Well, yesterday was mostly caterpillars so today it's butterflies! I released about 20 butterflies today at MOSI! Which actually made me feel bad because they're going to rescreen and pressure wash the flight cage tomorrow so my boss and her cohort have to catch all the butterflies first! Yikes! I would volunteer to help but somehow I think I might be more of a hindrance. Sometimes too many people just get in the way.
Lots of Zebra Longwings in the flight cage today. The last butterfly I released was a Zebra Longwing and it's good I saw him because he couldn't pull one of his wings out of the chrysalis. I got him to grab onto my finger and I gave a gentle tug and it slid right out. It's good to know my human strength still tops butterfly strength! Plus, I like helping a butterfly out. Otherwise, we have to put them down and that makes me sad (I had to put three down today). But in happier thoughts, here's some Zebra Longwings!
Love was in the air today. I caught the Zebra Longwings and the Great Southern Whites "in the act". Shocking!
I found a Julia.
And this is probably one of the Orange-Barred Sulphurs I brought in as a caterpillar. I was going to take my caterpillars to the museum today but two of them decided to go into their chrysalis mode so I was like, "Ah, forget it. I can feed one caterpillar for a few days". The last one is almost big enough to be in his chrysalis, too. To be fair, I found two too-small-to-tell-what-kind of sulphur cats today at the museum. They're probably Cloudless as they were on the Cassia.
I couldn't get a good shot of the Gulf Fritillary in the flight cage but I got one in the garden! By the way, this is the bad lantana that it's on. Don't plant it. It's very invasive. Use a native or sterile species if you must. I know the butterflies can't resist the lantana, but you can resist planting it! When I was a kid, our daycare always told us it was poisonous and not to eat it. I'm not sure how toxic it is but I have heard from other sources it will make animals and humans sick.
I got to release a very cooperative Buckeye!
And is it just me or is this a huge Monarch?! I put her on the lavender but as you can see she was bending it so I moved her.
That's all for today, folks! Soon, there will be Swallowtails. I'm looking forward to it!
