No photos because I was potting up plants today but had lots of the yellow - are they Sulfurs? working on the Ruellia and Lantana; small Skippers were everywhere. I'm working on training my eyes to be faster so I can follow their movements for a better identification.

And not butterflies, but but the Robins have begun to arrive. They are on their way down to Florida for the winter. Guess it's time to break out the long sleeve shirts in my area.

Long sleeves? What are those?

Yes, the yellow ones are Sulphurs. The element itself is a pale yellow color. That's another thing I'm allergic to. No sulfa drugs for me. I'm going to get some sleep and maybe I can be somewhat productive tomorrow.

I know many rejoice, but I was sad today at the passing of my Hummingbird Moth cat. He was going to be put down at the local Tomato fest and I rescued him. Fed him by donating a tomato plant for him to devour. Unfortunately discovered after about a week he had been parasitized by a wasp. I removed the things as they emerged, cleaned him with alcohol, tried to help him feed, even sprinkled him with water. Could not find him today and looked on ground and there he was. He was the second for me that this has happened.

I know the Horm worms are destructive, but I could not care less as we have 10 times more tomatoes than we can ever eat. I love the Sphinx moths and particularly the Hummingbird moths. Last summer I had one who repeatedly visited some plants on my deck ~ 7:30 PM every night.

Grrrrr.

Aw, that's too bad David, but you gave it a good try.

So sorry, David!

Yes David - I love the hummingbird moths as well.
Kudos for trying so hard!

When you get caterpillars , nice thing is there is usually a next time for more chances ,

Thanks for the thoughts folks. And yeah - I know about more chances. I just took a very special interest in this guy cause another I had nurtered was ate. And a Luna Cat I was watched for 2 days disappeared as well

I even surprised myself about becoming so attached to a caterpillar.

I did not get the Hummingbird ,
Here are two photo's of , in low flight , Red Spotted Purple
This simply would not stay still

I found this when I was weeding in the garden. What will it become and what should I do with it? Should I put it back outside? I have it here in the house right now. I will try to get a better picture.







Here is a better picture.

What you have is a Monarch chrysalis and if it is healthy it should be coming out soon.

Sulphurs




alba form Orange Sulphur (female) with Cabbage White


Skippers

frostweed said:What you have is a Monarch chrysalis and if it is healthy it should be coming out soon.

Hey!
What are appropriate procedures for when you find a monarch chrysalis ready to reveal its contents?

Well, you could leave it where you found it, or you could bring it into the house and put it in a ventilated container until it comes out, then you can release it to mate and increase the species.

I'm sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but that Monarch chrysalis looks diseased. If it was at MOSI, I'd throw it in the trash. Looks like an OE infection or another parasite. Read more about OE here: http://www.monarchwatch.org/bi...

Jack, stop hogging all the Sulphurs! Seriously, I've been seeing Sulphurs, they just don't want to land. I usually get an uptick in them this time of year. I think it's because their host plants are blooming or about to bloom. I think the generation that gets protection from flower camouflage has a better rate of survival. Just another theory, I have.

I slept all day and have a headache, so I just fed and cleaned the cats and that was it. All of the first batch of Black Swallowtails are now either in their slings or chrysalises. That was one nasty container to clean out. Several more Phaon Crescents have made chrysalises which only leaves another hundred or so to go! In sad news, it looks like of the four eggs I picked on what I believe to be Partridge Pea, only one hatched. In odd news, he moved from the Wisteria to the Desmodium. But I just brought him a new Wisteria leaf so I think he'll move back to that. Who says you can't change their host plant? I have yet to see one refuse.

I went out to try to get Marigold seeds and found this little one. I believe this is the right place to share.

Patti, you are indeed in the right place. Looks like a Silver Spotted Skipper, but I'm so used to seeing them from the side.

Will this help?

I apologize for the quality. I haven't had a camera in ages. Any photo I send in is courtesy of my phone. There were several little fly around things out there. They were all much smaller than this one, and much more easily frightened off.