Well, I went outside to check my orchids, as I have a few that are about to bloom. And while I was out there I wandered around to see if anything was going on but no one was flying. It's still been fairly cool for us here. But I did find some caterpillar action so I'll at least share that with you.
Now, when you hunt for caterpillars, there are several ways to find them. I've mentioned finding their frass a lot. But the most obvious method people use (for better and for worse) is to look for damage to the plant. Some of us yell, "Hooray" when we see this, while others reach for pesticide. You know which team I'm on!
So I was looking at my Passiflora suberosa (Corky-stem passion vine) and thinking how nicely it was recovering after being devastated by hungry Zebra Longwings in the spring. Seriously, if you want Zebra Longwings, you must have this plant. But preferably a lot of it. As soon as it would stick out a new leaf, there would be an egg on it. As you can see from the first photo, something has been eating it! I looked around and found the culprit down on a lower leaf, having just molted. I think he's a Gulf Frit, but Zebra Longwings can appear orange-ish when they're really small. Still, this one looks too orange. I'll keep an eye on it. Sorry I couldn't get a better pic of the cat. He was super small and I've still got to figure out the macro thing on my camera.
Then, it was over to the Giant Milkweed where I knew I had a big caterpillar. He was hanging out near the chrysalis. So I took a shot of them together, and then each one separately.
As for that chrysalis, I was thinking it had been more than the usual 10 days since it made that thing. In scrolling up this thread, I see I posted a picture of the newly made chrysalis on December 3. And today is the 19th. So you do the math. I've never known a Monarch to overwinter, but I do believe they can delay coming out based on weather conditions. If it was diseased or parasatized, it would have shown signs of that by now. And on a related note, a lot of the eggs laid haven't hatched yet. I was thinking maybe they were duds. Eggs also are affected by the weather. I tell people at the museum they usually hatch in 3-7 days, with it usually being the lower number. But that's during the summer. In early spring, I've had them go almost 10 days before hatching (I forget what species that was but I was about to throw them out when they hatched). But then I found this little guy on the plant so at least one of them has hatched! And hey, the early caterpillar gets the milkweed so good for him!
