Wohoo....Tonight on my walk around the garden I saw these on my neighbor's Butterfly Bush - all at the same time.
Fritillary - not sure which one
Monarch (this is only like the 10th one I have seen this Summer)
(Still no eggs or cats)
Two Swallowtail - one I think was a Spicebush
WRT the Swallowtail, don't know if it was mating ritual or males fighting, but I was mesmerized watching them do their thing for well over 10 minutes. Such energy!
And a ton of little guys and cabbage moths and you name it :-)
I now see at least 2 Swallowtail every day. In past years I never saw them at all. Nor the Fritillary.
Regarding both, I am still trying to learn which they are.
In other news I had the huge hornworm on my Datura that he devoured. Looking closely today, I found 6 hornworm eggs. Two have changed from lime green to a tan color and you can literally see the cats forming inside the egg.
I also salvaged a small Sphinx moth at the Extension office. They had it in a see thru container and it apparently eclosed many days ago and they had not gave it food or water. They were just gonna let it die. Gonna observe it for a few days. I gave it some Butterfly Bush and Joe Pye weed flowers and it did feed for a little while. Also a very shallow small dish of water. If it does not recover, I will likely euthenize it.
