Forgot to add that you have a very good book there, Cheryl. It's one I use a lot!

they are in an utz snack halloween barrel and all I have in the house is half sheet paper towels which is just slightly too narrow to cover the opening , of course. So I put a small fine mesh laundry sack
on top of the paper towel for good measure and rubber banded both down. Hoping they would both J on the paper towel , clearly they did not

and of course I plan to take pictures and share , unless they are complete garbage

EvergreenMike posted one in the mid atl bee , bf n birds forum the other day , might end up being better then anything I get a chance to take.

EvergreenMike said:

Found this guy under the banister.

mellielong said:Every year it's you Texans with your Queens and Mistflower. I drool with jealousy!

Me too..... Queen envy here!

Some of today's visitors ~

The first I've seen this year, if I recall correctly, it's a Viceroy on a fig leaf.



Skipper on a fig leaf.


Skipper visiting the Bidens. It's okay Melanie, I served eviction papers this morning.


Another skipper


Sulphur and a tiny wasp

This guy was flying around at work last week and I managed to get one good shot of it.

Cool, Christine got a Viceroy and Amanda got a Monarch. Study the differences, folks. There will be a quiz!

Christine, did you pull the Spanish Needles? I'm going to have to pull some to make way for my milkweed plants. I'm allowing some to grow in the front garden, but I can't have them taking over. So...judicious weeding.

and the transformation has begun

Woo hoo! to Kurt!

I took a few pictures today and have an exciting find to report. I first went out before my Starbucks run and this male Spicebush was flying around. There was another male Spicebush, but he wasn't interested in pictures. As you can see, this one is a little torn up.



This Gulf Fritillary seemed to be trying to find the passion vine because I never saw it nectar on anything.



And my faithful Duskywings were on the porterweed.



I didn't find any new caterpillars, but I did see evidence of chewing. I'd say it was already there on the Wild Lime, but the Pipevine looked newly chewed to me. I didn't find any cats or the remains of eggs. So I went back inside, did my workout, cleaned the bathroom, and other fun stuff. I went out to fill the bird feeder and decided to check the Sweetbay Magnolia on the west side of the yard since I had only checked the two on the east side. And I found eggs!

Now, the sucky part is one of them looks like it was already parasatized. You can see the hole in it. A caterpillar would have eaten the egg. Or even if it hadn't, the hole it would chew would need to be bigger to squeeze out. A second egg looks like a dud to me, but it didn't have a hole. It's the one behind the green one in the first pic. I did isolate it in its own container to be safe. But the other egg looks healthy and green so let's cross our fingers!



So then I figured I better go back and check the Sweetbays on the east side again. You could tell I hadn't had my caffeine this morning because I found two more eggs! And they were actually down pretty low on the tree. Again, one is a healthy green and I'm not sure about the other one. They will change color as the caterpillar develops, but Swallowtails usually turn gray. I'll continue to monitor them here in my bedroom turned lab.

Buckeye -


Pearl -


2 Whites -

krobra said:they are in an utz snack halloween barrel and all I have in the house is half sheet paper towels which is just slightly too narrow to cover the opening , of course. So I put a small fine mesh laundry sack
on top of the paper towel for good measure and rubber banded both down. Hoping they would both J on the paper towel , clearly they did not
EvergreenMike posted one in the mid atl bee , bf n birds forum the other day , might end up being better then anything I get a chance to take.

This is too funny Kurt!! Who knew how much is possible with Utz's Halloween snack containers ? and thanks you for sharing the pic of that chrysalis It's so blingy!

Melanie, I pulled part of the Spanish Needles with fat spider and ambush bug and relocated them to the weed pile! and left some flowers for the butterflies to enjoy without as much risk, hopefully. Plus, the plants are starting to go to seed so probably need to keep it in check a little bit.

I went yesterday morning to check on the Tiger Swallowtail cat and it was gone. I looked to see if it was maybe somewhere else on the tree but did not see it. I have a feeling it went off over the weekend. Darn it!

Variegated Frit Chrysalis - Day 2



and their container - the 2nd one is in the very top of the container - all shots so far have been of the one on the side of the container

wildflowers said:Melanie, I pulled part of the Spanish Needles with fat spider and ambush bug and relocated them to the weed pile! and left some flowers for the butterflies to enjoy without as much risk, hopefully. Plus, the plants are starting to go to seed so probably need to keep it in check a little bit.

Good idea Christine.

The sun came out today, and so did the Gulf Frits!

krobra said:and the transformation has begun



Whoa! Look at that!!---- it's half cat / half chrys

mellielong said:Woo hoo! to Kurt!

I took a few pictures today and have an exciting find to report. I first went out before my Starbucks run and this male Spicebush was flying around. There was another male Spicebush, but he wasn't interested in pictures. As you can see, this one is a little torn up.



This Gulf Fritillary seemed to be trying to find the passion vine because I never saw it nectar on anything.



And my faithful Duskywings were on the porterweed.



I didn't find any new caterpillars, but I did see evidence of chewing. I'd say it was already there on the Wild Lime, but the Pipevine looked newly chewed to me. I didn't find any cats or the remains of eggs. So I went back inside, did my workout, cleaned the bathroom, and other fun stuff. I went out to fill the bird feeder and decided to check the Sweetbay Magnolia on the west side of the yard since I had only checked the two on the east side. And I found eggs!

Now, the sucky part is one of them looks like it was already parasatized. You can see the hole in it. A caterpillar would have eaten the egg. Or even if it hadn't, the hole it would chew would need to be bigger to squeeze out. A second egg looks like a dud to me, but it didn't have a hole. It's the one behind the green one in the first pic. I did isolate it in its own container to be safe. But the other egg looks healthy and green so let's cross our fingers!



So then I figured I better go back and check the Sweetbays on the east side again. You could tell I hadn't had my caffeine this morning because I found two more eggs! And they were actually down pretty low on the tree. Again, one is a healthy green and I'm not sure about the other one. They will change color as the caterpillar develops, but Swallowtails usually turn gray. I'll continue to monitor them here in my bedroom turned lab.

Gramma Char . We have rain today --but finally-- It's been waaay too dry here lot of things are all brown. Still that one day we'll get some Gulf Frits this far north. You can tell from your pictures that you get abundant sunshine there, maybe it's b/c the angle is better further south than here right now.
Mellie, your camera is taking amazing micros...Esp that one egg shell shot
Amanda, cool that you can take butterfly photos right at your workplace...I'm glad to see you hanging out with us. Your gorgeous female Monarch was probably searching for nectar/pollen but not finding any on those mums. :blinking:
Claudia so sorry about your SWT
Christine what is that pinky purplish plant that your sulphur is on?

nativeplantlover said:
Christine what is that pinky purplish plant that your sulphur is on?

It's my giant bean stalk that has been growing like crazy on the hummingbird post. It's a slow growing bean stalk with giant beans called Sword Bean. I'll have to look up the Latin name but I'll take a picture of the whole plant tomorrow.

I think I can pretty much say that the monarchs in my area of FL do not stay here. I was seeing "my babies" all over the place but the last 4 days or so I haven't seen a one. I'm thinking they are part of the migration. There have been no egg bombings on my milkweed since I collected all those cats so it's apparent the monarchs I released did not mate & lay eggs here.