I was trying to spend all day in bed but eventually I got hungry so I went out to get some food. As I was heading to the car, I noticed an orange thing fluttering nearby. I thought it was one of my many Frits, but it was an American Painted Lady! And yes, I had to google images to make sure it was the American one and not the regular one. I still can't remember the difference because I don't see them too often. I guess Mom was right when she said that's what she saw a few weeks ago. Anyway, it seemed to love my porterweed. I'm just glad it stuck around long enough for me to go get my camera (my bedroom is in the very back of the house which means I have to literally run through the whole house). Painted Ladies never seem to stick around in one place for very long. I suppose this means I really do need to go see if I can hunt up some caterpillars. It's just soooo hot outside right now. We're in the 90's already. Warning to everyone - this is just the beginning of my whining about the heat. You want to enjoy my pictures, you have to put with whining about the heat all summer (and part of the fall).
I also managed to get a decent shot of one of the Cassius Blues. They do well in this area because their host plant is plumbago and all the big box stores sell the stuff. It's seriously everywhere. I've even seen this butterfly in a parking lot in downtown Tampa because they had plumbago planted along the sides. They're tiny little butterflies, though!
My Duskywings hang around most of the year. I'm never sure if I have Horace's or Juvenal's Duskywings. They use oaks for hosts so I think that's why I have them all the time. I know they're not the showiest butterfly, but they're loyal and I appreciate having them around when no one else is hanging out.
I've still got tons of Monarch cats munching away. I found one Monarch on the ground crawling away from the milkweed and he was nowhere close to being big enough to make a chrysalis so I picked him up and put him back on the food because I'm nice like that. I also think I may have some OE or parasite problems because I found one chrysalis on the ground that was black and I had one that was so malformed I took it off the plant myself. I also found pieces of Monarch wings on the ground which may explain what happened to that one from the other day. Yikes! But speaking of rescues, while I was typing I remembered I have one chrysalis that the cats have eaten around and is literally just hanging by some silk so I'm going to go get it now and bring it inside.
