Butterfly competition 2012 (Part Two)

Continued as the first thread was taking longer to load...

@qebo is in the lead with 26.

@Squeakychu has 11 confirmed sightings!

@fuzzi has 21.

@ronincats has 3.

@NorthernStar has 2.

@Betty30554 just joined, has one!

Join us!

(hope I didn't miss anyone...)

Guidelines, as per @qebo:

A butterfly (at any stage of development) can be counted if it is:
* in your yard (or your community garden plot or some such)
* photographed in situ
* identified (definitely or tentatively)
* different (the count is for species, not individuals)

Post the photo, scientific and common names, date and location of sighting.

(Credit to SqueakyChu for starting this!)

Feel free to question or tweak the rules...

Butterfly identification:
http://www.gardenswithwings.com/what-butterflies-can-i-attract.html
http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Butterflies
http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/construct-group-page.asp?gr=All

Moth identification:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/21675

Caterpillar identification:
http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Caterpillars

SqueakyChu’s wildlife spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkmvurL-ogUmdHZtLTVtcExINXFQZ2pmSmU...

Another view of a Tobacco hornworm

Least Skipper! He/she let me get close!

Nice pictures, fuzzi!

And my gulf fritillary is not worth a mention? Not to mention the skipper and the probably cabbage white?

I think the large lemon and black butterfly that keeps buzzing my lemon and grapefruit trees must be an anise swallowtail, common in San Diego County and fond of citrus. I still haven't been able to see it other than on the wing.

@ronincats, I'm sorry...I had a feeling I'd left someone out!

I will make amends.

Thanks, @SqueakyChu! It was flitting around my Mexican Heather (in a container on my steps) and did not leave when my camera approached him/her.

After consulting my guide, I am identifying this as a Carolina Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes aesculapius). I thought at first it was a Fiery Skipper, but the wing fringe on a Fiery is dark, this skipper's fringe is light. Also, there appears to be some dark spotting on the abdomen in the photos: the Fiery Skipper has no spots on its abdomen, but the Roadside Skipper does. (#22)

The swallowtails here just don't stay put at all! This one was too quick for me:



This last one was really dull and not at all colorful, but it looked like a swallowtail.

No butterflies to add? :(

I wanted to grow some edibles, but couldn't find any Twinkie seeds. Wonder what kind of butterflies they would attract? And would the caterpillars be cream-filled?

Why not grow chocolates from seed, too?

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Sorry guys. It's been a really bad week and I needed a laugh.

Here you go, @Betty30554:

Good one, fuzzi!

Butterfly/moth #12

I found an Ailanthus Webworm Moth on my sedum plant today. I'll post the picture I took later! :)

I had no idea it was a moth. I thought it was a beetle!

I learned that it is a native American species, a pollinator, and is often mistaken for a beetle. Ha! I also read that they can be a minor pests in nurseries, although they rarely do serious damage.


Ailanthus Webworm Moth

More on this species!

Am looking forward to your picture, @SqueakyChu!

Two from today, TBI (to be identified):




Might be a moth, not sure.

Aha! A Skipper! I'll look him up in my guide and repost my conclusions




I believe this is a Clouded Skipper (Lerema accius) (#22)

Of course, I am always open to input...

I found the moth!

He/she is a Hawaiian Beet Webworm (spoladea recurvalis), and the common name is a misnomer: it occurs on the east coast of the US and into interior regions, see map here: http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=5170

#23

I have *never* seen this many moths and butterflies in my life. What an education I've gotten on this thread!

Me too, @SqueakyChu! It never occurred to me that there were so many butterflies and moths flying around.

I am mentally planning my butterfly garden for next year!

Amen! I never really paid any attention to them before - other than "isn't it pretty."

My moth picture is now posted in message #15.

Gorgeous! It certainly does not fit the image of 'moth', does it?

SqueakyChu, it is beautiful. Is it found throughout the US, or only in certain areas (like the SouthEast)?

15,21: I had one of those awhile back, took a photo because it was so colorful, and only later realized it was a moth. I saw another this week.

I’m still seeing butterflies in my yard, but nothing new.

Still have a few moth photos yet to be identified, but I've been too busy tracking caterpillars.

> 24

It looked familiar. Do you have a picture of that Ailanthus Webworm Moth posted elsewhere?

> 23

Betty, the Ailanthus Webworm Moth migrates. It's thought to be native to warmer places such as Florida and the American tropics to Costa Rica. It cannot survive cold winters, but will migrate north as far as the continental USA and and ocasionally eastern Ontario and southwestern Quebec during the summer.

Anyway, I consider Maryland to have a different climate than the southeast. I always think of my state as mid-Atlantic as tropical plants cannot overwinter here because our winters are simply too cold (at least they used to be!). :)

25: Yeah, it's on the previous butterfly thread and one of my threads.

> 27

I now your picture of the Ailanthus Webworm Moth back on the first thread.

It's interesting that we both thought to take a picture of it since it doesn't resemble a moth at all!

Woo! I finally got a photo of a swallowtail, and I first thought it was a Black Swallowtail.



But look at the back of its head, it has a couple stripes there!



So I have identified this as a Palamedes Swallowtail (Papilio palamedes) - #23

I bought a book! It's the National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders...

...now that I can't spot even one butterfly or caterpillar. :(

You'll do fine, with some practice!

29: Nice. Doesn't get this far north.
30,31: Can't practice if the critters don't show up!

Next year I am planning on having more butterfly/hummingbird attracting plants and shrubs.

I have plans.... ::chuckles and rubs hands together::

#27
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)
11 September 2012 on wild quinine in my back yard

This is a lovely thread.

I would very much like to contribute some British lepidoptera photos, but have forgotten the procedure. Could someone remind me how to upload pictures, please?

35: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/HelpThing:Html_tips
See the section "Inserting Images", which explains how to display images that reside elsewhere (e.g. Flickr or Photobucket) and how to upload images to your LibraryThing junk drawer.

Two rotten caterpillars have stripped my poor little Japanese Maple.

Sorry, but they had to go.

I did photograph them, though, before I squished them. I'll post them tomorrow...

Numbers 24 and 25:

Unicorn caterpillar (Schizura unicornis)


The pictures are a little blurry, but the Unicorn caterpillar is the only one with a green saddle like the one I saw.

Here is what he would have looked like in his adult form:


Fall Cankerworm (Alsophila pometaria).


This other, the Fall Cankerworm, looked just like the dark variety I saw in my books and on the web.

Adult form (not my photo):


These two won't ever eat another Maple leaf....

...am I being mean?

You could have encouraged them to move on...

But it was your maternal instincts that kicked in, I'll bet - ROAR!

You've got it, Ruth!

After work today I checked my poor tree, and more leaves were gone!

A thorough search turned up FIVE more Unicorn Caterpillars on a tree that is barely three feet tall!

No wonder the tree was being stripped.

One more to add:



Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
Salter Path, NC - on the beach

#26

I guess that monarch won't be flying south. :(

I'm jealous that you're in Salter Path, fuzzi. Wish I were there, too!

I 've just been counting the butterflies that were in my garden (mostly on native plants). Are others of you counting all that you see?

Yes, any and all that I manage to photograph.

Only a couple of my pictures were taken at work, but I think the rest were from my yard.

Addendum: of 26 I have listed, 23 were either in my yard or house, 2 I photographed at work, and one on the beach.

If they all have to be from my yard, then my number is 20.

Only yard / house / any other space you have control over (e.g. plot in community garden). Otherwise we could all go to a butterfly sanctuary. (I have photos from California...) Purpose is what are you attracting / supporting with your garden?

It has gotten much cooler here in Rockville. I'm still seeing butterflies from time to time (now they're on my sedum), but no different species. Next year, I'll need to move my native plants to a different place as a maple tree seems to have overgrown my formerly sunny vegetable garden. :(

Weather here went suddenly from needing a fan to needing a blanket. I'm still seeing butterflies in the afternoon on sunny days (saw a monarch today), but not many, except skippers. I have six black swallowtail caterpillars chomping away on dill plants, and three that have been in chrysalis form for a couple weeks. I don't know whether they'll emerge soon or wait until spring.

(44) My bad, I misunderstood...sorry.

It's dusk when I get home, so I've not seen any butterflies this week.

#28
Meadow Fritillary (Boloria bellona)
21 September 2012 on ground in my back yard

Beautiful, @qebo!

What are all the butterflies doing on the gound?!

Basking in the sunshine? It was also flitting around the flowers, but I didn't get a photo then.

Warming their wings, perhaps? I have read that on cool mornings butterflies bask in the sun until their body temperature is high enough.

#29
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
30 September 2012 on butterfly bush in my back yard

Poor thing looks faded. I have read that as they age, a butterfly's wings get dull colored. :(

Lookee! Lookee! It's not from home, so I know it doesn't count towards the competition, but I finally got a shot of a Tiger Swallowtail!


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), of the female persuasion.

I would have gotten more and hopefully better pictures, but the bus was waiting and I had to go.

Distinctive, isn't it? So the people on the bus were watching you chase butterflies?

LOLOL, don't think so...it was on the other side of a building.

I want to recommend Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver's stories are various, but her themes always tie to the land. This is about a relocation of the wintering site of monarch butterflies, from Mexico to Tennessee, which may be fictional, but is based on fact.
Wikipedia says: "Recent deforestation of the monarch's overwintering grounds has led to a drastic reduction in the butterfly's population."

Anyway, I'm learning a whole lot about the species. And of course, Kingsolver is a great story-teller. She narrates the audio book.

58: Yeah, I've had my eye on that. She has a degree in biology.