@ mellielong
Mellie,
Amazing that you have all those gorgeous butterflies! You really do live in a paradise. You cracked me up with wanting "Dr Dolittle powers" Don't we all? Up here in Pennsylvania anything with that much pollen dusting on it like from the photo you posted, is nearly always from sunflowers. I'll put up a BB pic on the Bee board from one I saw that was super dusted yesterday. I used to see Great Sp frits here but not in a long time! Having a brain fart- but aren't there 2 types of frit that feed on passionvine that do come up North? Can you elaborate? I've had the more common kind- I have Pipevine planted since last year, just crossing my fingers that the PV Swallowtails will see it. Sometimes it takes a decade!

nativeplantlover said:

Oh yeah! Now this website with lots of visuals really cinched the differences for me. No longer in the dark about black morph tigers now! Thanks so much for sharing this

I am going to have to study that site religiously cause I have seen now on several occasions "black" swallowtails. I am certain that they did not look to be the same type.

I have to admit though that I am just trying to learn the swallowtails for a couple of reasons.

In the past I had very, very few - last year none that I recall.
Now I am seeing them every day. Yesterday I saw 3 at the same time.
What I have to offer...

In addition to nectar sources (lots of Butterfly bushes) I have paw paw, spicebush, two types of Dutchman's pipevine, fennel (3 types), rue, parsley and dill.

flaflwrgrl said:I swear I can almost make out little cats inside.

I found and allowed a HUGE hornworm to devour a pot of Datura. He vanished and I hope he went to make his cocoon. About a week later I was inspecting the plants (6 or so in one pot) to see how well they were recovering.

So in the process I discovered some small lime green eggs and after research concluded they are more Hornworm eggs.

I have been looking at them for several days and several have changed from lime to a creamy brownish translucent color and inside I can see the forming larva. Kinda hard with my terrible eyesight.

I found so far like 7 or 8 eggs. YIKES Should more than 1 actually pop out, I will move the others to our tomato plants.

Did I mention that I love Hummingbird moths? Particularly the very large ones.

Updates on Monarch caterpillar tribe. I can relate to Mellie "egg bombing" Friday evening I took one of the neighbor kids to look for more Monarch cats and we found 9 more tiny one. I supose I feel so protective of them. Had a dream last night that some guy was trying to take and squash them, other times people were trying to feed them plastic stuff. It's crazy the way dreams mix our experiences and conversations from earlier in the daytime along with our subconscious.

Just done pupating and not smooth or metallic golden spangled yet

A smoother appearance of another chrysalis that's been hanging longer

2 of the 12 already pupated as they were going into the "J" position

Yesterday I thinned out the Trumpet Creeper and they were dozens of these White-Lined Sphinx. I love these little things!

@DavidLMO
Sorry about your camera David! It sounds like you've got loads of yummies for everybody all ready. Keep up the great work. Plant it and they'll come Evenif it takes a long long time. Can you give us an update on the eclosed Sphinx left in the jar at the extension office?

nativeplantlover said: Can you give us an update on the eclosed Sphinx left in the jar at the extension office?

I will likely euthenize him today if I see no more indications he is doing ok.

I put him in a plastic wash basin with flowers of butterfly bush, Joe Pye weed and a small dish of water. I had him in the shade and then brought into garage when rain threatened. I also added a cotton pad with hummingbird nectar. There I covered with paper towels.

The first day I could see his probosis (sp?) going in a few times to BB flowers - but any for a very short time.

Thank you for asking.

Man, you guys got chatty while I was asleep!

Cheryl, the Fritillaries that I know that use Passion Vine are the Gulf Frit and the Variegated Frit. The Gulf doesn't venture that far north usually, but the Variegated does. However, it's my understanding that up north, most of the Fritillaries use violets as a host plant.

It's best to grow what's native to your area because host plants can vary. For example, Tiger Swallowtails down here use Sweetbay Magnolia pretty much exclusively, but they use Tulip Poplar at Grandma's house in West Virginia. Local populations can be rather picky so it's best to try and stick with what they're used to.

Speaking of that, David, are you referring to Dutchman's Pipevine like the tropical species? They usually kill Pipevine Swallowtail cats which is why I'm asking. We have to be super careful down here in Florida because we get both the Polydamas and Pipevine. The Polydamas can handle the tropical species, but the Pipevine can't. I use Aristolochia tomentosa (Wooly Pipevine) to feed both kinds. At MOSI, we had some success with A. triloba (or A. trilobata, not sure if they're the same or not) and A. fimbriata not killing the Pipevine Swallowtail cats.

nativeplantlover said:

Yesterday I thinned out the Trumpet Creeper and they were dozens of these White-Lined Sphinx. I love these little things!

Trumpet vine? Hmmm And another type of hummingbird moth. Cool and cute. This becomes one of the largest Hummingbird moths?

So I take it this is a cousin to the tobacco and tomato hornworms?

I have tons of trumpet vine but never have seen any indication of cats. I have not looked closely though.
But at the same time, I have cut TONS of this stuff over the past 6 years. One big bank ~ 30 x 100 feet was close to completely covered in 2010. One would think I would have ran in to some Cats while cutting over that time.

While it still pops up all over the place, I have tried to keep it in a ~ 15 x 15 feet area which I leave for the Hummers.

mellielong said:Man, you guys got chatty while I was asleep!

Cheryl, the Fritillaries that I know that use Passion Vine are the Gulf Frit and the Variegated Frit. The Gulf doesn't venture that far north usually, but the Variegated does. However, it's my understanding that up north, most of the Fritillaries use violets as a host plant.

It's best to grow what's native to your area because host plants can vary. For example, Tiger Swallowtails down here use Sweetbay Magnolia pretty much exclusively, but they use Tulip Poplar at Grandma's house in West Virginia. Local populations can be rather picky so it's best to try and stick with what they're used to.

Speaking of that, David, are you referring to Dutchman's Pipevine like the tropical species? They usually kill Pipevine Swallowtail cats which is why I'm asking. We have to be super careful down here in Florida because we get both the Polydamas and Pipevine. The Polydamas can handle the tropical species, but the Pipevine can't. I use Aristolochia tomentosa (Wooly Pipevine) to feed both kinds. At MOSI, we had some success with A. triloba (or A. trilobata, not sure if they're the same or not) and A. fimbriata not killing the Pipevine Swallowtail cats.

That's it Mellie- Vareigated Frit. I get them here on my violets, but also found them on passion vine here in the past which actually is native to this area. My Passion Vine was from a maypop of a group that was growing in a dumpsite-no lie. Somebody pitched their Passion Vine along with the decaying trellis along the road side dump. There's an enormous heap of it growing there.

mellielong said:
Speaking of that, David, are you referring to Dutchman's Pipevine like the tropical species? They usually kill Pipevine Swallowtail cats which is why I'm asking. We have to be super careful down here in Florida because we get both the Polydamas and Pipevine. The Polydamas can handle the tropical species, but the Pipevine can't. I use Aristolochia tomentosa (Wooly Pipevine) to feed both kinds. At MOSI, we had some success with A. triloba (or A. trilobata, not sure if they're the same or not) and A. fimbriata not killing the Pipevine Swallowtail cats.

I grew some A. tomentosa from seed from a very trusted source. The other one, I am attempting to locate my records. I will get back to you.

The tomentosa is native and hardy in Missouri.

Glad to hear you guys are using natives to feed your caterpillars! Maypop (P. incarnata) is hard to get rid of - as the dumpsite proves.

Pearl Crescent -
on spearmint

The pearl crescent being an ever visitor here I have , Flat topped aster , smooth blue aster , What appers to be a narrow leaved aster and calico aster always has been here , all started
Pink aster to be restarted ,, My cat ate a duskywing in front of me yesterday ,,
Possibles ....

Your kitty cat? Oh no! I've seen my neighbor's cat swat at butterflies before. My mom loves cats, but I think she loves butterflies more because she got really upset about it. More than me! I mean, you can't tell a cat not to be a cat. Although, you could keep your cat in your yard and not let it free range through the neighborhood.

Luckily my cat prefers grasshoppers. But the other day I was trying to take a picture of a crescent butterfly when one of my chickens came up, snatched it off the flower and ate it before I could get a shot! Yes, my chickens free range but only on our property.

Sadly, you can't keep a cat in a yard with a fence, any more than you can keep them from eating a butterfly. Our yard has 6ft. fence all the way around because the former owner had dogs. When our cat was young and agile, she went over the fence daily with the greatest of ease just like the raccoons do. Now, she's 16 and very content to stay inside the fence. It's a great relief.

If we get another cat, I think it will have to be an indoor cat but the thought of dealing with litter boxes gives me pause.

Great 2-fer Christine!

As promised, here is the Spicebush ST, I'm pretty sure, and a few others from this weekend. (These photos were taken with my phone, but turned out pretty good quality, so please click to enlarge for a better view.)

Spicebush ST


Dark form Tiger


Dark form Tiger


Crossline Skipper


Crossline Skipper (fighter jet style )


Eastern Tiger ST


Easter Tiger ST


Silver Spotted Skipper


Silver Spotted Skipper


Skippers fighting?, top mid right of this photo. Are they territorial? Seems like they fight a lot.


Loving all the photos you guys are posting. Just beautiful!

Nah, you're just seeing two fighter jets!

Seriously, I enjoyed all your photos Jessie.

Saw the coolest thing today. A Hummingbird and a Swallowtail butterfly fighting over a bloom on one of my butterfly bushes. Funny cause that bush probably has 100 or more blooms. But nope - they both wanted the same one. The Hummer won and the swallowtail flew off, came back and moved a couple feet.

I am seeing numerous swallowtails every day now. Yet to find any eggs or cats though.

I did find more Monarch eggs today.

Also, checked the status of my Hornworm eggs on Datura and I have a LOT. At least 10 - some are close to popping out. Should I get several cats, I will move all but one to tomatoes. The Datura has hardly started to recover from the last onslaught.