I've got butterflies and caterpillars and saw a hummingbird, oh my!
For those of you who don't watch the bird threads, here's my hummingbird. I don't have feeders so I just have to watch for when they nectar on plants and take as many pictures as quickly as I can. This plant is called Golden Dew Drop (Duranta erecta). It's not native, but I planted it because the one at USF Botanical Gardens is such a butterfly magnet. And apparently, hummingbirds like it, too.
So I couldn't sleep last night and neither could the Monarchs because one emerged at 4:00 am and the other before 5:00 am. FYI, the lamp was on in my room so it's not like they emerged in the dark. I released them about 7:35 and they flew a short distance. The first decided it wanted to be on the plumbago while the other settled on Spiderwort. Both were males.
Dad and I ran a couple of errands today, but before hopping in the car I had to get pictures of my butterflies. Here's a Gulf Frit on the Jatropha.
And if you have Spanish Needles, you have Duskywings. FYI, this photo is not upside-down - the butterfly is.
First of all, my American Lady caterpillar grew up really fast! I opened the lid and I was like, "Did someone replace my caterpillar with a bigger one?" But to show you how beautiful this caterpillar is, I took it outside in the sunshine so you can see all the colors and details.
And just to reinforce what I'm always saying, look for caterpillars on the new growth of plants! Here's a Gulf Frit cat on my Passiflora 'Lavender Lady'.
