LOL Ann & Margaret ... I don't claim to have photographic abilities, it's all the camera. I just point and shoot and what comes out comes out. I delete hundreds of pictures that are such a blur I can't even tell what it was I was looking at. Yesterday I took 78 pictures and kept only 13! I swear my photos look clearer once I've uploaded them here to ATP than they do on my laptop; I can really tell the difference so I'd say it's our magician webmaster who gives me a helping hand.

Lin you are too modest & don't give yourself enough credit. Do you expect to have a higher % be "keepers"? I don't think even paid pro photogs average higher % of keepers than you do. I know I toss tons of shots. That's photography, that's normal. 13 out of 78 is pretty darn good Lin!

Ann, you are too sweet!

I might be sweet but I didn't say that to be sweet. I said it because it's true. You really do have a great eye for photography & your photos always knock my socks off. Yes, you have a good camera BUT the camera is not finding the subject & pressing the shutter is it? No. LIN is. The camera can't take photos all by itself; it requires a PERSON behind the lens.

Oops, meant to say how pretty those American Lady cats are!

jvdubb said:I'm overwhelmed with what I think are Painted Lady cats. The have always come in the spring and set up camp in my antennaria and Anaphalis. I let them be because they never did much damage. But this year I am overwhelmed!! I did not get to see any of the fun blooms on the Antenarria. But at least the main part of the plant will be ok. But they have completely stripped my Anaphalis. I doubt it will recover. I wonder why the massive increase this year.
Those American Lady caterpillars are really going to town! I only wish I had so many host plants for them! Sadly, this year I only have a few plants!
Here is the Antennaria



Here is the Anaphalis

Today I put the 2 Buckeye cats back on the butterfly bush they came off of. They really didn't seem happy in here & the bush dries out quickly so I was getting them food 3 times a day & still it would dehydrate pretty fast. There is an even larger cat on the bush I have been seeing for several days now. Plus, when I took these guys out I found a couple of itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny cats that had been hiding from my view so they went on the bush too. Must have been some eggs I missed seeing when I brought pieces in. One thing is for sure ~~ that butterfly bush is certainly a host plant & they thrive on it.

Well, I think the problem is that a certain species uses different host plants in different geographical areas! I used to grow other host plants the buckeye were supposed to use, but as far as I can tell, they use ONLY Agalinis plants here. Unfortunately! And my Agalinis often only comes up in summer here and bloom in fall. This year was special weather conditions and they came up in spring, so I had some buckeye cats on little bitty plants this spring.

flaflwrgrl said:Hummmmmm, look what I just found. Scroll not quite 1/2 way down the page & in the center photo it shows a buckeye cat eating butterfly bush.
http://www.butterflyfunfacts.c...

I do believe you're right about regional differences in host plants Linda.

Yeah, my field guide says Tiger Swallowtails only use Sweetbay Magnolia south of Ocala and I'm like, "They don't know where Ocala is!" Plus, one totally laid eggs on my Black Cherry one time. To be fair, the cats died but I can't say that is was due to the "wrong" host plant. I have to upload some pics and get posting. I've been in a mood lately so I'm trying to be quiet so I don't say something I'll regret. I think the new medicine my psychiatrist gave me is having the opposite effect of what it's supposed to be doing. But I saw my therapist yesterday and that helped. Okay, let me clean up my lunch dishes and upload some pics!

Okay, I had to check where I left off. Let's see. Here's the Long-Tailed Skipper that came out and I held until morning. This is the only look you get at it because once I opened the lid it zoomed off and around the house toward my Red Cedar. It made me wonder how fast butterflies can fly and how much fun it would be to race them. FYI, the red meconium was from a previous occupant, not the Long-Tailed Skipper.



Here's a view of the Zebra Longwings. I better get them more food when I'm done typing. One somehow managed to secretly make a chrysalis last night without me knowing!



I'm still moving Gulf Frit cats to the other passion vine.



And I found more Zebra Longwing cats - young and older versions.



Found two more Black ST cats which is good because I had two dead ones today when I cleaned the cage.



Saw a Spicebush ST but it was a male.



My Tersa Sphinx Moth pupated! Even the pupa has eyespots and a line down the other side. They also have a "hinge" much like many butterfly chrysalises that allow them to wiggle back and forth. The last two photos are before and after I touched the pupa to make it move.



My Spicebush cat is eating and growing. Cross your fingers - I think this one might actually make it!



Yesterday, when I went out to pick food there were thunderstorms coming. There was a cool breeze blowing like I haven't felt since at least March. So I stood there, enjoying it, trying not to think about my chances of being hit by lightning. And then I noticed a Gulf Frit was hiding out on my Mexican Flame Vine.



One of my Black ST cats made a chrysalis. But several of them are still fat and happy while most are in the medium size range. I stopped by the store and bought more organic parsley today. I also split them into two containers. FYI, the ones on the side are molting.



I had a nice surprise of a Giant ST on the pentas today. Must have been a male because there was nothing on the Rue.



The Cassius Blues were chasing each other around but I managed to get a picture of one right before another one scared it away.



The Long-Tailed Skippers chase everything, too. But this one stopped for a second on the porterweed.

Those ZLW cats are really cool looking in all their instars! Neato!

And how neat is that Spicebush cat with the fluorescent glow? For a minute there I though I was flashing back to a blacklight poster from the 60's.

I just found a buckeye chrysalis on that same butterfly bush! I'll be keeping an eye on it. I know it wasn't there yesterday and I don't think it was there several hours ago when I searched the bush. Plenty of cats running around on it though.

Ok, I can't sleep so here's some pictures. I went out to pick passion vine for the Zebra Longwings like I said I would. I'm running low on Corkystem so I switched them to the 'Lavender Lady'. They do not seem to care. I found some Gulf Frit cats on the 'Lavender Lady' and had to remove one from the piece I had pulled. But there were a couple big ones I thought you guys might want to see. Also, remember how I was talking last winter with Cecelia over whether Gulf Frit cats had stripes or not? I think they are more striped in the winter and less so in the warmer months. You can see the one has one stripe down the middle of him, but in the winter they had stripes on the side, too. I'm going to keep observing them to see when they go back to having more stripes.



'Lavender Lady' even managed to put out a bloom! This is highly unusual at this time of year, but I have found several Gulf Frit cats dead of that virus that melts them. I've spotted it on this passion vine, and the Corkystem I have that grows in front of the house. I wonder how it spreads...going to have to research that. Zebra Longwings don't seem to be as vulnerable to it for some reason.



And speaking of Zebra Longwings, one of the adults was on my Mexican Flame Vine.

We have a pretty exciting episode of Melanie's Outdoor Experiences today so buckle up and enjoy the ride!

I was outside picking passion vine and saw a Spicebush ST and this one was female. They have blue whereas the males (like I posted the other day) have a green or silvery look to them. This one was enjoying the Pentas.



I also saw a female Orange-Barred Sulphur even though I couldn't tell that until I uploaded the picture. Managed to get one shot of her on the Jatropha. She was a little small - might have been one I raised in captivity.



I still have Gulf Frits in the lawn and I'm still moving caterpillars from my smaller Passion Vines.



But that's all pretty par for the course, right? So I walk around, checking out my host plants. Something seems to be eating one of my Sweetbay Magnolias but I'll be darned if I can find anything. So I head over to the False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) because on rare occasions I get Silver Spotted Skippers on it. And it it a host for the Southern Dogface. But today, I found a different kind of caterpillar. One that looked a little familiar.



I thought, "Those spines sure do look like an Io Moth, but I only ever raised a fifth instar one that had turned green. Do they start out orange?" I came in and checked the internet and found a lot of people posting pictures of things that aren't Io Moths even if they say they are. But the entomology department at UF saved me: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/crea... It clearly showed they are orange when they are small. But - it also said they are gregarious (hang out in groups) when small. And I only found the one. So naturally, I went back outside to look for more. And I wasn't disappointed!



Now, the UF website said if you want to rear them, they do well on Wild Cherry and to present them with options for food. So I have given them the False Indigo they were found on, Wisteria frutescens, and Black Cherry (Prunus serotina). I can't for the life of me remember what I raised the previous one on. If I go look at my pictures, maybe I can figure it out. I sort of remember finding it on the corner by the road...anyway, here's my current set up. Also, I notified MOSI and asked if they wanted some. One or two is fine for me! Finally, these guys are one that WILL STING YOU!!! Do not touch them!

That's a whole passel of Io moths!

Melanie's butterfly acres.

Well, it's a half acre. With a house on it. One of the MOSI gals just got back to me and said she has plenty of rubber gloves so bring them on! I'll take them over this weekend. She said they've fed them Hackberry in the past and I see that is listed as a host plant so I'll set them up in a tank and keep a couple for myself. They're an absolutely gorgeous caterpillar and not a bad-looking moth, either. But they have a bad reputation because of the whole "venomous spines" thing.

Edit to say the last (and only one) I found was on Senna ligustrina (Privet Cassia) which is what hosts my Sulphur cats. These guys sure eat a lot of different things, but that's moths for ya!

My latest visitor



Also I saw a butterfly that looked like a Monarch from a distance. It would not come close enough for me to get a good look or a picture. But would it be too early for me to see a Monarch in my area?

Nice Red Admiral there, Jennifer! I just saw the other day on Facebook that Monarch Watch was reporting that Monarchs had made it up to Minnesota and areas of Canada. So I would think you should be seeing them, too.

thank you Melanie!

mellielong said:Nice Red Admiral there, Jennifer! I just saw the other day on Facebook that Monarch Watch was reporting that Monarchs had made it up to Minnesota and areas of Canada. So I would think you should be seeing them, too.

Cool!