I miss the butterflies! Nothing stirring here, guess after two nights in the teens, there might not be any for a while.

Pics after I eat dinner, but in the meantime, check out this thread and post your opinion if you feel like it: The thread "Milkweed Forum" in Site Talk forum

As expected, my male Orange-Barred Sulphur emerged today. He came out a little late and it was cloudy and 72 degrees. So I decided it was safer to keep him inside and release him in the morning. But I took some pics while I was picking food for the four caterpillars I still have.

Some butterflies from yesterday...

White Peacock



Phaon Crescent (they love Tassel Flower which is what it's on.)




I was out there yesterday picking food for the Sulphurs. There was a box delivered that was sitting on my bench, so I set the Critter Keeper on top of the box while I roamed around. I came back and there was a native anole sitting on the box looking in at my caterpillars! I was like, "No way, anole!" I moved the caterpillars and my package, but that anole still sat on my bench, not very afraid of me.



Today, it was still a little cool when I was out this morning, but there were a few friends out. Like this Zebra Longwing. Porterweed - it's what's for breakfast!



My faithful Duskywings are reappearing. This one is on Spanish Needles, but I saw it on the Dune Sunflowers, too.

It's great that you have such a variety of butterflies in January, Melanie. And I think your anole is totally cute.

The anoles are cute, but the native ones are highly outnumbered by the Cuban anoles (not native). I noticed since I went on a crusade against the invasive Cuban Tree Frogs, I have more native anoles. And occasionally, I see a native Green Tree Frog. I wish I had taken a picture of the anole looking in at the Critter Keeper, but I freaked out. Even though I knew it couldn't get to the caterpillars, I don't want to stress them out. They don't know they're behind a wall of plastic. Or do they? Still want those Dr. Doolittle powers.

Cloudy here with a 90% chance of Melanie being asleep. But I did get up and feed the Sulphur cats. And I took pictures since no one was really flying around outside. Three of the cats are big enough that they need to make a chrysalis, but the other one still has some growing to do.

It's time to play find the caterpillar! I found this Sulphur cat today, but I left it outside because that's just too small for me to find in a tank. Also, Sulphurs die a lot. If you can't find it in the first pic, I circled it for you in the second. Because I'm nice like that.



And for those of you who remember "Wayne's World" - Extreme Close Up!!!

Found this little moth in the basement.

New book recently acquired -
Butterflies of Illinois by Illinois Natural History Survey. 406 p. Just filled with pics and knowledge. It's the same style and size practically as books of the Peterson Field Guides series.

Jack, that moth looks like one I see around here, but that means very little because there are so many moths!!! Good-looking book. I expect you to be the expert on Illinois butterflies now.

Good score @jmorth. Mines bigger.

A friend recently bought me "Butterflies in the Kansas City Region" Betsy Betros 407 pages

A great book and wonderful resource for those of us in Missouri and Eastern Kansas.

I might have seen that one on Amazon.

Great! More regional experts for the forum! Plus, who doesn't love a good butterfly book?

My greatest hope , is to become ,, a good enough Photographer of Butterflies , to make my own little book ,, (i'm selfish . , I'm cheap

Now ,, I shouldn't say this , but being who I am ,, I am off to the Lav to make a wish ,, Like that is going happen

Hi everyone! We took Mom fishing for her birthday but I went around taking pictures of all the wildlife instead of fishing. And I saw a new butterfly! Check out the thread I made over here: The thread "Melanie Goes to Anclote Gulf Park" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum

Cold front came through so it's cloudy and cool today. But the other day I saw a Tiger ST and what I believe was a female Spicebush ST! Strange weather this year. The only butterfly I could get a picture of was this Zebra Longwing. No complaints; I usually don't have them this time of year.

Ooo, nice shot Melanie. I had one, and a Gulf Frit out front on my red Pentas today, too. Stood there doing my best 'statue' act but they still flitted around out of range until I moved on.

Thanks, Elaine. I saw a Gulf Frit yesterday but didn't have the energy to chase or play statue. But I hadn't seen one in about a week so it was nice to know they're still around.

If any of you guys want to check out the bird thread, I got pictures of a Warbler eating a looper caterpillar today. I don't want to traumatize anyone by posting it here. I thought it was a worm at first, but when I saw it big on my computer, I realized it was a caterpillar. I've got to give the bird credit, though, because I'm sure not finding caterpillars!

It's a terrible day for butterflies, so naturally, I had a female Orange-Barred Sulphur emerge. Our high might get up to 60 today and it's super cloudy. It rained last night and this morning. She emerged last night and I hoped the weather would clear up faster. It is getting brighter outside, but it's still cool. I put her on the porterweed and told her to pretend to be a leaf for a while.

A lot of butterflies have a summer and winter form, and the Orange Barred Sulphur is one. Particularly, the females. In the picture where she's still in the Critter Keeper, you can see the intense orange color. I've seen some that are nearly rust-colored over the entire wings. They also have far more black spots and markings, especially around the edging, than the summer form.