DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 41

But today!!!!

A giant swallowtail!

And the monarchs are still visiting.

Everybody all together, "Ooh! Aah!" How pretty, Mrs Ed! I try to love all the butterflies equally, but the swallowtails really are showy.

My sulphur eggs hatched today! They seem to have a high rate of mortality but I'm hoping for the best. I counted six of them. My long-tailed skipper eggs hatched today, too. They have huge heads - I love it! I found another piggie Monarch - I just knew there was one more out there that I missed. Also, I checked the fennel and found about a dozen more eggs.

Mom and I are going to our favorite local nursery, Hollie's, on Saturday for their butterfly lecture and plant sale. They always have lots of great host and nectar plants. I'm always a little suspicious when I go to a big garden center and don't see any butterflies (or other insects) flying around. Even driving up to Hollie's you see the butterflies all around. They probably refer to me as the girl who runs around taking pictures of all the butterflies before she buys anything! I just hope they have fennel and dill - it looks like I'm going to need some!

Melanie

ooo, that will be fun to see pictures!

Neat pics Mrs. Ed!! I want a giant too!

Tiger Swallowtail

I know I had this one last year but can't find the pic with name.

That is a Common Buckeye, one of my favs! Nice pictures everyone!

This message was edited Aug 5, 2008 6:18 PM

ooooo, pretty. I haven't had one of those yet.

Keep watching, they are in IL.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1775&chosen_state=17*Illinois

ooooooooooo, lovely pictures.
here is my ETS from today. He just posed for me.

awww, that's nice of him.

hmmm, no record of that buckeye in my county, but I'll be looking!!

Mellie, have fun running around taking pictures. LOL

Pics w/ my new camera.

Maggie

Nice job Margaran, I haven't gotten to see one of those yet.

I always feel bad that they're called the Common Buckeye. I don't think they're common at all; I think they're very special. Supposedly, we get the Mangrove Buckeye in my area, but I live too far inland. One of these days I'll have to go to the Gulf and see if I can find any.

Love the Long-Tailed Skipper! It's hard to believe my crazy cats are going to turn into that.

Melanie

Maggie, what is that butterfly?

It's the long-tailed skipper http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/257/

oooo, aaaahhh. nice

Nanny, I so agree with Melanie about the "common" buckeye. I have yet to see one! Great shots all of them!

Mrs. Ed, just stunning pictures!

Maggie, that long-tailed skipper is just gorgeous.

This is a lousy photo but it's the only one I got of this visitor early this morning. I thought it was a hummingbird moth but now I think it's a type of sphinx moth.

I see you're still nice and wet down there!

Things are drying up fast! Storm turned out to be just a nice rain for us. It was like heaven!

Look who else just stopped by! I think this is my first pic of a duskywing -- maybe Horace's Duskywing?

I liked this pic too of a bit of sun through the wings.

I'm having so much fun today looking for butterflies! I really need to get some work done. This pipevine was drying off in the plumbago.

OMGosh! I saw a GST out the window, so I had to go back out there and I saw this monarch, a gulf frit, the duskywing, pipevine, a bunch of polys and a skipper! I was so excited, but I only got a few shots before my batteries went dead. Guess that's a sign to get busy with other projects!

Don't my pentas look just horrible? They must be tasty though.

This gulf frit landed really close to the monarch and I thought I would get a photo with both of them. I was focusing and a pipevine flew into the picture too but that's when my batteries went dead. Isn't that always the case!

I found a better shot of the Buckeye...

oooo!!
Well I went to the garden to take some pix of an eastern tiger swallowtail. and this little guy showed up.

Silver spotted skipper?

The ETS was very cooperative.

And bumble bee makes three.

Oooh! Mrs. Ed, what flower are they enjoying? Gorgeous shots!

Mrs. Ed, I'm chiming in again to say that I think you should enter that top one of the silver spotted skipper in a photo contest. Seriously! Just amazing detail and wonderful colors.

hey as a matter of fact, the county fair is next weekend!! Think I might enter some.

Those are Zinnias, a must in my garden. Planted in honor of my grandmother and knowing full well that the BFs love them too.

How about THIS one!

or maybe this one

it helps that i have continuous mode on this camera. lol!

And let us not forget the Cabbage Whites dancing all over my catmint.

Hey save me some seeds from those!! I have the Giant Benary's but they haven't been that attracted to them it seems.

Seeds from which???

Both??? All?? Those ZInnias in the pic! Your pics are gorgeous by the way!

haha. all is good.

I didn't know if you meant zinnias or catmint. I took a picture for you of the zinnia, I have to download it. I'll send you some for sure.

I'm no much in the know about butterflies, but this one has been appearing in my garden for a week now, and it took me quite a while to catch the elusive critter on camera.

And another view of him. Can anyone tell me what he is?