Just a few pictures today but first, check out this thread.
The thread "Monarch" in
Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum This person has a Monarch butterfly and a Queen caterpillar on a milkweed plant. I wish I had more Queens but I'll settle for all the Monarchs, I suppose. The grass is always greener and all that.
Not too much activity today but then again, I napped most of the afternoon because the phone ringing woke me up at 8:15am. That is entirely too early for me. But I went outside to get some food for the caterpillars since I was awake. In bad news, the Gulf Frit chrysalis I pictured on Dad's block of wood got eaten or something. The bottom part of it was broken off and ants were cleaning out the rest. But in good news, there are still plenty of chrysalises around. These two are on the firebush. I'm not the best garden planner in the world so when I planted the passion vine with a small trellis I didn't consider that it would grow over the firebush, onto the plumbago, up the cherry tree, and around the wall to the lights next to the garage. When it starts coming into the garage is when Dad moves it or cuts it. Last time he just twined it back around because he knows how many caterpillars are eating it. So anyway, these two chrysalises are on firebush because that's what the passion vine is growing on.
Zebra Longwings tend to wake up earlier than other butterflies. I see this at MOSI, too. They're always flying before everyone else. Maybe eating pollen makes them long-lived and more energetic?
I saw a Polydamas ST which shouldn't be surprising given the number of eggs I keep finding. But I haven't actually seen many of the butterflies in the yard. I didn't have my camera on me but it wouldn't have mattered because it flew away anyhow. Polydamas are really fast and rarely stop for anything. Even when they nectar it's like watching a skipper - from one flower to the next at super speed. And they flutter their wings constantly like most Swallowtails. But it was still cool to see one.
