The last two I have posted that might be a Moth ,, are not on the regional list ,
Not trying to be difficult , only watching ,

But then again the Giant swallowtail is not anymore and I have not seen one in two season , I am the reason the funeral duskywing is there on the bamona regional checklist for here ,

Yeah, one problem with that list is that someone has to report it for it to get on the list. You can always search at the state level and not include the county. That should give you more results. And host plants are always a good clue!

Melanie I did not realize you could search that way duh ,,,

Even still my photo's have to be lot better than recently , to ID there .

It fit the size of an olympia Marble ,, Never saw the underside that clear , could be though ,
Could also be a small mustard white ,

You have some cool butterflies up your way, Jim. I was looking at that Olympia Marble and wondering if that was it. Very pretty! I searched statewide since I didn't know what county you lived in. They don't really tell you it's not mandatory to select the county so I thought that might help. Thanks for the acorn tip!

In my own "duh" news...I was going to the bathroom before "Game of Thrones" came on and I did a quick check of the tanks to make sure no one had emerged from their pupa or anything. Instead, I notice I didn't shut the lid on the Sulphur container all the way! I start looking, knowing there's only two of them, and I only see one. I said, "Oh bleep!" The opening credits for "Game of Thrones" are pretty long so I start looking around the general area seeing if he's on the outside of one of the other tanks. I mean, it's a caterpillar - how far could it get? I don't see it so I start looking around the floor. I have a desk fan sitting in my room that blows on me when I sleep. (Like a plant, I require good air circulation.) I look at it, thinking of its whirring blades of death, and there's that stupid caterpillar crawling on the rim of it! I scooped him up, told him how lucky he was, put him back in the container, shut the lid TIGHT, and watched TV. Whew! My room is such a disaster zone right now I figured I'd find a shriveled up caterpillar in a few months while cleaning. Glad it didn't come to such an end.

Melanie, you are a master story-teller! I so enjoy your posts.

Melanie is a great story narrator

Whie I am awake a few minutes , Melanie ,, Madison county , two counties North of Indianapolis . Approx .

Glad the Caterpillar escaped the Fan ,,

Remember this , it says at Bamona ,Pandorus Sphinx
Eumorpha pandorus (Hübner, 1821)
Family: Sphingidae
Subfamily: Macroglossinae

No pics I'm afraid, as I was too slow (and my phone is terrible), but in addition to the ever present Gulf Frits in the yard I spotted what I believe was a Spicebush on my red pentas yesterday. I mention it because it was the first I've seen.

Good for you Werepanda, I hope you get to see many more.

Ok , big question , I just bought a nice 15 inch wide x 2 1/2 inch deep plant tray to make a puddling station for butterflies and would love to know ..
does anyone have a puddling station ? if so what do you put in them that have worked the best for you , or that you recommend ?

I'd love to hear the answers too, Kurt! Butterflies don't puddle here too much; I think it's because our soil is so bad. I know they get salts and minerals out of the soil, but I don't know if you'd actually need to amend it. I suppose if you started with playground sand you might need to. I've seen a lot of Swallowtails puddling when I visit WV. I always take lots of pictures because I see it so rarely.

I have natural clay soil ( even seen mama blue birds and woodpeckers eating it during nesting season and read it was a good mineral source )
but other then that and sand all I have here now is garden and potting soil , no compost or manure which I have heard recommended on youtube


I guess I do have rocks and pebbles covered too.

I tried the puddling tray with soil sand and manure and never had any luck with it. Also put some nice stones there as well.
I hope it will work for you

ok , my new mud pi .. er .. um , puddling station water , rocks , sand and amended clay soil that has been composting in a garden soil sack that smells like manure for a couple months. keeping my




and while we wait ,

not sure if this one was sunning or puddling on a country roadside in Minnesota in 2005



pretty sure this one was puddling in 2006 at a local wetland park , seems to me the shiny silver thing was a gum wrapper.
one of it's relatives has been flying around the yard the last couple days.



and lastly no puddling just a skipper drinking from a autumn beauty sunflower in 2006

That looks great Kurt, I think it is going to work great for you. Be sure to let us know.

I have already added more sand , soil and rocks. I got to thinking it was too low and unprotected from any rain and erosion.

What would really be nice if I could come up with a little roofed gazebo like structure for it.

I've never made a puddling area for butterflies, but can say that after a rain the buckeyes seem to enjoy the crushed granite paths.



And I often see question marks along the edges of streams.



Good luck with your project. Keep us updated.

Beautiful pics GC , that is the size gravel I would like. Closest I have is colored aquarium rocks, not sure I am ready to go there just yet.

You can get nice quart bags of gravel for flower arranging at IKEA if there's one near you for a couple of bucks. They're much more expensive if you get them at, say Pier 1 Imports or the aquarium supply store. I agree, the colored rocks would look pretty cheesy although I'm sure the butterflies wouldn't mind.

Our aquarium store has two kinds of gravel. One is untreated and much cheaper and if you were using it in an aquarium it would have to be rinsed before using but it is perfect as is for garden applications. I paid less than $3 for 3 lbs.

Probably best to stay away from anything that looks "dyed". Never know what they use to color that stuff with....sorta like the new "color" bark mulch on the market. If I were you, I'd go out to a field and pick up rocks and pound them into smaller bits.