So I'm friends with the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail on Facebook and today they did a little history lesson on Marjory Stoneman Douglass who wrote "The Everglades: River of Grass." There's also a note about how she founded the Friends of the Everglades to protest a proposed jet port in the middle of the Everglades. It said proponents of the project called her "a damn butterfly chaser". And I thought, "I hope someone, someday, calls me the same thing."
And so I chase the butterflies. Which I hear is better than "chasing the dragon" as well as a lot of other things! Yesterday, I released this female Black ST. Hey, you can see my front door!
Then, I saw the tiniest Cassius Blue I've ever seen in my life. And they're tiny to begin with! I think this one may have been fairly new because the color is still so fresh. Plus, it stayed still long enough for me to take several photos which isn't like them at all. Compare the picture with my hand to see how tiny these guys are.
That was yesterday. Now, this morning I got out there early since I thought it wouldn't be as hot. It isn't, but I was still sweating because it's hot. My Tiger STs have molted again. They still look like bird poop, but bigger bird poop. Also, they have these cool blue spots on them.
And two of the three Io Moths have molted into their green form! That's the same one in both pictures, FYI. And I'll have you know I risked life and limb (and a possible allergic reaction) to photograph this guy. They should let me have a show on the Nat Geo channel!
I think my orange one wants to be part of the green club. You can see how distinctive those structures are on the caterpillar. That's why even when I first found them, all small and orange, I still thought they looked like the Io Moth I had once raised.
I had a Cloudless Sulphur do a fly by yesterday and it made me happy to see them. Their numbers have been down and I haven't had any cats in a while. Then, I started thinking how it's about time to start seeing the Sleepy Orange butterflies. They had some at MOSI a few weeks ago, but I hadn't seen any - until this morning! I scared it up while walking across the lawn. Don't let the name fool you - these guys are as fast as any Sulphur. They get their name because someone thought the pattern looked like a sleepy eye.
And this Zebra Longwing was catching some rays on the False Indigo, which is where I found all those Io Moths to begin with. As a final FYI, I still haven't found any more Tiger ST cats so it looks like I've just got the two.
