Cabbage White -

Skipper -

Backlit Sulphur

Beautiful photos, Christine and J!

Mass migration today in the Monarch habitat--all but two of them are now at the top, 6 chrysalises and 7 preparing. The remaining two that are still munching look like they'll be heading up soon, too.

Counted 12 BST cats today while cleaning their habitat--about half are big and close to pupating, and about half are still early instars. I am running out of fennel! I brought in some rue and put it in the habitat, too. Fingers crossed they start eating it, esp with several early instars!!

Great photos Christine And Jack. Jack, I especially love the backlit Sulphur.

Tried to garden and got rained out.

Released five Phaon Crescents this morning before the rain.



Had fun playing with my microscope. The single egg I found on Frogfruit is definitely a White Peacock. He's big enough now that I can see his 1950's era alien antenna. Oddly enough, Malachite caterpillars look almost exactly the same; they just get quite a bit bigger. They both use Ruellia as a host plant, too.



Here's my tiny Viceroy caterpillar. The other two died shortly after hatching.



And here's my big Viceroy caterpillar! Yes, they really look glittery like that. Also, you see why I say they have antlers. As I mentioned before, Red-Spotted Purple cats pretty much look the same but I think they "glitter" even more. Some books say that Viceroys look more green and RSPs look more brown, but they've always looked the same color to me. Might be a regional thing. I can only tell the difference because I only ever find Viceroys on Willow and RSPs on Black Cherry. Host plants can vary throughout their range, though!



I think my Buckeyes are molting. They're a really pretty caterpillar when they grow up. They have these metallic blue accents that are stunning. But for now, they're still kind of plain.



This Long-Tailed Skipper is molting, too. You can tell because its head capsule is detached from the body. If you can see that brown line that's like a "collar", then it's molting. And never move a molting caterpillar! You can kind of see all the silk around him, too. I busted open his leaf shelter. I didn't realize until I looked at the photos on screen but this is my caterpillar that got in a fight. That brown spot near the top of his body should not be there. I think he got in an altercation with another cat as there is no other explanation. It happens sometimes. I hope when he molts it will disappear, but sometimes those marks last even through a molt.

How nice to see the Crescents, and get a good look at the wing closed. It seems like they have their wings open most all of the times I see them.

Enjoyed the cat pictures too!!
Interesting about the molting.

Smile! I think that's its face.

The Crescents are always so cute, and that is interesting about the caterpillars.

I usually time my pictures to get their wings open. Crescents tend to sit in one place and open and close their wings. Not sure why. So it's partly my fault that I don't show the sides of them very often. I guess I'm too conditioned by the butterfly books to try and get that perfect open wing shot. But yes, their undersides are pretty cool, too.

Christine, I think your caterpillar wants to be a snake.

Great shots you two!!!! I like that "face". Those Viceroy cats are wow & glitter, glitter, glitter! They think they're back in the disco 80's.

15 Monarch cats now at the top, 13 as chrysalises. yay! no more foraging for milkweed!
Was able to get most of them in this pic:



2 more BST cats building their slings. 4 big cats and 4 little cats still munching away.

Wonderful Job Robin, Congratulations!!

thanks, Josephine!

It's 65 degrees and it's been drizzling on and off. Mom said it was pouring rain at her church this morning. I tell ya, going from 85 to 65 is quite a change. I have a headache and poor Dad just got a nosebleed!

Speaking of weather changes...I think some of y'all we're talking about overwintering chrysalises. Some people keep them in a cool place like a garage or basement to discourage them from emerging and to keep them in similar weather to outside (without all the pesky snow and stuff). I just wanted to add that some people mist their chrysalises throughout the winter to keep the humidity high enough. Because they do get rained and snowed upon in nature. Humidity really isn't a problem in my house so I don't tend to do that, but it might be necessary for others. Let us know if you mist your chrysalises!

Bad weather didn't stop more Phaon Crescents from emerging. There were four today. You know, I see them outside and some are more faded than others and I always chalked it up to the usual age and wear and tear. But as I've been releasing them, I noticed that some just come out that way. I wonder why that is?



And if you forgot what the caterpillars look like, here's one that was on the cheesecloth.



I managed to feed everyone in between the rain so that was good. And while I was feeding the Polydamas, I noticed the one was making its chrysalis! Naturally, I took pictures. A few things first. I taped him up to the side to keep him out of the way and because I was throwing out the old food he had he had attached himself to. So that's why there's tape. I'm going to post these in order so you can click through them and see the process, but I'm going to break in with a few factoids along the way. First, you can see where he splits in the back. It always makes me think of a little mountain peak. Also, check out how the container is covered in silk!





Okay, here's where I point out that you can see some of the structures of the butterfly when they make the chrysalis. You can see where the eyes are going to be, and the line that goes straight down the middle will be the proboscis. The two things that are draped around either side like pigtails are going to be the antenna.



Back to the show!





Now that it's finished, the chrysalis thrashes around to try to dislodge the shed skin. Remember, it's trying to hide so having the dead skin around would alert predators to its location.



Whew! What a process! True story, Mom once cried when she was watching one make a chrysalis. And it wasn't the first time she'd seen it happen. I asked why she was crying and she said it looked like it hurt. So then I had to reassure her that I'm pretty sure it doesn't hurt and that this is what we want the caterpillar to do because otherwise it will never become a beautiful butterfly. Mom is a sensitive soul.

By the way, that yellow color on the back generally stays even as the chrysalis hardens. It's one way to tell a Polydamas chrysalis from a Pipevine.

Great pupation photos!

First --- Robin! Good job!

Then -- I am BLOWN AWAY by the chrysalis making time lapse. I can see where it's wings are too! Their life is simply amazing. One transition morphing into the next & SO many steps along the way. Hatching egg to molting numerous times & then becoming something completely different when they become a chrysalis & then becoming something else again when they eclose. Mind boggling. Talk about being born again! How many times are they born again???!!!!!
I'm in awe.

Thanks for the acorn, Ann! And I'm glad you liked all the photos. I'm glad I was able to catch it at the right moment. No matter how many times I see it, that never gets old.

And thanks to Greene, too! I'm glad you guys are enjoying the pictures. See, even on a rainy day there's still photo-worthy happenings going on.

I was at our local plant swap yesterday. Someone had brought a plastic container of seed heads to share. Inside the container was a caterpillar. One of the women photographed it and if/when she posts it I was gonna ask for help with the ID. Thanks to mellie I am seeing caterpillars everywhere now!

Hey, I had one sitting on the front page of the paper the other day! They kind of are everywhere. Especially if you don't spray and have something to offer them other than a bland lawn.