Butterfly Buffet

 

All sorts of butterflies really seem to love this gomphrena plant...

Fly Away

 

This monarch butterfly couldn't, well, fly. At first. She fluttered but couldn't lift off. If you look closely, on the right side the hind wing was on top of the forewing, for reasons unknown. Unlike the butterfly in my latest monarch post, this one shows no signs of age/wear, which makes me wonder if perhaps it is newly hatched...

I decided to move her onto this pentas plant so at least she could get some nutrition from the nectar; she very happily began to feed. When I came out an hour or so later, there was no sign of her, so I assume (hope!) that she somehow managed to fly away. They are toxic to birds--and the birds know it and do not try to consume them--so there isn't really another explanation.

This is before I moved her to the plant...she went for a walk up my arm.

The next day, there was a monarch fluttering around the yard--I like to think that it was this butterfly coming back for a victory lap. 

Bedraggled But Beautiful

 

This lovely monarch has definitely been through some things: it is missing part of a hind wing and its wing scales are scratched and worn. It--and it is a male ("dots" on hind wings identify it as such)--is still very beautiful. And it has found the "Monarch Magic" ageratum plant at the nursery!

Monarch on the Way

 

So exciting...you can see the edge of the wing there on the right...

Battered Beauty

 

This monarch lovely has been through it...check out the holes in her wings. They are amazing creatures.

Descendant?

 This monarch beauty fluttered around for about 20 minutes laying eggs on the milkweed. I like to think she is a descendant of the butterfly I nursed a few years ago...

Pretty/Sad

When I saw this I thought, "Wow, how pretty..." Alas, the monarch is deceased...but at least it died in a place of beauty.

Miraculous Monarch

Just...amazing.

I have TONS of photos of this lovely's emergence, so more butterfly spam TK!

Hello Again

I was just saying to someone that I have not seen any monarch butterfly caterpillars this year, and lo and behold, look who I found (I also found a dead one, boo!). The milkweed is quite sparse this year, so I worry that there will not be enough to feed this dude/dudette until it becomes a chrysalis.

A New Arrival (and Departure)

 While there were four in my latest batch of caterpillars, I could only find one chrysalis. And it took more than two weeks for the butterfly to emerge, so I was worried that something had gone wrong. But yesterday:

 Hello, lovely!

 Oops, he fell right over!

I sat and watched it for a while--I might have talked to it as well, ahem--and then I went inside. About an hour later, it was gone. Yay!

Say Hello to My Little Friends

They're baaaaack...yay!

Hope these can pupate and turn into butterflies; the last couple were parasitized by the nasty tachnid fly and didn't make it [frowny face].

CRS

I found this dude wandering around in the dirt, far away from the milkweed plants.

Even though I know I shouldn't intervene with Mother Nature, I picked it up and relocated it back onto the milkweed. I'm the CRS: Caterpillar Rescue Squad!

Wish I Were a Butterfly Medic

I found this butterfly on the ground, trying desperately to fly. I left it alone, initially, thinking perhaps it had just come out of its chrysalis and its wings were wet.

But no. It had a folded forewing, which meant it couldn't fly. It crawled onto my hand and we had a little conversation. I tried to unfold it, gently, and it held still while I attempted to do so. While I could unfold it, it wouldn't stay unfolded--I think perhaps this deformity was caused by a virus that deforms these beauties in the chrysalis.

I tried to feed him (black dot on wing means a male), but he wasn't interested in the sugar water. I placed him on a flower, and when I came back, he was nowhere to be found. Yay, I thought.

Alas, I found him a few days later, deceased. RIP, little beauty. I'm sorry I couldn't save you...