Yup Margaret, I like them both!
Another one of my lazy Polydamas came out of its chrysalis. They are the most stubborn butterflies about staying in there for as long as they like. And they tend to start overwintering before all the others. Sometimes at the museum we have tons and tons of them taking up valuable real estate. It settled on some porterweed but had flown away by the time I walked back into the house. By the way, I don't know if I've ever talked about this, but see how the Poly has its proboscis extended? Watch a new butterfly when it comes out and notice they will furl and unfurl their proboscis. They're not eating, so what gives? Well, the proboscis is actually two pieces and they have to fuse it together to make it one. So I think when they first come out, that's what all the unfurling is about. If you look really close at certain chrysalises, you can see the two pieces outlined in it. Neat, huh?
My Monarch cat is getting big! He kind of wedged himself between two stems to get to this leaf. They'll do anything for food, won't they?
This Zebra Longwing is missing a bit of wing and sunning on my Sweet Almond Bush. Notice that yellow spot on the left side of its head? That's all the pollen it has collected on its proboscis! Crazy! This one's a survivor. I can feel it.
I saw several Swallowtails outside including the Giant, Tiger, maybe a Spicebush (too far away), and this Pipevine that was checking out my pipevine. It was also checking out every other plant in the neighborhood. I guess butterflies like to know what's around their host plant? I also get the feeling they check out the size of the host plant. I didn't see any eggs but I'll check later. She might have been skittish with me around. I collected quite a few more Polydamas cats; must have missed the eggs the other day. Anyway, here's two bad pictures I managed to get of the Pipevine. I figured I had to prove I saw at least one of the things I claimed!
And in today's episode of Nature's Mysteries, I found a Gulf Frit cat on my pipevine. You read that right. Thank goodness I spotted him. I asked my parents if any of them had moved a caterpillar and they deny any involvement. The passion vine grows so far away from the pipevine there is no way this guy wandered over. Plus, he's not even big enough to be in his wandering phase! He had grains of sand stuck to him though, so I'm guessing he was on the ground at some point. Did wasps try to catnap him and fail? I just don't know. I'm literally scratching my head over this one. At any rate, I put him back on the passion vine where I hope he thrives.
And finally, here's one of my very beautiful Orange-Barred Sulphur chrysalises. Sulphur chyrsalises sometimes take on a pink tone. Once, I had one so dark it looked purple. That was super cool. It will be at least another week before this one comes out, but I'll let you know when it does!
