Butterfly Garden Notes, 6/18/2016 and 6/19/2016

This weekend was HOT.  Friday started off in the 90s and then the rest of the weekend was well over 100 degrees.  This was a dramatic change from last weekend’s cool, damp weather.  Over the course of the weekend I saw the following butterflies in my garden:  Skippers, Duskywings, Cabbage Whites, Sulphurs, Marine Blues and on Sunday, I spotted another Hairstreak.

There were two monarch caterpillars munching away on the milkweed on the patio.  One is a bit larger then the other, but they are both in or near their 5th instar.  Friday evening when I was watering the patio, I noticed that the larger of the two had crawled off the milkweed.  I assumed he went off to find a place to pupate, but as I continued to water I saw the poor little guy crawling across the patio soaking wet from my garden hose.  I put my finger down on the ground, and he crawled up onto it.  I placed him back on the milkweed, and he stayed there chomping away until late Sunday afternoon.  After that he was gone.  As of this morning (Monday, June 20), only the one caterpillar remains.  I suppose by evening he will also have ventured off to find a place to make a chrysalis.  Good luck little buddy!

I have not noticed any new monarch caterpillars or eggs on either the milkweed on the patio or on the front porch.  The little ones on the front porch that I’ve seen in the past don’t seem to last very long.  The front of the house gets a lot of wasps, so I think they have a lesser chance of surviving.  I’ve had more luck with caterpillars on the back patio making it to their 5th instar.  I just wish the patio was more open and visible.  Nevertheless, the monarch butterflies do seem to be finding the milkweed there.  I have it on the top plant shelves and now that it is growing taller, it is more visible over the patio walls.  When I go searching I always seem to find monarch eggs in both places (front porch and patio), so they are coming to the garden, but obviously not every egg hatches to become a full grown caterpillar and then a butterfly since I am raising them “in the wild” and not in a cage.  I should also note that this weekend I saw a female cabbage white ovipositing on the cleome and nasturtium on the front porch.  I’ve seen her lay eggs there before but have yet to see any caterpillars.

In other news, I am excited to report that the eggs that were on the dill I brought home last weekend have hatched.  The caterpillars are getting big enough to identify now, and I can see at least 3 which I believe to be swallowtails.

Monarch caterpillars on Milkweed

Skipper

Marine Blue

Butterflies I saw today at Descanso Gardens

Butterfly Garden Notes, 6/17/2016

Saw a new butterfly in my garden today. I think it may be a Gray Hairstreak, common in California. It's also the size of my thumbnail. I saw it when I was outside watering and after a bunch of shitty cell phone pictures, I ran inside to grab the camera hoping it would still be there. Thankfully, it hung around for a few more seconds and I got a couple of images good enough to make an identification. I never realized there were so many different kinds of tiny butterflies until I created this garden and they started showing up.

Butterfly Garden Notes, 6/12/2016

This weekend was unusually cool for June.  The marine layer didn’t lift at all on Saturday and the weather was cool and even misting most of the day.  Not good butterfly watching weather!  Sunday was about the same minus the drizzle.  Fortunately, around 2:30 the sun finally came out. As soon as it did, the butterflies were all over my garden within seconds!  Literally!  I saw a lot of Skippers, two Marine Blues both male and female and a female Cabbage White who appeared to be ovipositing on the nasturtium.  Besides the adult butterflies, there are at least three monarch caterpillars at various instars on the milkweed on the patio.  I’m learning not to get too excited about these caterpillars since I know raising them outside of captivity lessens their chances of ever making it to adulthood.  Nevertheless, it’s nice to know I do have caterpillars in the garden and I feel good about having created a habitat to host them.

Lastly, I stopped by the garden center and picked up some dill and some rue to put on the front porch.  As I was potting up the dill, I noticed two yellow/orange eggs which I believe may be some sort of swallowtail eggs.  Score!  Fingers crossed that they hatch before any predators find them.

Male Marine Blue resting in the roses

Female Marine Blue on Rose

Skipper on Milkweed

Duskywing on Milkweed

Female Cabbage White on Catmint

Butterfly garden notes, 6/9/16, New Kid on the Block

I found another little monarch caterpillar.  This one's on the milkweed on the paito.  I sure hope he makes it!  I should note that I have not seen the little one I saw on the milkweed on the front porch.  I tried to find him tonight, but either I didn't see him, or he got eaten up.

Butterfly Garden Notes, 6/6/2016: Case of the Missing Chrysalis

Last night I came home from work to find that Harry’s chrysalis was gone.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was so upset.  I thought maybe the leaf he attached himself to had fallen off, so I went outside to the patio and started moving plants out of the way to see if I could find it and nothing.  I started checking the leaves on the vine to see if maybe I just didn’t see it.  That’s when I discovered what was left.  The pupa was completely gone and the only thing there was the silk button stuck to the underside of the leaf and cremaster.  What a loss.  I was completely bummed out.  I wish I knew what got to it.  I guess it could be a number of things --wasp, spider, ants, praying mantis maybe?  Ugh!

After the initial shock of losing Harry, I went out to water the garden.  Afterwards I started searching the milkweed for more monarch eggs and caterpillars.  Thankfully, I did find at least one monarch egg and one tiny caterpillar on the milkweed in front of the house.  I am not getting my hopes up for another Harry, but at least I know the circle of life continues.

Butterfly Garden Notes, June 5, 2016

This weekend had its ups and downs in the butterfly garden.  I’ll start with the good...  One of the monarch caterpillars that has been consuming the milkweed has become a chrysalis.  I named him Harry Houdini due to the fact that he crawled off the milkweed, disappeared and then kept reappearing in random places around my patio.  Saturday afternoon, fat and happy Harry ventured off in search of a place to pupate.  I thought for sure I’d never see him again, but as I was rearranging plants later that afternoon, I saw him crawling up a shelf on the opposite side of the patio.  I only took my eye off him for a moment and “poof!”, he was gone again.  I was confident that that was the last I’d see him, but to my surprise, Sunday afternoon I discovered him hanging in a “J” under a clematis vine leaf!  I was so excited I ran in the house shouting with glee!  My poor husband who had been taking a nap was abruptly woken up by my singing and dancing around the house.  Obviously, I insisted he come with me immediately to the patio to see J hanging Harry.  I knew it wouldn’t be long if all went well until he became a chrysalis, and sure enough, this morning he had transformed into a beautiful green pupa.

Now onto the sad news… The other monarch caterpillar who I named Dora the Explorer because she left the milkweed and crawled onto another plant to molt, was found DOA in the milkweed Sunday morning.  She had what appeared to be white threads hanging from her body which would indicate she may have fallen victim to a Tachinid fly.  In addition, I notice one of the freshly hatched caterpillars was dead, and I did not see any of the others (there were at least 3 brand new ones that had just hatched this week).  I’m hoping some of the others are still alive and I just didn’t spot them since they’re so tiny, but I’m not getting my hopes up.  

As for butterfly sightings this weekend, I saw the usual suspects; Funereal Duskywing, Fiery Skippers, Orange Sulphur and Cabbage White.  As for uniques, I saw a Common Checkered Skipper who I managed to get a photo of on the flowers in front of the house.  I’d never seen one this color before, and it’s body was a beautiful shade of light blue.  Lastly, I should make note that I did see what may have been a monarch flying around the courtyard Saturday morning as I was returning home.  I’m not 100% certain that it was a monarch though because it was a little far away and seemed to just be passing by without stopping by my garden.