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The thread "February 2015 Butterflies, Moths & Larva" in
Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum
My feet are killing me, but I had a good day at MOSI. I netted three Gulf Frits, two Cloudless Sulphurs (in one swing!), and a female Orange-Barred Sulphur. But since spring is in the air, let's start with some mating Zebra Longwings!
We also had some mating Great Southern Whites. I realized we didn't have any host plants for them in the flight cage so I went and found some Virginia Pepper Grass and put it in a container for them.
I tried to stay away from the flight cage today because there were two teenage girl volunteers in there. The one seemed fine but the other must be new and a total idiot because she actually asked me, "Can I touch the butterflies?" (There is a large sign in the flight cage that clearly tells you not to touch the butterflies, caterpillars, or plants.) Then, when I came in with a butterfly in my net to release it, she asked, "Is that a butterfly?" I said, "No", because I'm a smart aleck. Anyway, here's the first butterfly I caught. A female Orange-Barred Sulphur. She never would let me get a good photo and then the Zebra Longwing decided to join her.
Zebra Longwings were everywhere.
And they were laying eggs all over the Passion Vine. I had a young girl who told me she knew what a person who studied butterflies was called and that she knew how to pronounce it. She correctly said, "Lepidopterist." And I told her how good that was. We got to watch a Julia and a Zebra Longwing lay eggs. I wondered how you could tell them apart since I had never seen a Julia lay eggs. And I discovered you can't because they're both yellow. Thank goodness the Gulf Fritillaries are more of a dull orange.
And speaking of Julias.
And here are some Great Southern Whites with their super awesome turquoise antenna clubs.
And here's a Skipper I saw outside.
I caught three Gulf Frits but this is one that was already in the flight cage. The others all freaked out after I caught them and I couldn't get a good picture. But this one is nicely showing off its "little mirrors".
The Cloudless Sulphurs were freaking out, too. One was nectaring on the plumbago outside when the other one came along either to harass or flirt with it. I waited until they were real close and swooped my net and got them both! I also found five Sulphur cats of unknown variety today. They're too small to tell just yet. Here's the only picture I have that's halfway decent of one of the Cloudless Sulphurs. They would not come down from the screen ceiling.
I hope spring gets sprung for you all very soon! I can't wait to see everyone else's butterflies!
