Looking good, Meredith! That thing that hatched looks pretty scary, though. One of my Spicebushies is about the same size as yours. Sometimes you can see the secondary eyespots developing under their skin. The molt to green seems to take longer than the other molts - maybe because they have to change to a whole new color scheme? That's cool that you took the field trip and learned some new plant IDs. It's always helpful to know what host plant something is eating.
Not too much going on here. I've been inside a lot because it's super hot, the rainy season is starting to kick in, and AMC is running a "Jurassic Park" marathon. Also, ABC Family is doing a "Harry Potter" marathon. So I've been enjoying some old faves. And getting excited for "Jurassic World". Watching it this time around definitely made me think more about GMOs and even raising caterpillars. Nature really only seems to need our help when we've messed it up to begin with. Except pandas, maybe. I don't know what's up with them.
Anyway, here's a few pictures. Two Gulf Frits were laying eggs on my passion vine and they're back at it today. I'm not sure how there's any room left to lay an egg. I couldn't get a good photo, but I thought this one had a unique perspective.
Zebra Longwings still float around. Seriously, if you've never seen a Zebra fly, it's so cool. They float a lot and fly real slow like they know they're poisonous and are mocking everyone else.
There was a Long-Tailed Skipper flying around. My camera was kind of blurry. Sometimes in the summer I have problems with it fogging up with all the humidity. More #FloridaPeopleProblems. At least you can see the turquoise in the wings. Fancy!
I'm pretty sure this is the same male Monarch I've been seeing. He has a damaged wing so it's easy to identify him.
And I guess I'm going to raise some Zebra Longwings because I brought them into the house. See how they look orange when they hatch? But they turn white, eventually. They must have hatched sometime between yesterday and this morning. They haven't moved far from their eggs so it was probably a few hours ago.
