Well, I said I was going to get out of the house and I did. I wasn't sure I would. I didn't get much sleep last night and I know I'm going to hit the wall soon, but it hasn't happened yet. Believe it or not, Melanie went to the Daylily show. Yes, those people I always poke fun at. It wasn't a big show but I took over 400 pictures! That includes plant tags, though. Then, since it was still early, I went to USF Botanical Gardens. I totally should have remembered that graduation was going on today since one my high school friends posted a picture of herself in her gown on Facebook this morning, but I forgot. Luckily, the gardens are on the edge of campus so I only had to navigate one intersection. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to understand what the red, octagonal sign meant.
But I started the morning by releasing a male Orange-Barred Sulphur. The one that came out last night. He stuck around for a few seconds, probably because it was in the 60's this morning. It felt soooo good.
No butterflies at the Daylily show since it was inside, but there were plenty at USF. The only ones I couldn't get pictures of were the Buckeye, the Pipevine Swallowtail, and the White Peacock. I began my quest near the plant shop where a big pipevine grows. I looked for caterpillars and found some Polydamas Swallowtail cats. Then, I found a big one. There's always a big one.
There were a lot of Zebra Longwings around which was nice to see. Here's one on porterweed.
This plant didn't have a tag so I'm going to post it over on the ID forum. Because this Giant ST was all over it. Therefore, I must know what it is.
A Gulf Frit was chilling nearby.
You can't go wrong with the red sage. This is a Spicebush all up in it.
The Gulf Frit was all up in it, too.
The wind was blowing this Cassius Blue around.
This Phaeon Crescent was basking.
I could only get a side view on this Eastern Black Swallowtail. I tried sneaking up on it and it flew away. I think my stealth mode function is out of order.
This Monarch was trying to lay and egg but this annoying woman kept bothering her.
A Polydamas held still! Shock!
I saw a Monarch that I thought was basking but he was actually trying to get a little "some-some". I think I accidentally broke up the party. Or maybe the female wanted rescued? All I know is when I got closer, they broke apart and one of them flew around and hit me in the back. It was super weird.
But this Monarch male was only interested in the geraniums.
There were all these Willows near the retention pond so I went hunting for Viceroys. I only found this egg, but that's more than I've seen so far this year.
I saw a Checkered White! Haven't seen many this year.
Female Orange-Barred Sulphur on the non-native coral porterweed.
Couldn't get a good photo of the Tropical Checkered Skipper so here's a bad one.
I think it's funny when butterflies hang upside down. Zebra Longwing on Spanish Needles.
Another Checkered White. And it's on Virginia Pepper Grass which is their host plant. You can see more of it in the bottom right corner.
Back home, I drank copious amounts of fluids and then fed the cats. I checked the Spicebush again and found three more eggs including this rare double egging!
Two of my three Spicebush cats molted today and turned green. They're more of an army green than bright green when they first molt to the green stage. I'm not sure why he's stinkhorning me, but he still didn't smell as bad as the Palamedes.
And in case you didn't know or just haven't seen it in a while, the Spicebush inspired a Pokemon character. He evolves from Caterpie to Metapod to Butterfree. I LOVE that they kept the osmeterium.
