Very lovely Ronnie, do you know the name of the big moth?

Beautiful Ronnie!

@frostweed Josephine it is a Pandorus Sphinx Moth

I like the skipper next to the moth. Very cool bands on the wings.

I'll post some pictures after I've had my nap. Had two rough nights in a row. Don't know if it's allergies or I'm coming down with something but my brother is coughing too, so it doesn't look good.

Thank you for the Moth ID Ronnie, it sure is beautiful.

Nice selection Ronnie!

mellielong said:I like the skipper next to the moth. Very cool bands on the wings.

I'll post some pictures after I've had my nap. Had two rough nights in a row. Don't know if it's allergies or I'm coming down with something but my brother is coughing too, so it doesn't look good.

Hope you feel better soon.

Everyone!

They're should be a yawning emoticon. But I'm awake, I promise. Here's some pictures from yesterday when I went out to clear the pipevine of eggs and cats like I do every few days. Found both Polydamas and Pipevine eggs. The Pipevine even managed to lay a clutch on the native pipevine for the second time this year!

But first something caught my eye on the senna...which Sulphur will it be? Who knows? I'll just keep feeding them and wait until they're big enough to show me. I have six now. I had three but apparently I had two eggs as well because there were tiny little cats when I cleaned their tupperware. Lucky I spotted them! And then I found this guy so it's six.



Usually, both these Polydamas would be at the top, munching the stem. Instead, I think they're making some point about the yin and yang of my garden. Or maybe I'm reading too much into this.



There are still some Spanish Needles down by the road and that's where I found this Long-Tailed Skipper.



But my Mexican Flame Vine is also in bloom and it liked that, too! In related news, Dad's life was threatened if he tried to "trim" my vine.



The Gulf Fritillary approves of the vine, too.



But the Zebra Longwing still likes the firebush. On a related note, Mom and I went to see "Boyhood" yesterday and there's a part where they visit a butterfly exhibit. One of the Owl butterflies lands on a character and the daughter pulls out the chart and says what it is. Then, another butterfly goes by and the dad character says, "What's that one?" And she consults the chart and says, "I think it's a Zebra Longwing." And meanwhile, I'm elbowing Mom in the side because there was a Zebra Longwing in a close-up on a forty-foot screen flying in front of us! It was so cool. Zebra Longwings are movie stars now!



The Duskywings enjoy the Spanish Needles before Dad pulled them today.



But the real excitement was this female dark form Tiger ST! Of course, I still can't find any eggs on my Sweetbay Magnolia. But she looks kind of old. Maybe she already laid all her eggs? Notice you can see the striping on the wings when I get the lighting to filter through. Also, even though it looks like a Spicebush on top, it is MUCH BIGGER!






And on a completely non-butterfly note, does this look like some kind of ginger to everyone? It is mysteriously growing on either side of my Sweetbay Magnolia and I did not plant it. A while back (I mean years), some plants that were given as bouquet or houseplant type gifts were placed in this part of the yard and took root. I already got the peace lilies out of there. But I don't remember ginger and I've been watching this plant come up and now it has those cone things so I told Dad it has to go. If it doesn't contribute something to the butterflies or the native wildlife, I've got other things more important to take its place. Plus, I don't want it crowding out my Sweetbay Magnolia.

Lovely Melanie! What is that interesting ginger in the last photo?

Wonderful adventures today, Melanie--thanks for sharing!

Melanie, I think that's Shampoo Ginger (Zingiber zerumbet) see:
Shampoo Ginger (Zingiber zerumbet)

@Dutchlady1 does that look right to you? Do these attract butterflies or contribute anything to native wildlife?

Today -
Cabbage Whites


American Snout


Following BF pics from a large drainage ditch in the vast corn and soybean fields of central Illinois. It is quite an isolated spot several miles south and east of our town (village really). We go there at least once every year in August for that is where the wild Red Lobelia (Cardinal Flower) grows.

Monarchs


mating Monarchs -

Viceroys


Saw an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and a Black Swallowtail, Sulphurs, and Whites but wasn't fast enough on the draw to get any decent pics.

Well, we have a clue now as to my ginger. Orders have been given to Dad to remove it because it is far too close to my Sweetbay Magnolia. I have other trees growing in that area, as well. Dad wanted to prevent the soil erosion every time it rained so he put in something called a French Drain at the corner gutter of the house and he let me plant a bunch of trees and shrubs in the side yard. It's super shady on that side and the grass won't grow so I put in a whole bunch of plants. Never planted a ginger, though. Well, years ago I had a blue ginger, which I've heard isn't a true ginger anyway. But that side of the house is now my native area with American Snowbell, Parsley Hawthornes, Florida Anise (won't bloom for me but it's HUGE), Flatwoods Plum, one of the Mayhaws (Eastern or Western, I forget), Fringe Tree, Flowering Maple (Abutilon spp. which the Zebra Longwings and the hummingbirds love), and some Sweetshrubs that may have to go as they've never done well for me. I also let Mom have one of those red and white bleeding heart vines because she liked it so much and it doesn't get in the way of anything. I'm not the best planner when it comes to planting so I've lost a few things and the person who buys my house someday will probably think, "Who planted all these trees so close together?" I also transplanted some American Beautyberries on that side a while ago but I don't think they came back. I can always get more from under the power line. The birds poop out the seeds and I get volunteers coming up in the backyard. I always laugh when I see it in the catalogs, "People actually pay for those things?"

Anyway, I was looking at my sulphur cats and I think I've got Orange-Barred Sulphurs. At least the larger ones. I still have eggs on the Senna (which I need to check again before Dad trims it) so I may have some Cloudless, too. My Senna ligustrina started out as one plant and is now like five or six. I don't know where one ends and the next begins but they've gotten slightly out of hand and I did give Dad permission to trim them but only after I did a caterpillar check first.

Jack hit the jackpot - and I wasn't even trying to make a pun! How exciting! I've never seen a Snout although I just consulted my book and it shows them throughout Florida. We have a Hackberry tree at MOSI but I'll be darned if I've ever seen the first thing on it. And you saw Monarchs mating in the wild! Hooray! We need more Midwesterners to keep that migration going. Are those Viceroys on buttonbush? It looks like buttonbush. It's just weird because up here it blooms around late May or early June, but when I was in WV one time at our family reunion there was some blooming in late July. I forget sometimes how far south I live. Either way, that is a plant that will bring in the butterflies like crazy! I tried growing one in my native side yard but I just don't think it's wet enough.

Not many Snouts this year.

That ditch is amazing, in year's past I've seen maybe 10 different species frolicking along that ditch on the same day. Years past I think my eyes saw better and that may have helped raise the BF variety count.

It really is in the middle of nowhere, when corn is planted you can't see a rural house in any direction, with soybeans you can ascertain clumps of trees far away interspersed w/ the fields, the clump may signify a farmhouse may be there.
I think the site's isolation is one reason it has successfully maintained a significant wildflower and butterfly ecosystem over all these years, I first found it when I was a field scout for an agronomic company in the mid 80's.


The ditch is like 6 to 10 feet deep w/ steep sides so I usually go accompanied by wife and dog. Note the absence of commercial or residential building. The red lobelia ditch runs south on the left, the way Deby is facing. Another ditch runs between fields west, which is to the right (where Plato wants to explore).

great photos, J! We need more spots like that ditch!!

Yes on the Shampoo Ginger but I have no idea which creatures are attracted to them.

Wonderful pictures and news about the butterflies. Did you find the Lobelia?

Yes! in the wild cut flower

Wonderful flowers, I wish I could grow them, but I guess it is too hot and dry here.