Ooh, I have catching up to do!
Meredith, lovely photos of all those species. Has your Spicebush come out yet?
Greene, you look lovely, but I'm definitely with you on the not wanting to get all dressed up. I don't so much mind dresses and skirts - it's the shoes that kill me! If I can't wear sneakers, I'm out.
Natalie, there is no such thing as too many pictures - especially of a Tiger Swallowtail!
Linda, it's too bad we can't trade Monarchs and Queens. I guess the grass is always greener in someone else's garden.
Well, I start talking about Tiger Swallowtails and suddenly everyone's got them!
That's an excellent thing, though. I have a little lesson today for those who don't raise butterflies or who have never found them as eggs. Now, remember this is what the Tiger ST eggs looked like when I found them a few days ago.
I talk about them getting darker before the caterpillar hatches, but let me show you. This is what the egg looked like this afternoon.
And this is what the caterpillar looked like when it hatched a couple hours later!
In case you didn't know, caterpillars chew their way out. It's not like they have beaks to break that shell so they gotta use the tools they have. They generally eat the egg as their first meal. Some caterpillar eggs are laid near, but not on, the host plant so they really need the egg's energy to get to the plant.
And I got one of the Zebra Longwings to hold still for me today. This one is a little tattered, but it was still flying just fine.
