Okay folks, I'm awake! And I promised pictures so let's start at the museum. This is a Gulf Frit that I released. It had some of the meconium (waste fluids) on its wings due to having to sit in the little box until I came to release it. So that's why it looks like that.
And I released a Monarch.
We had three Great Southern Whites. Technically two, because one escaped into the outer enclosure but I recaptured it with my net.
Zebras roosting. That's the attached classroom in the second photo. You can sit in there and watch the butterflies through the window and we have a slide show, brochures, and a microscope where you can look at dead butterflies up close.
Julias are still hanging out.
This is our new "Savage Garden" exhibit with carnivorous plants, orchids, tillandsias, and other wetland plants. The pond exhibit behind it has koi and turtles.
I'm wondering if this is the same Orange-Barred Sulphur female I netted last week.
Speaking of Orange-Barred Sulphurs, I caught five last week and put them in a tank. And this week, all five were still in there! Sulphurs up and die for no good reason so this shocked me. FYI, when we can, we write the number of caterpillars on the tank so we know how many there are when we clean and change tanks. Anyway, I had to up the number a lot this week because I found 18 caterpillars! They're all Sulphurs and I was assuming Cloudless, but after looking at the ones from last week who have grown, they are definitely Orange-Barred. It used to be Orange-Barreds didn't show until later in the year but the last two years they've been nearly non-stop. Okay, here's one of the caterpillars I found. If you don't see it, look at the right set of leaves and from my thumb go up three leaves. It's that tiny orange thing.
But then I found a big one so I know they're probably all Orange-Barred Sulphurs. Although, next week they may surprise me.
Back home I saw the Gulf Frit that has been around lately.
Both my dad and neighbor Jim planted Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow plants. But ours is in the shade and Jim's is in full sun. Both smell really good and are seeing a lot of action. Like this skipper.
Jim's also had a hummingbird moth (Snowberry Clearwing) but this was the best photo I could get.
Meanwhile, there was a Spicebush ST on my Yesterday, etc, plant. But it was up high and I couldn't get good lighting on it. From what I saw it was a male which is good because my Spicebush and Sassafras have only just started leafing out.
This skipper was loving the new kind of Coreopsis I bought. I'll have to ask the folks at BAMONA what it is.
I believe this is one of those Monk Skippers I learned about last year.
A Long-Tailed Skipper also liked Jim's Yesterday, blah, blah plant. You can see the turquoise on the upper side. Very pretty.
You can see the variety of butterflies has definitely increased. And this doesn't include the Giant ST that I finally saw, or the Cloudless Sulphur that wouldn't stop, or the Orange-Barred Sulphur that flew over my head. I saw two Giant STs driving around today and it made me wonder if the smell of orange blossoms lures them out.
