'm feeding it to what I believe are my Long-Tailed Skipper cats. Here's one of them rolled up in his leaf. You can even see the silk holding it together!

Nice pics Mellie of the SB, ZST, and others.
That is some group of BSTs C..Dawg!!! If you run short on fennel, switch them to parsley. You need to wash it very carefully to avoid any pesticides on it. Mine switched without problem.
Thea....sounds like it maybe wasps or birds getting your cats. Look for the smaller ones with a maganifing glass so you can bring them in earlier. That may give you a better chance of survival. But great effort what ever you do!

I think I need to rename my house "Polydamas Paradise". I left all the chrysalises with my brother figuring he could manage to step outside and open the lid on my cage. I think he let about 8-10 go while I was gone. I had one come out last night so I let him go this morning. Then, another one came out this afternoon. I have another one that looks like it should come out at any moment and one that will likely come out tomorrow. They must be sticking around because besides laying eggs all over my plants, I've seen them nectaring on my plumbago nearly every time I pull in. Here's my newly released baby.

This Long-Tailed Skipper was hanging on the underside of a porterweed leaf to get out of the coming rain.

And I had a friendly Gulf Frit on - you guessed it! - the purple porterweed. Again, to stress the importance of placement of plants, those bricks you see are the pavers to our entrance way. Like, right in front of the door. It's nice to open the door to leave and see butterflies right in front of you. And occasionally, a crazy hummingbird trying to drive you away by flying in circles around your head. So make sure you place your really good plants where you can see them - indoors and outside!

And since I'm talking about plants...this picture doesn't come close to capturing the real beauty, but this is my little garden on the side of the house. These plants are right behind the plumbagos and outside the side door that leads to the garage. I have milkweed there on the left, "Black and Blue" salvia which is so much prettier than the photo, and on the right and the bottom is my firebush (a great native plant). I didn't really give too much thought to these plants when I placed them there, but now I have to say I really like it. I also have a cassia between the plumbago and salvia, fennel and dill to the right of the firebush, and porterweed and pentas below the plumbagos. So it's like a big butterfly buffet. FYI, "Black and Blue" salvia is supposed to be like crack for hummingbirds, and Zebra Longwings will not leave a firebush alone - except maybe to go for more porterweed.

Well, the Polydamas that was supposed to come out tomorrow came out tonight! I think their biological clocks are a little off, lol!

Thank you Snuzer : )
Melanie, I remember you talking about your Hummingbird Mint. Did you say it's Black Alder or am I confusing it with something else? The reason I ask is because I think that cultivar is a cross between foeniculum and a chinese one. It is supposed to be sterile, which is a good thing if you don't want it taking over the garden. I've noticed the species is a prolific self seeder, but I like to have seeds to share so I am dealing with it. ; ) I almost bought a Black Alder at HD last year and I didn't because I have a tendency to want to look up everyting online before hand. After I looked it up I wanted one. : )
I've noticed the plantfiles listing on the Agastache foeniculum and rupestris both have Licorice Mint as a common name, which can make distinguishing the two confusing when using the journal. I think that's where I got Anise Hyssop in my head. : )

Added - I spelled the cultivar wrong, but here is the link to the one that is sterile for someone that doesn't want to deal with the self seeding. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/76285/

This message was edited Jul 22, 2008 9:35 PM

The common peacock revisitted my butterfly bush. But it was so shy I couldn't get a good picture.

Mellie, you or perhaps Sheila has mentioned that the Gigantea pipevine is toxic to the polydamas? I've a couple of those vines for several years now, and I haven't seen any of those butterflies! :((

While I was chasing the peacock, this little guy was chasing another one like it in the area. Anyone recognize this small butterfly? It's about the size of one of the skippers.

I have seen skippers that look like that before. I will try to take a guess. My first guess is Horace's Duskywing. If it is not that, then perhaps Juvenal's Duskywing. I'm sure on of the experts will tell you soon! Here's one of mine from a couple years ago. I haven't taken a picture of one like that this year, although I have seen some.

This message was edited Jul 22, 2008 10:21 PM

Or maybe Funeral Duskywing skipper because of the white fringe

I have the Black Adder agastache which looks like a good choice.

A. gigantea is supposed to be ok for Polydamas, but not for Pipevine STs. The one I had killed every caterpillar I had so I pulled it up. At MOSI we have several we feed to the Polydamas cats and they do fine, so maybe I just had a particularly toxic one. I think you're a little far north for the Polydamas; they're one of those tropical to sub-tropical species. Nice common buckeye (not peacock) and you've definitely got a duskywing, but they can be hard to tell apart. : )

Lily....My computer locked up last night while I was trying to reply and give you this link to look at the duskywings. On the Horace look at the "more images" the one had the color off. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/search?searchbox=duskywing
I was also going to say I do believe it was a buckeye you have in the first shot, like Mellie said. Check it out also on that site.

This butterfly has been around for a week or so. Looks so frazzled, his days maybe numbered.

Please someone, tell me ASAP how to put a butterfly out of its misery, I think someone had once suggested wrapping it in tissue and putting it in the freezer? I have a BST that eclosd about 1/2 hour ago and it's wings are deformed, one isn't even opening up. I don't want it to suffer, please help!!!!!

I'm so sad about this deformed BST because it had made the prettiest colour green chrysalis, like a limey green. I was hoping the unique look didn't mean a bad thing, but looks like it did....

Don't put it down that soon...it could possibly turn out okay after a half hour. I've done freezing...also a medium rock straight to the head in the case of a butterfly that will never function at all. Maybe some think that's cruel. But if it's truly totally deformed...or clearly has a serious butterfly disease, I don't see much reason to keep it alive.

Sorry Thea, like Linda's has mentioned, perhaps the wings hasn't had enough time to dry off?
Last year I had a G.F. eclosed late in the season, the weather was overcast, it took the b.f. almost half a day to dry out before it could fly off on its own.

Thanks Linda and Lily, for your quick replies. I realized after I sent my message that all I had to do is look in my old messages on DG, because someone last year had told me about the kindness of the freezer solutions, how the butterfly will just go to sleep and shut down. Linda, the rock to the head: my head or the bf's? Just a little desperate humour....... Poor guy isn't looking good at all. I'm trying to console myself thinking of the beautiful male BST I released yesterday, speak of perfection!! He was a stunner. I feel so bad for this little one.....

((((((((Thea)))))))))

Thea, I understand what you are going through. You'll raise many for that will be successful which, had it not been for you, otherwise may fall victim to predators.

I really hate to post this successful "in the wild" picture following Thea's loss. Nature deals a cruel hand for us with tender hearts.

This is hot of the press. Happened just minutes ago.
I watched this female EBST eclose on a branch, crawl to the branch she is currently on to uncurl. She wasn't even finished uncurling and drying when this male showed up to mate.

Ok, Deborah! You've done it! LOL, which one of the two is the male/female? I've seen some b.f. nectaring out of my mint's flower in the backyard. Forgive me, but I've a mints galore growing in various places, but I didn't know those flowers do serve a purpose until just now.
Kim

Thank you Lily and Cordele. I just took a peek in the crate and she was lying on the floor, I thought she was gone. But I reached in and she weakly touched my finger but she hasn't progressed any. She's very damaged, poor little thing. So I wrapped her in some soft tissue and put her in a little box and into the freezer, and I hope she'll fall asleep quickly and go to beautiful butterfly heaven. I feel SO bad....
But a success story is always welcome, Cordele!! Isn't it just like a male, doesn't even give a girl time to catch her breath!! How soon after eclosing do they usually mate? This seems a little rushed!