Jack, from the YouTube info the clip is from Disney Nature's "Wings of Life". Remember, I made all those reminder posts telling everyone to watch it last year on Nat Geo? You can buy the DVD at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGDCX0A/
I guess I don't hang out enough in the other forums to know if I'm the "best" moderator, but I hope you guys think so! Now, let's get to some pictures!
I've been yelling at the Pipevine Swallowtail cats to pupate already. You would not believe how much they ate today! I'm going to have to order some more pipevine and grow it in an undisclosed location.
I did have a few gut purge today so that means they're ready to pupate. Here's one of the big guys in my hand.
But no one is as big as my Tersa Sphinx Moth caterpillar! I was talking to Dad on the way to Lowe's and I was saying how their frass is so big, I wonder if it doesn't hurt coming out. And he gives me that look that tells me I think way too much about these things. But when we got home, I showed him and he couldn't deny it!
Moth on patio screen has been reported to BAMONA. Now, I wait.
I was looking at my Brugmansia (not the one in the ground, the one the lady gave me in exchange for a cutting of mine) and I saw some frass on it. Now, they are in the same family as Tomato, Tobacco, Nightshade, so I thought perhaps I had a hornworm on it, but I didn't see any evidence of eating. And this is some big frass. I figure it must have come out of the oak tree above. And from the look and size of it, I'd say I've got Polyphemus Moths or a similar species up there. I know way too much about caterpillar poop. But there's people that can tell what kind of animal left what kind of scat, so I say it's a legitimate field of study! I just wish I had a cherry picker so I could search the oaks! I hate knowing caterpillars are out of reach!
I got up before Dad so I killed some time while he was eating breakfast. I knew there had to be more Tersa cats out there on the pentas, and I was right!
I had to bring him inside and do a size comparison!
This is one of those pesky Tussock Moths that made it inside my patio and is pupating. See how they use the hairs as part of the cocoon?
As an aside, I have to say I just showered with the Mahogany Teakwood shower gel from Bath and Body Works and boy, do I smell good!
Okay, back to the cats. On the patio, near my back door, I saw this guy. I kept my glove on and took him outside. I guessed it was some kind of Tiger Moth, but sent it to BAMONA to be sure. Remember, if you don't know, don't touch it!
There were so many Gulf Fritillaries out there today, mostly nectaring on my Jatropha.
I saw this moth on the ground so I picked it up. It's a wasp mimic, and I'd say it's related to the Oleander and Spotted Oleander Moths. Similar, but not quite right. I think this one had been wounded. He also had his proboscis extended which isn't normal if they're not feeding. I sent this one to BAMONA, too.
Okay, it's time for another episode of "Caterpillar Hunting With Melanie"! Well, today we're egg hunting. Now, since I saw that Checkered White that I captured, I just knew there had to be some eggs down there. So while Dad was tilling, I stayed out of the way and made myself useful. Checkered Whites use Virginia Pepper Grass but they only lay under the flowers and seedpods. And they only lay eggs one at a time which makes it very hard to find them! Great Southern Whites, on the other hand, lay in nice big clusters. The one good point is that the eggs are orange so they kind of stand out on an all green and white plant. Okay, so here's a plant, and here's me picking off a bloom that has an egg.
See the orange thing at the end of my thumb? That's the egg!
Because I'm so nice, I circled the other two I found to make it easy.
So while I'm sitting there going cross-eyed, I see something fly around me. At first, I thought it was a Duskywing. But it was a Hairstreak. A very large Hairstreak. It sat so nicely for me that I took about thirty pictures. The mail carrier came by and asked Dad what I was taking pictures of out there.
I wasn't sure about this one so I asked BAMONA. This is a Southern (or Oak) Hairstreak. This is only the second one I've ever seen. And this one looks so fresh! I have to admit, seeing this butterfly made me feel a lot less depressed.
I took the Checkered White eggs in and set the pieces of the plant on the counter while I cleaned out a container for them. And it looks like I found a caterpillar, too!
I thought I took such a nice picture of this Duskywing. I sent it to BAMONA, thinking it was either Horace's or Juvenal's Duskywing. I took a guess of Juvenal's and here's the note they sent me: "This could be either E. juvenalis or E. horatius. Males of these species are essentially identical and cannot be identified with certainty in Florida without seeing the ventral hindwings or, more ideally, examining the genitalia." Okay, next time I'll ask the butterfly to flash me!
I thought this was a Long-Tailed Skipper but BAMONA says Dorantes Skipper. I'm not used to seeing them this early in the year. They had a good year last year and we had a mild winter so maybe that's why?
Lots of Gulf Fritillary cats hanging around.
I took this yesterday but hadn't posted it yet. I call this photo, "Why we can't have nice things."
Can't tell a Gulf Frit not to eat passion vine, though.
I found this guy on the ground and I'm waiting for BAMONA to tell me who it is. I think Dad stirred it up when he was tilling.
A cool Looper caterpillar was crawling the stucco.
And here's a Monarch I spotted on the milkweed at Lowe's. By the way, they had perfectly good pentas on the $1 rack so I bought ten! You can never have enough pentas!
