Yay!
Tiger Swallowtails just for me! Now if I could just get some to lay eggs on my Sweetbay Magnolia! I paid $60 for that thing and so far I've had only one cat that died on me! Patience, Melanie, patience.
Well, I'm up early because sometimes that just happens. But I guess it's good because I got to go out and pick food before it got up to 90 degrees. Seriously, they're forecasting a high of 94 for tomorrow and I'm so not ready for this. Our average is 88 for this time of year. And there's a difference between warm and hot, folks.
Unfortunately, being up early means one of the teenagers on the block was at the corner waiting for the bus and I didn't realize this until after I had yelled at the caterpillars and apologized to a Monarch I scared. Oh, well. She waved at me, at least. I waved back. I didn't even think we had any more kids left except the one across the street and he's a boy. I don't know my neighbors at all.
Well, in good and bad news, my first Red Admiral came out. And I swear this was the fastest emergence ever. According to my photos, I think he made a chrysalis on the 15th and he came out on the 21st. Most butterflies take at least 10 days; what was up with this one? I didn't even realize he came out until I was going to bed that night and leaned down to check if the chrysalis was getting darker and there was a butterfly in there! The bad news is, I didn't get a good photo of him because he was ready to fly and if I'd have opened that cage there would have been a butterfly loose in the house. That's actually happened before, and while Dad finds it hilarious, he's not the one who has to catch them! And we have vaulted ceilings in part of the house! Here's the one decent picture I've got of it in the cage. Hopefully, my second Red Admiral will be more cooperative. I'm keeping a closer eye on him, too.
I found two more Pipevine eggs and two more caterpillars on the vine this morning. I hope the cats didn't eat anything! I was yelling at them so neighbor girl was probably like, "I better wave at the crazy lady so she doesn't yell at me." I know I still have some eggs that aren't hatched but considering the number I do have, I would have expected more cats by this point. Not that I've counted them yet. Anyway, I took this photo because there's a couple of things going on in it. Those black smudges near the bottom, and the two on the right side, are where my babies molted! This is a good step in becoming a successful butterfly. You can also see two caterpillars - one much larger than the other. But they also seem to hang out together like Polydamas do which Mom thinks is adorable. The cat on bottom is probably a couple days old and the one on top is at least a week. Oh, and there's an empty egg (that yellow thing) above the caterpillars.
After I waved to neighbor girl I turned around and found an Orange-Barred Sulphur cat on the senna! He's a big one, too! I would have showed it to her but her bus showed up.
Other than that, I went to pick one Spicebush leaf and ended up pulling a whole stem off so that's a waste of good caterpillar food. In good news, I forgot how good Spicebush smells. Much better than pipevine - eww! If I have to take some Spicebushies to the museum that will make my boss totally happy because they're like her second-favorite caterpillar (after the Pipevine ST). Also, a Monarch has come around and laid eggs on the tiny bits of new growth I have. The cycle begins again...
