What a wonderful discovery I made this morning. A cocoon that had formed on one of my brug pots and I've been watching daily for a while now transformed over night into a beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtail. I believe it is a female from the description in the attached article. Not sure if I'll be lucky enough to see her fly away but I'll be checking often during the day for the opportunity.
I keep telling my hubby and friends not to squish the pesky caterpillars because they do produce another phase of beauty for the garden. A few munched leaves along the way can't hurt and this makes it all worthwhile.
Well, I missed it ( 5 mins later)..while writing this post, she must have been dry enough to take off. Also, the sun came out after being overcast this morning which might have been a motivation. You can bet I'll be smiling everytime I see a EBS in my yard and wondering if it's her!
Jarie
Mission, TX
Rio Grande Valley
Zone 9
This message has been edited by jas4141 on May 1, 2007 11:39 AM This message has been edited by jas4141 on May 1, 2007 11:24 AM
Gosh, what a neat treat for you. They are so pretty. Does anyone have information on how to feed the butterflies until flowers are blooming? We have nothing here for them to eat, but they are here. I put fruit out, but it dries so quickly.
Named her May/Mae since she made her appearance on May 1/May Day. Haven't seen her since she left the pot. Hope I didn't scare her too much!! Did take a bunch of pictures and when I moved the pot a bit, she opened her wings. Wish I'd had one with her on my finger but was afraid to get too close. Anyway, she's flittin' around here somewhere. Hope she doesn't tangle with a human driving machine or a butterfly muncher.
thats cool i put a pic on the butterfly forum of a monarch i seen it in the morning and put my hand out and it crawled onto my thub and was content just staying right. there even brought it inside to get the camera took it back out and took the pics i put it in a spot where it could get some sun and finish getting ready to fly took a few minutes to get it to leave my hand. they are a neat thing to see from cat to butterfly.gues si could put the pics here too
in gardening there are no failures only learning experiances unless of course you give up mikey in fl
Jarie, May/Mae is just lovely! I haven't even SEEN a butterfly this year yet...I hope you spot her again and that she makes her permanent home in your gardens.
How exciting, Mikey, to have that pretty monarch on your thumb. By the way, May is still missing. In fact, there have been very few butterflies in the garden. Hope she didn't hatch too soon.
Maybe your May is on the way to Iowa. I leave the milkweed growing just for the Monarchs. If she drops by, she will be well fed. LOL!
Mikey, nice pictures of your butterfly. We have several other kinds around here, but they are probably very hungry unless they are eating the Baltimore Oriole's orange or grape jelly.
I can't wait for more butterflies to start appearing. My hope would be that May and many other beauties frequent your garden this summer, Shirley. We have quite a few of the Eastern Black Swallowtails in our area as well as many smaller butterflies....don't know all their names. We have a Butterfly Festival here in Mission each year. People come from all over to see the different varieties here.
Jarie, we have a lot of Monarch butterflies here, & I saw once on a nature program how they all migrate to TX in fall & no one knows why (at least not then they didn't). I mean, from all over the country...they go to TX! Does anyone know why?! This stuff just amazes me. I wish Possum & Racoons would go up north in summer here LOL.
Are you having the 17 year cicada bug (sickada) mating this year too! Oh...it will be hell for awhile. They are beatle -like bugs that scream all night in trees looking for their mates. I had one (only 1) in my front tree about 12 yrs ago (a late hatcher?) that screamed all night looking for a mate, & my neighbor (thinking it was something much bigger) starting shooting his BB or pellet gun into tree w/ no results. I sure hope they don't hang around here!! They stay in trees & you can't find them. They wake up at night & scream very high pitched. I'd rather hear sirens.
for a while now transformed over night into a beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtail. I believe it is a female from the description in the attached article. Not sure if I'll be lucky enough to see her fly away but I'll be checking often during the day for the opportunity.
Did take a bunch of pictures and when I moved the pot a bit, she opened her wings. Wish I'd had one with her on my finger but was afraid to get too close. Anyway, she's flittin' around here somewhere. Hope she doesn't tangle with a human driving machine or a butterfly muncher. 
