We've had some neighborhood drama that I had to take care of so I've been busy. Let's catch up on some pictures!
I had a feeling my Viceroy would be coming out soon, and it totally did on Thursday night. I took some pictures in my bathroom, but the Viceroy was nice enough to land on the porterweed when I released it yesterday morning. Much better lighting outside! To differentiate from a Monarch, a key detail is that line that curves through the lower wings.
So I had something weird happen. Remember I said my mystery moth caterpillar died? It was the one that was eating grass and about the time it died, there were all these weird little brown flecks around the container. They weren't moving, and I still haven't looked at them under my microscope, but I guess I assumed they were parasites. Well, I didn't throw the caterpillar out right away, mostly because I'm lazy. But, I also noticed that when I would pick up the container, it would twitch a little. I thought it was dying a slow death, and even wondered if I should put it out of its misery. Luckily, I'm lazy. Because I took a look at it on Saturday, and it pupated!
I know moth caterpillars can take a few days (literally) to pupate. One of my Io Moths took like three days. So I have to revise my earlier statement and say that my caterpillar is now a pupa. I sure am glad I'm lazy when it comes to cleaning out my containers!
There are a ton of Barred Sulphurs flying around. I counted five or six at one time in the backyard yesterday. And I got two on the same tassel flower! I was surprised they were so cooperative. You know butterflies usually chase each other off flowers.
I'm still growing Long-Tailed Skippers in the backyard. There are tons of them flying around, too.
I found another one of those moth pupa on my Pokeweed. Remember, the moth came out and I took a good picture of it where it landed on my arm, but BAMONA couldn't identify it anyway? Lazy bums. I guess I'll try again.
Gulf Fritillaries are present pretty much year-round.
Tiny skippers are still around. It hasn't rained much, though that's supposed to change this weekend. A lot of the Spanish Needles have dried up so my pentas are becoming really popular.
The Long-Tailed Skippers have mostly been attacking the porterweed, but this one was high up on my Jatropha.
Speaking of Buckeyes, mine made their chrysalises and I kept meaning to take pictures. So here you go!
Another Skipper on the pentas.
And finally, I woke up this morning and Mom had emailed me to let me know I had a butterfly that had come out. It was one of the Eastern Black Swallowtails. Don't they know it's November? Grumble, grumble...
