Oh my!

I want to share some of my backyard butterflies here if I may -- because I was afraid I wasn't going to see any this year and I am so thrilled to be wrong.

Yesterday the Red Admiral showed up but was too flighty for me to get great pictures. Just good enough to identify (her?)




Then, this morning two skippers, fresh enough to hold still!
On the lettuce:


And on the newly opening blackberry lily:

My Spicebush emerged! Finally, I raise one to adulthood. I was getting worried. I'm pretty sure this one is a male as it has more of a silvery-gray coloring. Females are more blue like the Black ST. Swallowtails are pretty good about opening their wings so you can identify them, but remember the way to tell the difference between this and the Black ST is the black spot in the red-orange circle that makes a "bulls eye" on the Black ST.



And while I was out there I saw this Gulf Frit. It was really orange. Must be fairly new.



And this Duskywing ate some plumbago before hitting up the Spanish Needles.



I also spotted a Long-Tailed Skipper and a Zebra Longwing but they were in no mood to pose and I was too hot to wait for them to.

Kyla and I cross posted! Very nice photos! Don't you love it when the Skippers hold still for you? Love those Red Admirals, too. Everyone else is seeing them but me, I think. They are a spring butterfly here and it would be rare for me to see one now. So I will just enjoy everyone else's as you can enjoy my variety!

They are so glossy and fresh-looking when they are new. Mellie, I love your pictures and learn so much from you. Thank you for sharing your butterfly wisdom!

I do what I can.

kylaluaz Red Admirals are like that here also , very flighty ,

Millielong , you teach us all , I to learn from your posts , The big plus with this is all we do not usually get to see ,, we got to see and the host plant talk

As it is , this was an (and is) Orange mint moth ,, I never get use to moths flying around in the daytime

Jim, I think some moths like to break the rules so they can be the exception. I see some in the daytime hanging out on the screen and such, but the only one I'm really used to seeing fly during the day is the Oleander Moth. They look like wasps. The Tersa Sphinx moths start flying around dusk so I see them too, if I'm out. Glad you're learning and thanks for sharing the name of that moth so we can all learn! Orange Mint Moth. Sounds like it should be the name of a smoothie.

Stormy looking here , only I saw a low flying Monarch this afternoon , it was flighty going from Cynachum (milkweed vine ) looked to be laying eggs , ( I have seen no cats) I let a few of the vines grow on Tomato Stakes and so forth ,
# 4 Monarch here today no pic as before though ,

Millielong ,, The host plant for the Moth is a give away in the name though isn't it Host it just says Mint

I have been seeing a lot of Sulphurs in my yard this year, finally this one sat still long enough for a decent photo, I believe it is a female Clouded. @mellielong

Margaret, I don't actually get Clouded Sulphurs here (only Cloudless) but my Grandma gets them like mad when she doesn't mow and the clover (their host plant) comes up. Your picture certainly looks like the ones I've seen. I thought they would be about the same size as the Cloudless but they're quite a bit smaller. Who's naming these things, anyway? Love that pink on the edge of the wings!

Thanks Melanie. I didn't know that clover was their host plant, which is great as I have lots of clover in my lawn, I don't use weed killers as a rule, once in awhile I spray individual weeds like thistles or the wild daisies, so that's probably why I see so many flitting around the grass. When I saw the photo I was surprised to see the lovely pink edging on the wings and the pink on her head.

Had seen #5 Monarch of the season , could not get a pic this time either , this Monarch was smaller , appeared to have just then gotten it's wings dry , Seems it may of happened in my milkweed , but grief I never saw a thing .. oh drat ,! lol It was flying up high , a behavior I have noticed of many new born ..
Happy I saw it though , lots of Cabbage white and Red Admirals , a few Question Mark very few others this year though . I have not seen many of the usual visitors ,,

One of my Tiger Swallowtail cats molted to green! The other is currently in the process of molting. If you look at the one that hasn't molted yet, you can actually see the eyespots that have formed on the new skin underneath his current skin. Crazy awesome!



I found a green Tiger ST cat last year that was about this size but he didn't make it. Probably diseased when I found him. I thought they would be bigger when they molted to green. They become a really big caterpillar so I guess I just thought it would happen later. Now, they look like green and white bird poop instead of brown and white bird poop!



The one that's molting is still brown and white. But you can see the other pattern forming underneath. I think that's so cool!



Meanwhile, all three Io Moth cats are green now. Here's the big one.



I think the Zebra Longwings I released are hanging around. I'm used to seeing one or two flying around at one time, but I've spotted three and four at once in the past few days. Here's one that was flying around this morning.

this was very interest in my button bush




This evenings stroll caught these two
It was windy and so the photos are blurred.

This is not gonna be a very exciting post.
I had 3 Black Swallowtail chrysalises.
All 3 were empty this morning.

And I missed the whole thing.

Common Buckeye:

And the Zebra Longwing caterpillars...a little bitty one, then a 5th instar caterpillar I found yesterday (which is right now starting to pupate), the 3rd shot shows that one's "face".

Cinda, that's a Red Admiral on your button bush. Button bush is like a drug for butterflies. It was featured today in my Facebook feed by the Florida Native Plant Society and I was saying how my neighbor has a bunch growing in the 6 acres of wetlands he has. I always know when it blooms (around May here) because the butterfly population seems to go up! Where we have our family reunions in WV, the place has a lake with button bush growing along the shoreline. I once took so many pictures of so many varieties of butterflies on it, even I was amazed! Plus, how cool are those blooms! Oh, and your other butterfly is a male Tiger Swallowtail. They like button bush, too!

Greene, maybe you'll see them flying around your yard, if nothing else? They're quick and sneaky when they come out. They're pretty vulnerable so it helps to be fast. That's kind of surprising that they all came out together like that, though! Sorry you missed, it. I've pulled some all-nighters waiting for caterpillars to reach certain milestones like molting, pupating, etc. I swear they know when they're being watched.

Linda, don't you love the "faces" on caterpillars? There's such variety in them and I just think they're all so unique. I guess that's why I feel the need to raise as many species I can get a hold of!

Greene, but happy they became butterflies.

I was afraid the heavy rain had killed them. I looked on Google Images to see what a 'proper' empty chrysalis should look like and they looked correct.
This is exciting learning new things!

Learning new things makes me feel younger