All right, I had my nap and now I made a cup of tea...well, a mug of tea, so let's get to some more pictures. By the way, I checked the weather and we're supposed to get down to 49 tonight and tomorrow night. Brrr!
I checked the butterfly garden at Joshua House the other day. Mostly I just needed to get out of the library for a minute. Books are heavy and it's dusty in there. The milkweed has been egg-bombed and a Monarch did a fly-by while I was standing there but I think I scared it when I tried to get a picture. I did find a much slower moving Gulf Frit caterpillar.
I've only got one type of caterpillar I'm raising right now and that's the Io Moths. So I can't even pet them.
They've been eating so much and I've been chanting at them "Pupate, pupate" and I think they're finally listening. I have nine; here they are on the lid of the Gladware.
Now, on the left we have a cocoon, although I peeled away some of the leaves. In the middle are the caterpillars that are still eating. On the right, you may think that caterpillar looks weird, but he's just getting ready to pupate. Even if your caterpillar doesn't do a dramatic gut purge like the Swallowtails, they will often appear to "shrink" like this one. That curved pose is also typical of one about to pupate.
Today, that caterpillar on the right looked like this!
Now, for my photos from MOSI! FYI, I'm going to have to learn to keep my thoughts inside my head. I was talking to Oleander caterpillars today and a guest walked up the sidewalk and I'm sure they thought I was some crazy lady. Luckily, I have a nametag! It used to be a plain MOSI Volunteer nametag with my name on it, but I found some small, glittery butterfly stickers that I put all over it. I had a cool caterpillar one for a while but the antenna would never stay down and he peeled off. I just like to make it clear that I'm the person to ask about butterflies. I should take a picture and show you guys. (Note to self...)
Okay, let's start with some Zebra Longwings! Love was in the air as there were two mating couples. The one was mating when I came in, but the others started later. I think one of them was actually a butterfly I released when I first came in. If there's one species that doesn't wait long to get busy, it's the Zebra Longwing.
We seem to have acquired more Monarchs. Even in the caterpillar tank, all but one had turned to a chrysalis and I'm pretty sure there were more than I found last week. And I was the one who started the tank, so maybe they found some more during the week.
I'm pretty sure this is the same Giant Swallowtail that was in there last week.
Malachite brunching on the orange.
This Malachite was like, "Leave me alone. I'm still sleeping."
We have plenty of chrysalis boxes but there seems to be a shortage on lids so it's double occupancy at the lab. These two Malachites emerged together, but the one on the left was more eager to fly. Or, at least crawl up my hand.
This Julia was pretty tore up, too. My friend Dominic visited today and caught one of the lizards in the flight cage and relocated it outside. Yes, I put children to work. Don't worry, we trade caterpillars and stuff.
I got to release some White Peacocks but most were hanging out up top. This guy was on the ledge.
Way up on top were some Sulphurs. I could only get a picture of the Orange-Barred, though.
I don't really do the "Multi-plant Photo" thing here at ATP, but I do have some multi-butterflies-on-plant pictures. Here's a Zebra Longwing with two Malachites. Full disclosure - I put the Malachites there to dry their wings.
These pictures, in contrast, were not staged. This is a Monarch and two Zebra Longwings on Jatropha.
Now, back home I had quite a surprise on the porterweed. A Great Southern White! I've been butterflying for a little over 8 years now and never saw one of these in the yard until about three years ago. I've seen them a few more times but they're still pretty uncommon in my neighborhood. Even the ones we get at MOSI are from the butterfly farm we trade with. I have seen them in the wild down in the south part of the county, though. FYI, I live about three miles south of the northern county line so when I say south county that's a lot of miles away.
Still so many Long-Tailed Skippers.
I saw two Gulf Frits but one chased the other off so it could claim my magic red pentas.
Still a lot of hard-to-photograph Barred Sulphurs in the backyard.
And this White Peacock had a bite taken out of it, but it was still flying around and making me chase it to get a photo. In case you're trying to picture it, imagine the butterfly with its wings closed, something biting down, and you can see why it has roughly symmetrical missing pieces from each of its lower wings. Also, this is why many butterflies have fake eyespots at the base of their wings.
And just for fun, here's my Gopher Tortoise looking annoyed today. And that's a Spanish Needle flower behind his (her?) hole. Those things grow everywhere. Well, except in the shade.
