We came from here:
The thread "March 2014 Butterflies, Moths & Larva" in
Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum
It's April so I expect things to be heating up across the country and more of you all participating! That is, if the forecasters would stop predicting all this cold weather!
I didn't spend too long at the museum on Sunday because I wasn't feeling well, but I did get another one of those cool shots of the Zebra Longwings roosting. They really seem to prefer the branch on the Camphor tree. (Disclaimer: I do not condone planting Camphor trees even if they are in pots inside a flight cage. They are invasive in Florida.) That being said, here they are!
Now, yesterday I had grand plans of finally washing my car. It was covered in dirt and pollen and I was getting a little ashamed to be driving it around. But first, I let myself get distracted by taking pictures of all the cool caterpillars in my yard! (It was too cool for the butterflies to be flying yesterday).
Now, I have some Asclepias tuberosa planted in my side yard and it seems to be winning the popularity contest among the Monarch cats right now. I mean, I have twenty cats if I have one. And they are big suckers, too! Some of them are already in their wandering phase and wandered right over to the bromeliad next to the milkweed. Although, bromeliads wouldn't be a bad place to hide. Very prickly, but they do attract other critters because of the water they hold. You can see two of them in the pic and there was a third slightly to the right of the photo on some grass next to the bromeliad.
And here's some pics of the many, many Monarchs I have. FYI, this is only like, four or five pretty large plants. I may have to do some relocating if they don't all go into their chrysalis - FAST!
I also found two more Orange-Barred Sulphurs on my Senna ligustrina! It's so weird to have so many this early in the year! I may take them to the museum but the one is so big he'll probably be a chrysalis by Sunday.
I mentioned a while ago I got egg-bombed by a Gulf Fritillary on my Passiflora suberosa (Corky-Stem Passion Vine). Well, they're growing up and eating away! I may have to relocate some of them, too. Oddly enough, I don't have any caterpillars yet on my Passiflora "Lavender Lady" and that thing is huge! They'll find it soon enough, I suppose.
