We came from here: The thread "December 2015 Butterflies, Moths & Larva" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum

In Japanese culture, it's considered lucky if your first dream of the new year includes a hawk, an eggplant, and Mt. Fuji. Well, I dreamed of a Pawpaw tree covered in Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars and I consider that a good start.

I am briefly crawling out of my cocoon to start this new thread. No promises on when I will emerge for good.

Here's some pictures I took at Joshua House. The butterfly garden is really attracting the caterpillars. There are still lots of White Peacocks flying around, but I have yet to find what they are using as a host plant.



The Polydamas cats are getting bigger.



The Monarch cats destroyed the Milkweed.



But that's okay because I found several chrysalises!



Long-Tailed Skippers are still everywhere.



Managed to get a shot of this Cloudless Sulphur.



There are lots of Gulf Fritillary cats.



Mostly because they keep laying eggs. Check it out, in the first shot you can't see the egg, but in the second it has emerged!



Back home, I've been releasing Io Moths. So far, three females and two males. This is a female.



Now, I've seen hummingbirds nectar on my bromeliads, but never a butterfly - until now! This Long-Tailed Skipper was on my Aechmea gamosepala.



At MOSI, it's the usual suspects. I'm still finding Polydamas cats like this big fella who, incidentally, had hatched eggs underneath his legs.



And my Spotted Oleander Moths have started emerging from their cocoons.

Nice Aechmea , I've only seen them in conservatories of botanical gardens; White Admiral, never seen but like their pics, see plenty of Red Admirals.
Here's a butterfly I got from my wife -

J, I've never seen a White Admiral, either. Did you mean the White Peacock I had pictured? Nice gift!

Yes, Thanks. I think the 2nd bottle had been tapped by that post.

Bringing in the new year with butterflies!! Wonderful pic, Melanie. The Spotted Oleander Moth is especially pretty!

jmorth, what a pretty butterfly!!

I liked the pair of pics of egg laying.....

And I love that crazy new species from jmorth!

Wow Mellie ..... nice job. Happy New Year

mellielong said:
At MOSI, it's the usual suspects. I'm still finding Polydamas cats like this big fella who, incidentally, had hatched eggs underneath his legs.

Wow. Is that common? I am rather a newby, but never seen anything like this.

That is very interesting behavior.

The Pipevine that Polydamas was on wasn't very big to begin with and the two big caterpillars I found had eaten a lot. So I think he just happened to settle where there was enough room. I'm trying to remember if that was the one I suspected had gut purged. There was one I picked up that was too squishy for that size so I was thinking he may have been looking for a place to make his chrysalis. They generally leave the eggs alone, but since those had hatched, maybe they didn't "count".

Nice butterfly J! Pretty present from Deby.

You still have lots of butterflies Melanie.

Today is the first day I have not seen scads of Zebra Longwings & Sulphurs. I have not seen a single butterfly at all yet. They must know the cold front is here & have taken shelter somewhere warm.

Nice avatar Ann, from your new zoomer?

Forgot to tell you guy that I got 2 butterfly books for Christmas, "Butterflies of British Columbia", it includes Alberta and some of the northwestern states and "The Complete Book of North American Butterflies".

jmorth said:Nice avatar Ann, from your new zoomer?

Yes, it is J. Thank you.

I suppose Melanie will forgive my going OT for a second here. These are from my new zoomer. I used the porch rail to stabilize as I haven't gotten a tripod yet. I looked at our survey & considering all distances; this is right about 500', maybe a tad more. The donkeys in the pasture across the way. I keep waiting for the jenny to foal. She's about to pop as you can see. She's the dark one. The lighter one is the papa.

Both of them


The jenny. If she gets any fatter she's going to have to roll to get where she wants to go!

Cool gifts Margaret!!!

I like the photos great job

Margaret, what nice gifts!

Wow, that Jenny sure is about to bust! I just love them! Wish I could have a Jack or Jenny but they don't like dogs. I used to joke with my dh when we moved here in the country that I wanted to get a donkey and name it "Junior", after him.

Nice shot of the Sulphur, Melanie, ya really gotta be quick to get a picture of one of those guys. The Frit laying her egg is beautiful too. I love the patterns on the undersides of their wings, and those light spots reflect the sun like foil.

I've had lots of Monarchs around this week, and still seeing Zebra longwings today, as they have a spot they like to roost in one of my oaks. Sure hope it's warm enough for them there tonight - Bbrrr!

Nice photo there Elaine with the cat on the milkweed & the seeds busting out all over. Cool!


Christine, that's what I've understood too about the Donks hating dogs but those people have 2 dogs and the larger one in particular is sort of .... well, shall we sayyyyy..... if he were human he would be dx'd with ADHD.... & he's out in the pasture with them all the time -- the donks don't pay him any never mind.

Ooh, Elaine I hope you add that picture to the database. I think it's great because you see the caterpillars and the seed fluff with seeds, and some leaves! Very educational, and pretty.