Not A Toy For Toby!

Thought this was too cute. Our "kitten", Toby, just loves the butterflies, as you would imagine. Here, he is watching a newly emerged female Monarch before we released her, yesterday.

If you enlarge this image by clicking on it, you will see black frass which is "caterpillar poopies". Now that all the cats have pupated, I was able to safely clean that out from the bottom of the container! --LKR

Pereserverance Pays Off!

Yesterday, I made it a point to seek out and rescue Monarch eggs and cats before the expected rains. One open field I normally find them in had turned up dozens of eaten eggs by an abundance of lacewings in that location. Unwilling to allow this to discourage my efforts, I headed off to the woods with my trusty pooch. After two hours of searching, we returned home with 33 eggs and four 1st and 2nd instar cats. Not bad!!!Often, once buds appear on milkweed plants, female Monarchs will lay their eggs on these. Ditto once pods begin to form. Both provide larvae with plenty of food for their ravenous appetites. One difficulty with the pods and buds is that very young cats are difficult to find! --LKR

A Most Unfortunate Encounter

Tragedy struck, quite literally. Driving home this evening with my hubby, a beautiful male cecropia moth flew out into traffic. It was briefly illuminated in our headlights before we struck the poor creature. This is not how I wished it's fate to be.

Silkworm moths, especially larger ones like the luna, promethia, and cecropia (the largest of them all), are on my list of those I wish to rear from egg to adulthood. Happily, we did once raise a female cecropia from a last instar caterpillar, and also had the cocoon of a male that emerged one spring, but I'd love to see the full life cycle and experience more of these magnificent marvels.

On a happier note, earlier today, my son pointed out a giant swallowtail nectaring in Big Falls County Park. Stunning!!! --LKR

Monarch Eggs Are Not On Today's Menu...

Monarch eggs on milkweed leaves

Today, I spotted at least four beautiful green lacewings. They are very beneficial insects that normally eat aphids, and regrettably, butterfly and moth eggs, too. Fortunately, I found these eggs before they did! --LKR

Monarchs

At 2:00pm, a Monarch flew in front of our lilac bushes as I was scanning for an elusive Tiger Swallowtail to photograph. This male Monarch was pristine, flying fast though the rather breezy afternoon under partly cloudy skies. Reported this to Journey North.

Just in case..., I checked for eggs on our common milkweed plants. (I check almost every day.) None--yet! --LKR