Thanks Jack! I like your pictures, too. Although, you're giving me coneflower envy again! I will admit, I looked up coneflowers on the Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants website because I thought they were a native plant. Well, they are native - to one county in the panhandle! Maybe that's why I have such problems. Speaking of natives, I had been told that Sweet Almond Bush was native but I just found out it's a South American plant! I like it, the bees like it, but if some native comes along that I need space for - it may be in trouble!

In other interesting news, BAMONA got back to me pretty quick on that skipper and it's one I've never heard of. It's not in any of my books, either. It's called a Monk and it is native to Cuba and the Bahamas and such and hitched a ride to Florida around the 1940's according to internet research. It hosts on various palms so it quickly spread. I see them often enough to recognize them but they're not super common. They just don't seem to have any distinguishable markings like other skippers which is, ironically, what makes me notice them. Plus, they have a really long proboscis and I think that's cool. Here's the link to the BAMONA species info page: http://www.butterfliesandmoths...

From tonight - HBM at a large container of oriental lilies (Stargazer & Salmon Star).
2 HBM (other one in top center)


note shadow





note proboscis


They seem to slightly prefer Salmon Star.

Melanie, do you know who this is?

No, but I'm pretty sure it's not a butterfly. It actually bears a strong resemblance to this caterpillar that periodically infests our flight cage at MOSI. I have yet to figure out how the eggs are getting in there. But the defining feature of the caterpillar is that it will eat almost anything and thus, it kind of becomes a problem in our limited space in the flight cage. The people at BAMONA would know, I bet! Don't be afraid to use them: www.butterfliesandmoths.org

I just love all these photos

Just a few pictures today but first, check out this thread. The thread "Monarch" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum This person has a Monarch butterfly and a Queen caterpillar on a milkweed plant. I wish I had more Queens but I'll settle for all the Monarchs, I suppose. The grass is always greener and all that.

Not too much activity today but then again, I napped most of the afternoon because the phone ringing woke me up at 8:15am. That is entirely too early for me. But I went outside to get some food for the caterpillars since I was awake. In bad news, the Gulf Frit chrysalis I pictured on Dad's block of wood got eaten or something. The bottom part of it was broken off and ants were cleaning out the rest. But in good news, there are still plenty of chrysalises around. These two are on the firebush. I'm not the best garden planner in the world so when I planted the passion vine with a small trellis I didn't consider that it would grow over the firebush, onto the plumbago, up the cherry tree, and around the wall to the lights next to the garage. When it starts coming into the garage is when Dad moves it or cuts it. Last time he just twined it back around because he knows how many caterpillars are eating it. So anyway, these two chrysalises are on firebush because that's what the passion vine is growing on.



Zebra Longwings tend to wake up earlier than other butterflies. I see this at MOSI, too. They're always flying before everyone else. Maybe eating pollen makes them long-lived and more energetic?



I saw a Polydamas ST which shouldn't be surprising given the number of eggs I keep finding. But I haven't actually seen many of the butterflies in the yard. I didn't have my camera on me but it wouldn't have mattered because it flew away anyhow. Polydamas are really fast and rarely stop for anything. Even when they nectar it's like watching a skipper - from one flower to the next at super speed. And they flutter their wings constantly like most Swallowtails. But it was still cool to see one.

Beautiful!!

Thanks for the acorn, Tee! But that's isn't even one of my best posts! You should make me hold out and only give those for the good stuff.

Speaking of good stuff, I am currently having a better day than all of you because I just went out to get the paper and the mail (I was up late last night, okay?) and it took me 15 minutes because there was a female dark form Tiger ST!!! She doesn't seem to have found her host plant, the Sweetbay Magnolia yet but I told her where it was and she was flying around the yard so she'll find it eventually, right? Right? (Prays to the butterfly gods.) I haven't uploaded the pictures yet so you'll have to wait until later. I might see something else cool in the meantime!

Oh my goodness, I am having the most interesting day. First of all, I went to get the paper and saw a dark form female Tiger ST. I admit, I thought it was a Spicebush at first but as I walking back into the house to get my camera, I thought, "That's a really big Spicebush. Could it be...?" And sure enough, it was. Here's a whole bunch of fabulous pictures. This butterfly could not get enough of the jatropha (which the Swallowtails usually ignore).
















Whew! Wasn't that beautiful? Now, a lot of people get the identification wrong on these (I just Googled something to confirm and the misidentification going on is horrible). One easy way to tell is that Spicebush STs have dots on their body, but the dark form female Tiger is a solid black body. Also, the Tiger is much bigger. Trust me, you will notice the difference. Finally, in the right light, you can still see the stripes in the wings.

So while I was out there a few other butterflies came by. Here's a Long-Tailed Skipper.



And this Gulf Frit was eating the jatropha, too so I figured it wanted its picture taken.



Still lots of Duskywings.



I went back inside to clean the cages and see who needed food. This big Polydamas seemed to be in a face-off with the little Polydamas and I thought it was cute. You don't really have to sort these guys unless you want to; they get along fine.



Back outside, the Zebra Longwing was eating.



So I'm walking by the Senna ligustrina looking for Sulphur cats when I find this guy instead. Now, DO NOT touch a caterpillar you don't recognize! But I knew this guy was some kind of Sphinx moth so I knew he was safe. I consulted my book, and it turns out he's a Pluto Sphinx moth. Oddly enough, he was clinging to the skunk vine growing up the Senna. My book listed three host plants; the only one I recognized was firebush. So I brought him in and gave him a firebush leaf and he appears to have eaten some. But I did some research and the internet says they eat things in the Rubiaceae family. And skunk vine is in that family! Skunk vine is listed as a category one invasive plant in Florida and I found something that eats it? Why are we not breeding these?! I'm going to go put a skunk vine leaf in there and see if it really eats it, but there are literally no other plants nearby that I think it could have been eating.



I did find a Cloudless Sulphur on the Senna. Here he is climbing on all the other food I picked (rue and pipevine). I bet he was like, "Yuck!" I got him sorted inside and he's got the right food now.



Not to be too graphic, but I saw a lubber grasshopper and this is what happens to them! Spread the word, vermin!



Once everyone was settled, I decided to get me some food, and some willow for the Viceroys. And while I was there, I saw a Viceroy butterfly! I haven't seen one in years! Notice the water underneath the willows. I thought it was laying eggs in the one picture, but I couldn't find any. Plus, Viceroys (and Red-Spotted Purples) lay their eggs on the very tip of the leaf. I mean that as literally as possible. And you can see she's not really on the very tip there. By the way, as I was taking these pictures some guy in a truck slowed down and said something to me. But if you're going to talk to people on the street, realize your engine is running and I can't hear you! I just nodded and that seemed to be correct because he drove on.




And you know I found a Viceroy caterpillar because I'm just that good, folks. I don't go down into ditches full of water, however. Even I have limits.



I got back from Chick-Fil-A and drove up to see a Polydamas Swallowtail on the jatropha. What's with the Swallowtails on jatropha today? That's usually Zebra Longwing territory. The Cassius Blues like it, too. But after a few minutes, the Polydamas moved over to the plumbago which is where the Swallowtails usually hang out.



So that's why I had a better day than all of y'all! I also saw a Sulphur but I was photographing the Tiger ST at the time so I might have yelled something like, "Screw you sulphur, don't scare off my Swallowtail." I hope my neighbors don't hear me. Oh well, I'm certifiable anyway. Not much they can do anyhow! Expect more fun tomorrow from MOSI. We have this part of the museum called "Kids in Charge" which is just for kids (didn't have that part when I was a kid) and it's the 9th birthday of the section tomorrow. So they're going to have cake and Blue Bell ice cream is coming to hand out free samples. So my trainee and I are going to hunt caterpillars and ice cream. I mean, if anyone needs it, it will be the people who have been outside in this heat, right?

One last thing, I was showing my trainee what rue was and how it was a host plant for the Giant and Black STs. And she was like, "Oh, I know rue. We had this in Costa Rica." She said they used it to gargle when people had a sore throat. I expressed extreme disbelief that anyone could handle the taste - have you ever smelled that plant? And then she tells me they mix it with milk and that was when I said that was disgusting. I'll stick to Chloraseptic any day!

Sulphur in daylily




Sul;phur and White

That's pretty neat camouflage. And how in the world did you manage to notice J? He's buried pretty deep there! Amazing how it matches the throat of that daylily so well.





I have not seen nearly the # or diversity of butterflies this year as last & I have much more for them to nectar on this year. It's odd.

You're welcome mellielong. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I haven't been seeing much in the yard but they must be here...saw two swallow tail cats on the parsley. Only one shot was good out of many, a bit breezy for the macro lens. Hoping the wrens that are nesting right above don't spot them

Our swallowtail regulars with their favorite tropical milkweed...taking turns..fussing around..

Man I have only seen 2 Tigers so far this year in the yard. This time last year it was very common to find 6 or 8 nectaring anytime you went out.

I promise I'm still here folks. Just a lot going on. I got another new volunteer to train on Sunday so I had two people to do the heavy lifting for me! We also got free ice cream courtesy of Blue Bell Ice cream!

But before I left for MOSI I went outside to get a little food for my caterpillars. And I saw that two Gulf Frits had emerged - and this was about 8:00 am! In both cases, you can see the chrysalis above and a little to the left of the center of the butterfly.



I was rounding up the caterpillars because they have no leaves left on the vine. I took as many as I could find and dumped them in the passion vine at MOSI. If a caterpillar is in its final instar and is low on food it will make a chrysalis early and emerge as a smaller butterfly. I think some of them were doing that, including this one up on my house.



And I found one that was in his J. You can see his upper body isn't orange like the rest of him because he's starting to go through the change (that's not a euphemism for menopause).



And there are many empty chrysalises to match the Gulf Frits in my yard.



Got to MOSI and was dumping the Frit cats when I saw this White Peacock.



We had a dead Atala in the flight cage so I took the opportunity to look at the topside of its wings. A camera cannot capture the shimmer they have. It's a lot like the blue on a Pipevine if you've seen those.



Malachites hanging out on coontie.



Buckeye



Monarch



Atala



Monarch and Atala!



Great Southern White



Eastern Black Swallowtail



Double the Zebra Longwing fun!



Giant Swallowtail



Spicebush and Zebra Longwing on jatropha getting photobombed by another Zebra Longwing



Julia



Now, you know how I found that Pluto Sphinx Moth cat on Saturday. Well, I think I saw the adult in the shade house at MOSI the next day! What are the odds? The green color kind of makes them distinctive. Sorry I couldn't get a better picture.



Saw a male Pipevine ST on plumbago and got to show my trainees the shimmery blue. Couldn't get a good picture of it although one of them did.



Julia and Atala on a butterfly!



My boss left a note for me to check the coontie for Atala eggs. Found some!



Now, today I wasn't outside too much because I'm tired and then it rained. But I did get a picture of this Monarch egg bombing my Giant Milkweed.



Also, I had two Viceroys emerge! I only took pictures of the first because I was a little late on the second one. They looked the same, though. Notice how dark the Florida ones are compared to Dave's up in TN which was orange. Here's Dave's: http://garden.org/thread/view_... Jack also posted some from Illinois that were orange. I read that in areas where Queens are plentiful the Viceroy will mimic both the Monarch and the Queen. Although, I wonder about that Queens being plentiful thing. Not in my yard. Anyway, here's a lot of Viceroy photos! FYI, I put it on the porterweed to absorb sunlight and finish drying out. Viceroys prefer rotting fruit and what Dave has, not nectar.

Melanie, maybe you can ID by my crappy photos. The first is the best shot I have of the upper side so that's why I post it.



The best of the majority of the under side



Augured in & it stayed that way.

Mellie, thanks for sharing all the photos and experiences--what a wonderful job to have!

Dave, Flaflwrgrl, and others, thanks for sharing the pics from your gardens. I have also noticed less diversity in my garden this year despite having more for them to nectar on. Lots of Whites and Skippers, some Sulphurs, Gray Hairstreaks, and Summer Azures. The occasional Painted Lady or Variegated Fritillary. One Monarch. One Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. One Black Swallowtail cat on my rue, safely released after emerging just last week. Definitely not the variety I had last year.

to ATP Catmint! So happy you have joined us here in the butterfly thread.

Yay for the successful release of the Swallowtail!