Ronnie, that's quite a bit of action! You got the regular Tiger ST and the dark form female! And Cat, that's a Red Admiral, not a Painted Lady.
As for me, I had to go pick some willow for the Viceroys so I took the long way to Walgreens since I had to go there anyway. I didn't find any new cats, but that's okay. But while I was in the Walgreens, I left the cats in the car, since I figured it would only be a couple of minutes. But that was long enough for one of the butterflies to decide to come out.
When I got home I put it on the porterweed to finish drying.
I hadn't checked the Pipevine in like three days so it was out to pick eggs and caterpillars. I found this fatty on the vine. One of my co-workers at MOSI (who also works at Birds and Blooms magazine) says that Polydamas who are exposed to UV rays get these stripes on them whereas the ones we raise in the lab stay dark brown. I never knew that until a few weeks ago.
But I found a few more that were still brown and hungry.
Walking back to the house, I saw something I thought was a Polydamas (they're still flying around, but not posing). But I thought it looked kind of big - because it was a Palamedes! Woo hoo! I only see these a few times a year because they mostly live in the swamp. But they do pop in from time to time. I could only get two pictures before it flew away from me.
Back in the house it was egg sorting time. Here's all the Pipevine ST eggs I collected. I got about twice as many Polydamas eggs. They will all be going to the museum on Sunday. I can't handle breathing that much pipevine.
I realized I forgot to get a leaf of the good pipevine in case the eggs hatch and while I was out there I saw this Zebra Longwing.
