Ok, here's my pics from yesterday. First, let's start at my house because you know I have to go check the pipevine before I leave.
The Passiflora "Lavender Lady" has made a comeback and that means the Gulf Frit cats are back again. I think this one is doing some early morning caterpillar yoga.
And I found another Orange-Barred Sulphur cat. Part of the problem with this weather is the lens on my camera fogs up in the humidity and I get blurry pictures.
But I had an unwelcome visitor on the Senna - a lubber grasshopper! These things really freak me out; I'll be honest. They scare me. I knocked this one to the ground by shaking the plant and then stepped on it which I hate doing because they're nearly as big as my foot! Those are its guts behind it; hopefully, some bird had a good breakfast.
In happier pictures, I got to the museum and this little skipper was hanging out on the pentas. He's kind of plain like the Monk Skipper, but not big enough to be one. But I have to show the skippers some love.
Everyone loves the Giant STs. They're such show-offs.
Here's a lot of Malachite pictures. Who doesn't love a green butterfly? I had one that kept insisting on landing on the ground and I kept scooping him up. He could fly just fine; I guess it was just stubbornness. By the way, replacing the rotten fruit is not one of my favorite jobs. People think it's all beauty and glamour but they don't have to clean up the frass, the rotting fruit, or euthanize butterflies (I don't tell guests about that last one).
Cloudless Sulphur. I caught one of these outside. I actually caught a lot of butterflies outside yesterday. That's probably why I hurt so much today. More on that later, though.
I caught a Spicebush ST which made at least three in the flight cage but they were all males. I saw a female when I caught the male, but I couldn't get her, too. She was flying quite a bit higher. Here's what one looks like from both sides of the screen!
The requisite Zebra Longwing photo.
We've been raising both Dorantes and Long-Tailed Skippers and like I said before, Long-Taileds have the turquoise on top whereas Dorantes are plain brown. This guy may have lost his tails, and part of his wings, but he still knows he's pretty.
Monarchs partying on the porterweed.
The best Black ST picture I could manage.
Saw one of those Hummingbird Moths out in the garden! I think this is the Snowberry Clearwing. They love plumbago; even at my house that's what I always see them on.
This Giant ST cat thought he could hide on the rue. Not at that size!
Amazingly, I caught a Viceroy in the garden! I can't recall ever seeing a Viceroy at MOSI so this was exciting. It was on the firebush, as were most of the butterflies yesterday. Also, there were TONS of bees on all the firebushes. I can't say slamming a net down on a firebush full of bees was the smartest thing I've ever done, but everyone came out of it none worse for the wear. Although, this Viceroy is pretty ragged. I couldn't get a good picture of it because a lot of the time, when I catch a butterfly and put it in the flight cage, it goes into what I call "freak out mode". They keep trying to fly up through the screen and just freak out. It takes them a while to settle down.
I also caught a female Pipevine ST! Notice she lacks the shimmery blue scales the males have. She's pretty ragged, too. Sometimes I think I'm just catching the old and disabled butterflies. Being disabled myself, I guess it makes sense I can't keep up with the healthy ones!
I hope she still has some eggs left in her, though. We have pipevine in the flight cage awaiting caterpillars.
Caught a White Peacock, too! Told you I did good yesterday.
I didn't really aim to catch all those butterflies yesterday. I just went out with the intention of netting a few Gulf Frits because they are the most common butterfly in the area and we didn't have any. If you recall, I've mentioned we don't tend to raise them because they get this disease that "melts" them and it's gross. What's weird is I had a tank of Zebra Longwings two weeks ago with one Gulf Frit that had snuck in. I laughed and left him in there. But then last week I come in and he died and was "melted". All the Zebras were okay. So I wonder how did he catch this disease, and why doesn't it affect other species. I'm going to have to look into this. Anyway, here's one of the Gulf Frits I caught.
Atala caterpillars because they're awesome.
Found some Dorantes Skipper cats. This one started to vomit on me and I was going to take a picture. The books I've read say they're actually regurgitating and they must be right because as I was about to take the picture, he sucked it back up. But trust me when I say they get mad when you tear open their houses.
Spicebush ST cats aren't big fans of you tearing open their leaf shelter, either. I found this guy and two eggs, but sadly, they were on the invasive camphor tree. We'll find them some good Redbay to eat.
This is another one I captured. I think this is the alba form of the female Orange-Barred Sulphur. I hope she lays some eggs, too!
One of the many skippers I'm trying to learn. He was out in the garden and I left him there. I don't net butterflies we don't have mates or host plants for (for the most part). Plus, guests never notice little skippers like that, anyway. Which is a shame, really.
The Hickory Horned Devils are still pupating and still freaking me out.
As I pulled in the driveway at home, this Sleepy Orange was on the porterweed. I've seen plenty at the museum, so it's nice to see them at my house, too. That was my day, folks. Hope you enjoyed it!
