We came from here:
The thread "June 2014 Butterflies, Moths & Larva" in
Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum
Ok, I'm aware that my first photo is going to be the thumbnail everyone looks at all month and so I'm choosing to feature the humble Duskywing this month. Because we shouldn't overlook our Skippers. Not everyone can be a Swallowtail and that's ok. The Duskywings are always hanging around when lots of other butterflies have deserted me or just not shown up yet. Don't ever be afraid to show us a picture of a butterfly just because it's not one of the pretty or interesting ones. They're ALL interesting to me. And what may be common to you isn't common to me and vice versa so I like to see all the pictures you guys have.
And in all honesty, not too many butterflies were flying today. I did see the Giant ST make a sweep through my side yard straight to neighbor Jim's but it did not stop. The Gulf Frits and Zebra Longwings were out but not really stopping, either. So that's another reason the Duskywing gets to be the star. They love Spanish Needles so I have them almost year-round.
In egg news, the Zebra Longwings have found the Corky-Stem passion vine once again. It never takes long.
And in exciting news, I found my first Eastern Black ST egg on my rue! It's the cream-colored orb, that dark thing is a bug I blew away later. It's amazing a butterfly managed to find the rue because of the various plants and weeds growing over and around it. I think it only laid one egg because that's all the space on the plant it could access. I thought about taking a picture to show you what I mean, but I'm too embarrassed to let you see the state of my weeds right now.
And in more exciting news, I found bunches of Pipevine ST eggs on the wrong pipevine again. So I picked the stems they were on because I needed food for the Polydamas anyway. That was the whole reason I went outside in the first place. And speaking of Polydamas, I found this guy who I somehow missed earlier! And right after I took this picture, the sky opened up and one of our famous torrential summer rains chased me back in the house.
Which means I'll have to go back out and check the pipevine more thoroughly but here's all the eggs I collected. I knew that Pipevine ST I saw the other day was up to something. And it's sad to think, if I didn't collect these eggs, they would all die on the plant.
