Thanks Josephine! Take a good long look at the first photo of the Zebra ST & follow those tails alllll the way down to where they end. They are REALLY long.
They are a graceful butterfly. In flight they just kind of glide.

Love the Zebra Swallowtails...they don't come here, but they're so pretty to look at!

Ahh...the Zebra Swallowtail and the Red-Spotted Purple. My top two favorite butterflies. FYI, Zebra STs have longer tails in the summer. I've read that in a book, but it's also been my experience. Also, in that picture of the RSP, it sure looks like she's sitting on a cherry leaf. And from the way she's sitting, backwards with abdomen near the tip of the leaf, she may have been laying eggs. Just in case you want to go look for them. Do you know if that is definitely a cherry tree; the leaves sure look like my Black Cherry.

Melanie, that is a Carolina Cherry Laurel (I'm pretty sure) as we have CC Laurels here & I know they tend to "get around". She only landed there very briefly & that spot is way over my head (& hand) so I wouldn't be able to check for eggs.

That is very interesting about the Zebra ST's tails.

I have to agree with you as to your favorites. They are mine too but the #1 spot goes to the Zebra ST.

The Zebra ST is my #1, as well. RSP is #2. I haven't ranked everybody else. I don't know if RSPs will use cherry laurel or not. Maybe she was tasting it because it was close, but not quite what she was looking for. We get a lot of those cherry laurels down here, too. I think their leaves are more serrated than the Black Cherry. That's how I tell them apart, anyway.

I finally managed to capture one of the sulphurs that have been eluding me for literally months.



I will check on the black cherry vs the Carolina Cherry.

Looks like a Cloudless Sulphur, there. They're one of those butterflies I see nearly year-round. I haven't had as many of their caterpillars as normal this year, but I think that's because the Orange-Barred Sulphurs are having such a good year they've monopolized my Senna plants. Not that I'm complaining!

Maybe the Orange Barred Sulphur is what I've been seeing??? It's smaller than the Cloudless & more orangy than yellow or maybe some would term it gold. At any rate, it's more like a orange/yellow. Flits around fat too quick for me. I can sit & watch it nectar but the moment I pick up the camera.... It really doesn't stay in any one place very long even when nectaring.

Orange-Barred Sulphurs are normally bigger than the Cloudless. You may be seeing the Sleepy Orange. This is the time of year when they seem to peak. They are a little smaller than the Cloudless and yellow/orange like you describe.

Thanks, that would be it then, the Sleepy Orange. Funny, I just mentioned to the hubs the other day they might be Sleepy Orange & joked about how they ought to be called Speedy Orange as they act like they're jacked up on speed.

Melanie, I've never heard you mention having senna plants/trees. I have them on my list to get for here. I know the ones I had down south were pollinator magnets.

Sadly, the Sleepy Oranges in the flight cage two weeks ago were not speedy enough to escape the lizard. I saw one in its mouth and later I saw the lizard on the screen with a Sleep Orange wing next to it. That was the lizard I managed to catch and put outside in the garden. The butterflies are very vulnerable first thing in the morning or overnight when they don't have the sun to warm them up so they can fly.

As for the Senna, I have a Senna ligustrina, commonly known as Privet Cassia. It was also a purchase from the Native Florida Plant Society booth at a USF sale. It started as one plant, but I now have several. Dad's actually going to trim them back soon because they're growing outside the boundaries of the flower beds. I get both Cloudless and Orange-Barred Sulphurs on them. Technically, Sleepy Oranges can use the plant, too but I've never found them on it. In this area, they seem to heavily prefer Partridge Pea.

Beautiful butterflies Ann

I found these beauties in my Milkweed Vine, Funastrum cynanchoides, they absolutely love it.

Milkweed Vine


Dark form Tiger swallowtail


Tiger Swallowtail

Thanks Ronnie!

Josephine, stellar shots!!!! Lucky you!


Oh, Melanie, I checked & it is indeed the Carolina Cherry Laurel that I have here. There may be a black cherry here somewhere that I haven't found yet. I do know they grow here. We have some property a few miles form here & there are black cherries there.

I got an Escarpment Black Cherry from Linda a few years back, it is supposed to be a great attraction for butterflies, but I have yet to find cats on it. I guess the right butterflies haven't come along yet.
It is growing well and I have great hopes for it, thank you Linda, you have given me many great plants.

It's 3:15 in the morning and I see I have a Polydamas that has emerged and is hanging from one of the pipevine stems in the tank. This is what happens when you live on a weird, nearly non-existent schedule. Your chrysalises get confused. I don't think my lamp is nearly as bright as the sun; I use those new LED bulbs and I think they're only the 60 watt equivalent. Don't expect pictures of this one; it's probably going to zoom off as soon as I set it free. Although, on the plus side, at least it emerged because most of them are still being slackers hanging out in their chrysalis (this is oddly true at MOSI, as well).

In somewhat related news, Dad had to perform a mercy killing the other day. He found a butterfly (he thinks Polydamas) missing at least 2/3 of its wing and it couldn't fly. He thought a bird probably got it. I told him it's tough, but it's the merciful thing to do.

Can I just say that the thumbnail pic I used this month is very nice? Kudos to me.

Now, I said you probably wouldn't get a Polydamas photo but I decided to go in the cage and see if it could fly yet. I figured it couldn't have been out long because I've been sitting right here on my bed for a while. Well, it couldn't fly yet so we have a picture. I took this next to my lamp, and as you can tell from the lighting, my lamp is not very strong. But I guess it's enough to convince butterflies it's daytime. In good news, this butterfly came from a chrysalis that wasn't silked to anything. I think it started out that way but I had so many caterpillars and Polydamas are bad to eat right through the stems holding chrysalises. They're not smart enough to protect their brethren; it's every caterpillar for himself. I always worry about chrysalises like that (it happens at MOSI a lot, too). I left some dried up pipevine leaves and stem in the tank so the butterflies would have something to hold on to as they pulled themselves out of the chrysalis. Apparently, it worked!



And here's a couple of pictures from Wednesday. The Zebra Longwing likes my Mexican Flame Vine. This is good because I'm getting my $4 worth. But also, the flame vine is just on the other side of the fence from where I grow my Wooly Pipevine. Now, you know I grow the Wooly Pipevine for the Pipevine STs but the Polydamas will use it to, and I can't have that. So far, the Polydamas have been sticking to the tropical Dutchman's Pipevine. But the other day, a Polydamas kept flying near the Wooly Pipevine (which is actually big enough to get noticed again). I kept shooing it off, but I had a helper. This Zebra Longwing didn't take too kindly to another butterfly in its area and kept chasing the Polydamas away. I love when nature helps me out like that.



I did find many Polydamas eggs on the pipevine, but no Pipevine ST eggs. And I found this caterpillar because (say it with me, folks), "There are always more Polydamas!" Right now he's cruising the tank wondering why his food is wilted but I told him it was the middle of the night and he's going to have to wait until daybreak before I attempt to go outside.

Beautiful shots, Josephine! Love that Milkweed Vine!

mellielong said:Can I just say that the thumbnail pic I used this month is very nice? Kudos to me.

Melanie, that is a beautiful shot in your thumbnail and kudos are well deserved!