Well, I only spent two hours at the museum today because I didn't sleep well last night so I'm really tired and the heat was really bothering me today. Luckily, one of our volunteers has been coming in on Saturdays (I think her son spends the summer with his dad) so I don't have quite as much to do on Sundays.
My boss was all excited to have those Hickory Horned Devil cats but I think she must have them at home because they're not at the museum. We do have a full-grown Regal Moth, though (that's what a Hickory Horned Devil turns into). She's a female and she laid a TON of eggs on the screen. Moths do that for some reason. I don't know why. The Polyphemus moths will lay eggs on the screen, too. I guess if there isn't a plant they like, they just lay anywhere? No idea. Anyway, she laid them really high so I had to get the stepladder out and move some flower pots so I could get to them. Here's some pictures where you can see her and the eggs (those white spots) underneath.
And some pics of her.
Here's all the eggs I collected along with a close-up. The darker eggs I think have "hardened off" whereas the white globular-shaped ones were more recently laid.
Now, for the butterflies. There are still Monarchs, of course.
And still more Zebra Longwings.
While I was on the step ladder this Black Swallowtail was right in front of my face so I took the opportunity. I also found like 30 Black ST cats out in the gardens. They're all over our parsley this year!
This Orange-Barred Sulphur is definitely a male. I had some kids that had trouble finding him because he was blending in with the tree so well. I told them that was the point - camouflage!
And I did take my Spicebush ST cat and showed it off to a bunch of kids who thought he was really cool. He stayed in his little leaf home all last night and this morning but I guess he didn't like the drive home because he came out and he's still out. So here he is in my room.
