American Lady (ladies?)






They are on one of the sterile butterfly bushes. It was like they had found butterfly heroin! I watched them from the kitchen window for 15 minutes while I was chopping, dicing & slicing. I never thought they will still be hanging out there when I got finished but they were so I grabbed the camera & headed out there. They were too busy drinking to pay me any attention at all.

My first butterfly photo of the year. Had a few Tiger Swallowtails fly through the yard but on to other places.

Red-Spotted Purple

Beauteous Dave!

I love Red-Spotted Purples. Don't see them often, but I love them.

Well, my world is just all upside down since that Cloudless turned out to be an Orange-Barred. And I was right - the other chrysalis is clearly turning into a male Orange-Barred! How did they fool me? I'm going to go back and look at my pictures and do some research. I know my boss at MOSI once wrote a blog or something about how the Orange-Barred Sulphurs turn yellow if they eat the buds, but I was like, "No, that's the Cloudless." But maybe the Orange-Barreds alter a bit, too? I mean, they're already yellow but maybe their pattern changes. I'm so discombobulated. Anyway, I released the female today but she flew away before pictures (more on that in a minute). Here's the male chrysalis where you can see the orange bar forming.



I swear I better get at least one Cloudless out of that tank or my whole world is going to be called into question. And in case you're thinking maybe I just switched the tanks up, nope. I still had Orange-Barred caterpillars while the other tank was all chrysalises. Plus, in the Orange-Barred tank today I have a chrysalis that shows she's going to be a female Orange-Barred. Look for the black dots along the edge of the chrysalis that will become her wing.



So the whole reason I went outside was to pick Cudweed. Here are the three American Lady cats I'm raising.



Then, I went back outside to release the Sulphur. I was yelling at her for flying away when I noticed something else far more interesting flying around. I saw a Great Southern White. But the one I saw was male! Woo hoo! I have a male and female in my yard! I hope they're laying on the pepper grass. We're supposed to get rain the next few days so I don't know how much caterpillar hunting I'll be able to do. As you can see, the male is nearly pure white, but still has those turquoise antenna club that are the hallmark of the Great Southern White.





The Gulf Frits are still out in force and one of them was bound and determined to lay eggs on my Corkystem Passion vine that currently has very few leaves, all of which are chewed. Now, sometimes butterflies lay eggs near a plant, but not exactly on it. Some do this on purpose. But I have to feel that this Gulf Frit was just being dumb when she laid an egg on my obelisk and not the vine.



Back inside the house I'm still waiting for my Spicebush (?) to molt. Under the white parts you can see a green tint. It's hard to see in photos.



And the Palamedes is just being a Palamedes. Now, they don't tend to build nests quite like the Spicebush but they are still a snake mimic. The picture I took head on is what other animals see if they peek into a Spicebush nest or spy a Palamedes. Sometimes, those eyespots are enough to scare them away.

I think the Gulf Frit is having a brain freeze.

My mystery caterpillar molted and things aren't much clearer because he's still kind of small. He's either a Spicebush or a Palamedes and every few minutes I change my mind.

He was found on a Red Bay so that's not a help because they both use that. He refused Spicebush and Sassafras in captivity so that leans to Palamedes. He has not built any leaf shelters which leans to Palamedes. He had a brown spot on his white rump which leans to Spicebush. However, the brown patch was noticeably smaller and did not connect all the way up to the brown on his body which is just horribly confusing. I've tried browsing the internet to see if there are any Palamedes that don't have pure white rumps, but I can't find any that have even a smudge of brown.

Anyway, now that he's molted to green I'm keeping an eye on his secondary eyespots. I'm just going to have to wait for him to grow a bit before I feel sure. And honestly, I think this one is going to have to come out as a butterfly before I feel positive about what he is.

Can anyone identify this? And would you want it in your garden? It is a bit over an inch long.

mellielong said:My mystery caterpillar molted and things aren't much clearer because he's still kind of small. He's either a Spicebush or a Palamedes and every few minutes I change my mind.

He was found on a Red Bay so that's not a help because they both use that. He refused Spicebush and Sassafras in captivity so that leans to Palamedes. He has not built any leaf shelters which leans to Palamedes. He had a brown spot on his white rump which leans to Spicebush. However, the brown patch was noticeably smaller and did not connect all the way up to the brown on his body which is just horribly confusing. I've tried browsing the internet to see if there are any Palamedes that don't have pure white rumps, but I can't find any that have even a smudge of brown.

Anyway, now that he's molted to green I'm keeping an eye on his secondary eyespots. I'm just going to have to wait for him to grow a bit before I feel sure. And honestly, I think this one is going to have to come out as a butterfly before I feel positive about what he is.

Maybe he's a new hybrid between the two. Only half serious here. Remember that butterfly we were talking about not long ago that appeared to be 1/2 & 1/2? It's possible I suppose.

Toni said:Can anyone identify this? And would you want it in your garden? It is a bit over an inch long.

Perhaps a cutworm pupa, there are several different kinds but here's a pic of one:

http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/...

If that's what it is then you probably wouldn't want them in your garden but you could put one in a clear jar with a lid and wait to see what emerges.

Green-Veined White.



May Fly.

That Green-Veined White is neat!

Hi all sharing pics from today. I also saw gorgeous red spotted purple that was quite appreciative of Winston or Monroe's dog poop. My husband calls them poop butterflies because this is not the first time we've seen this behavior.

Beautiful Meredith!

Yeah, Red-Spotted Purples and their cousins, the Viceroys, like gross stuff. The reason I don't see them very often is that they aren't interested in flowers. They like poop, sap, rotting fruit, etc. I see the RSP puddling a lot when I do see them. That's where they suck the minerals out of damp soil.

I like the Green-Veined White, too! Very cool!

memays said:Hi all sharing pics from today. I also saw gorgeous red spotted purple that was quite appreciative of Winston or Monroe's dog poop. My husband calls them poop butterflies because this is not the first time we've seen this behavior.

It's their favorite nectaring spot.

American Ladies enjoying nectar on a sunny day.

And Red Admirals are all over these days! Should be a good year for them as the rains have encouraged their host plants around here.

This, however, was a rare treat, as I haven't seen a Great Purple Hairstreak in a long time! I wanted to get a shot showing the upper wings, but not a chance! It was windy, so the butterfly was holding on tight to those flowers!

That hairstreak is really cool looking Linda. Yay for the Red Admirals!

I got this skipper sipping on the butterfly bush.

I love the purple hairstreak! I unsuccessfully tried rooting mistletoe I anyone has seed I'll trade for some. What was it nectaring on?

I think that plant was Parthenium. It was on the roadside, not my place.

I'm so jealous! I've only ever seen one Great Purple Hairstreak before and my picture wasn't even half that good! I was buying my first Sweetbay Magnolia (not the two I bought this year, but it was the same nursery, this was about two years ago). The guy went to get the dolly to move it and here comes this butterfly. I realized it was a GPH and you know I had my camera on me. I was freaking out and Dad was keeping the employee and other customers from getting too close to me and the butterfly. I explained I had never seen that one before and I think everyone found it amusing. Plus, I was there buying a host plant for the Tiger ST so it's kind of obvious where my passions lie.

I'm glad someone is seeing Red Admirals. I've seen one this year! And no caterpillars despite me checking lots of pellitory. They're never a very common butterfly around here but I do tend to find a few in the spring. Oh well.

That one American Lady had a bite taken out of it, Linda! But that's why they have those eyespots. To lure predators away from their real head so they can live to see another day.

Ann, you've got some kind of Duskywing there. They're known as one of the spread-wing skippers because, unlike most skippers, they tend to sit around with their wings open.

I've been kind of down lately even though I saw my therapist yesterday. I'm not on good terms with my family so I've been pretty bummed. I think I need to go pet the Monarch cats outside. The cats I have indoors are either too small or will stinkhorn me. I'm glad I have all the great folks on ATP to make my day a little brighter.

Around here I've mostly been releasing bunches of Orange-Barred Sulphurs. They keep coming out when I'm sleeping so most of them flew away but I did get a picture of this female.



And there was a Gulf Frit flying around because there's always a Gulf Frit flying around. It's sitting on Spiderwort.



It was very windy here the other day when I was walking the yard. I dropped an American Lady cat and it took me a couple of minutes to find it. Then, I found three Monarchs that had eaten practically all of my A. tuberosa so I moved them over to the Giant Milkweed. I saw one this morning and his tubercles were wiggling and there was a huge pile of frass underneath him so I'm taking that as a sign he's happy. Anyway, this is what it looks like when I walk around the yard - three Monarchs and an American Lady cat.



In other caterpillar news, my mystery cat is definitely a Palamedes. Still can't explain why he had that brown patch on his rump when that defies everything they say in the books and on the internet, but he is now in his green form and I'm sure. I took him and the big Palamedes to my therapist's appointment. I figure I'm always telling him negative stuff; I just wanted to show him something good, you know? He took a picture to show his kids. I think the big Palamedes is going to gut purge soon. He's in position and his head is starting to fade to a lighter green. Like, the Spicebush ST, the Palamedes also changes color to a yellow or orange before they pupate. Still don't know why they do that or how it would help them survive. Need to ask a lepidopterist.

To cheer myself up, I'm thinking of going to Selby Gardens in Sarasota. Maybe tomorrow. The rain is supposed to be gone and our temperatures are going to be near normal so I figure I better get out before we hit 90 in a few days. They have a small butterfly garden there so hopefully I'll have some cool pictures to share.