oh my ,, It's my Wing Party , how delighful

Woohoo! Wish I had a whole herd of those!

That's awesome Charlotte, wish I could see that many all at once. I bought a butterfly feeder a couple of years agaon and never saw on butterfly visit it.

I'm sorry Margaret. I put out black bananas, orange slices and watermelon rinds in a plant saucer. The bees like it too. But I have to bring it in at night.....

Where's Melanie?????

I put out black bananas last summer and only got flies on it.

I put out some watermelon rinds with some good stuff too near one of my Milkweed patches last year and had Monarchs feeding on it.

Lasy tear I only had ~ 15 milkweed. This year I will have 4 times as much. Cannot wait for Monarch arrival which should be ~ 3 or 4 weeks.

Melanie has been watching over you like a guardian moderator.

No, I had a bad flare up with my fibromyalgia and I've been in pain. Then, two more family members died. Not close family members, but still...Grandma called to tell us how her brother's funeral went today and she had to update us on all the other bad news.

I went to the doctor today and she said my glucose levels were "phenomenal". At least I'm doing something right!

Let's see...pictures. I took some. I keep getting these moths on the screen. I sent a picture of one to BAMONA last week, but they're taking their time. Today I counted five at once on the screen.



This was a slightly different moth that I couldn't get a good photo of.



Finally lured in a Cloudless Sulphur for more than two seconds! It's on the Jatropha. Look at the pollen on its proboscis in the second photo. Go pollinators!



This isn't a great photo, but I wanted to take some photo evidence of a butterfly (Gulf Fritillary here) on Spiderwort. Spiderwort is native, and it's blue, but it doesn't usually bring the butterflies in. However, the bees are constantly on it. But I thought it was nice to see a butterfly checking it out.



Meanwhile, you can't get in the front door without seeing a bunch of Gulf Frits. I counted four today flying around, chasing each other. The porterweed started really blooming again; I cut it back earlier in the year. Porterweed is like crack to a lot of butterflies. I've also had hummingbirds chase me away from it.



Duskywings like porterweed, too, but mostly they like Spanish Needles.



Here's what my Spicebush Swallowtail looked like on Monday. Notice you can start to see secondary eyespots under the skin. Don't worry - we'll see this little guy again in a minute.



I finally remembered to take pictures of my Tersa Sphinx Moth pupa. Normally, this guy would be under the leaf litter or loose soil.



Moving along to this morning, my Zebra Longwing was ready to come out. Not only can you see the wing pattern, but you can see where the body has separated from the chrysalis. It gets that "ringed" or segmented look to it.



About twenty minutes later, it emerged. So I left it on the porterweed before I went to the doctor.



And my Spicebush baby molted into his green form! I know they're Spicebush cats from the time they hatch, but there's something about their green form that's just special. That's why they have a Pokemon designed after them.



The Pokemon, Caterpie! Notice, they included the osmeterium. It is quite a fierce weapon!

Pretty pictures Melanie , not having the best of weeks are you , Caterpie and think pink is good !

End of last month was my week for distress , every so many years ,,

So good to hear from you, Melanie. I was worried, and sorry to hear you've been burdened with health issues and sad family news. You ARE our best guardian moderator! Get some rest and take care of yourself.
Feel hugged.

Charlotte what a fantastic site those butterflies are

Melanie

Anytime I put out fruit I only get bees and flies too

Thanks, guys. I've tried the fruit thing before and it doesn't work for me, but I don't have a lot of those kinds of butterflies around. A lot of them live just to the north or south. Viceroys and Red-Spotted Purples are in my area, but not in large quantities. I don't often see butterflies "puddling" around these parts either, but I think that's because our soil doesn't have many minerals or salts in it. Maybe closer to the beach...

mcash70 said:I put out black bananas last summer and only got flies on it.

I get flies and fruit gnats too....and some wasps...but the butterflies and bees manage to find it eventually. Keep trying! It's always interesting to see what will show up.

Charlotte, and anyone else who doesn't know this...if anyone ever goes missing or if you want to "call out" to a specific person, use the @ sign followed by their user name and it will notify them they were mentioned in a thread. Like this - @GrammaChar

Thanks! I learn something new on this site every day.
I'm still laughing about the comment, "Eggs don't move; those are aphids".

And I said it so nicely, Charlotte! They were this really nice older couple and they were trying so hard to help the Monarchs. It was like explaining things to my Grandma; I do it in the nicest way possible. Like when I was in WV and Grandma's neighbor's Catalpa tree was covered in Catalpa Sphinx Moth caterpillars. I always take my critter keepers on vacation (yeah, I'm dedicated) so I brought a caterpillar over to her house with some leaves. And she asked, "What do you want with that ol' Catalpa worm?" And I explained it was a caterpillar, not a worm, and that it would turn into a moth. I literally got my book out and showed her a picture of the moth it turns into. She had no idea. She was like, eighty years old and had no idea. She did know they made good fish bait; there used to be a market for raising them to be used as fish bait.

Trust me, Melanie, I'm old enough to BE your Grandma. But I love learning new things (and I'm sure your Grandma did too), so thanks for being patient and teaching us new things.

I wish I could use these for fish bait! But alas, their purpose in life is to eat my milkweeds...and what they're also doing here is trying to produce new generations to accomplish that purpose! Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetles...they eat Texas Milkweed and two kinds of milkweed vines.

Double post...it's bad enough to see just two of them!

Okay, I had to go digging and find that Catalpa "worm". When I found it, I knew it was in the Sphinx Moth family because of the "horn" on the back. I figured it must be related to the Tobacco Hornworm. Dad knew they were eating Catalpa (which does not grow where I live) so that made it easy to look them up in my book. These were taken in July 2010. There were so many caterpillars, they were wandering down the tree and into the grass which is where I picked mine up. You can see how they devour the leaves. The next day or two and they had the whole tree devoured. Luckily, I had other Catalpa trees to feed my cat. Can't seem to find pictures of the adult. It might have been flying and too quick for me.