Queen and Monarch Butterflies

Queen and Monarch Butterflies

 

Today I saw a Queen and Monarch butterflies flying around in my backyard, feeding on some dandelions.  I took some pictures from my window.  They were absolutely beautiful!

 

Monarch butterfly feeding on dandelion flower.




Queen butterfly feeding on dandelion flower.



 The Queen butterfly stuck around a little bit longer, so I got another nice picture of it:



Queen butterfly feeding on dandelion flower.

They looked so similar at first when I was taking pictures of them from my window.  However, you can see the difference in the pictures above.  The Monarch butterfly has darker, thicker, black veins on the inside and outside of its wings.  The Queen butterfly has thinner black veins only on the outside of its wings.  The Queen also has smaller white dots on the inside and outside of it's wings.  Another difference to note is that it the Queen butterfly has more of a brown color, and the Monarch butterfly has more of an orange color to the wings.

Polyphemus (Silk) Moth Caterpillars Eating Host Plant

Polyphemus (Silk) Moth Caterpillars Eating Host Plant

 

I have been raising a lot of Polyphemus (Silk) moth caterpillars this past month and they have grown fast!

 

Here are some pictures that I have taken of them at this stage:



Polyphemus (Silk) moth caterpillars preparing to shed skin.

Polyphemus (Silk) moth caterpillars feeding on host plant, Oak tree.

Polyphemus (Silk) moth caterpillars feeding on host plant, Oak tree.



You can see below how well the Polyphemus (Silk) moth caterpillars blend in with the leaves of their host plant. 



Polyphemus (Silk) moth caterpillars feeding on host plant, Oak tree.



Once these caterpillars are larger, their heads are more of a dark orange color.  They have a beautiful shiny blue stripe at its end on the side.  Their bodies are a light green color.  There are tiny silver hairs all over their body.  You can see that the caterpillars get big and fat as they grow.

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One Hundred Polyphemus (Silk) Caterpillars

One Hundred Polyphemus (Silk) Caterpillars!

 

 

I have been busy this past month feeding about one hundred caterpillars.  These are Polyphemus moth caterpillars (also called Silk moths).  I have plenty of pictures of the caterpillars.  Soon I will have many more pictures of the Polyphemus (Silk) moth!

 

Here are some pictures that I managed to take while feeding all of these caterpillars their host plant:



Polyphemus (Silk) moth caterpillar feeding on host plant, Oak tree.

 

Polyphemus (Silk) moth caterpillars looking for host plant, Oak tree.

 

This is when the Polyphemus (Silk) moth caterpillars first hatched.  There were only a few caterpillars that I was able to take a picture of.  They are so small when they first hatch!  You can only imagine how fast the food gets eaten from all of these.

 

Their eggs are white.  These caterpillars have red heads when they first hatch.  Their bodies are green with organge/yellow spikes or spines.

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This is My Caterpillar Christmas Tree (Polyphemus)

This is My Caterpillar Christmas Tree (Polyphemus)

 

This is my caterpillar Christmas tree!  The caterpillars are the ornaments.  I collect butterflies and moths.  We have a moth that laid hundreds of eggs and some of them hatched.
 



My Caterpillar Christmas Tree (Polyphemus)

 These are Polyphemus moth caterpillars eating on their host plant, a Live Oak tree.  They are also called Silk Moths.

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What Kind of Butterfly is This?

What Kind of Butterfly is This?

 

What kind of butterfly is this?




What kind of butterfly is this?

 

Hawk Moth

Hawk Moth

 

This is a picture of a hawk moth that I saw outside of my window today.

 

 I love the unique color and features that different types of hawk moths have.  All kinds of mixtures of brown are on its wings, like waves.

This one has huge eyes, and legs like a poodle!

 

I also got some pictures from underneath the hawk moth.

 

 

They are strange and beautiful.  Their wings are shaped like an arrow almost.  Hawk moths have a really large abdomen.  I enjoyed watching this moth today and taking pictures.



Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Today I saw a beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly flying around in my backyard.  It fed on the zenas in my backyard.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

I love the black stripes on these butterflies.  It is amazing to watch them fly.  Eastern Tiger Swallowtail buterflies also have black stripes on their bodies like in the picture above.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly


They have such beautiful colors!

Sulphur Butterflies

Sulphur Butterflies

Today I saw some beautiful Sulphur butterflies!  I love to see these butterflies fly around in my backyard. 

There were two kinds of Sulfur butterflies that I saw this morning:

1. Cloudless Sulphur butterfly





Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

These Sulphurs have more of a cloudy yellow color.



Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly



2. Large Orange Sulphur butterfly





Large Orange Sulphur Butterfly

The Large Orange is one of my favorite Sulphur butterflies.  Their bright yellow color attracts my attention.

I love to watch the different kinds of yellow Sulphur butterflies flying around in my backyard and feeding on my zenas.

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What's That Butterfly?

What's That Butterfly?

Try to guess the butterfly from the clues given below.  If you are ready to see the answer, click here.

 

Clue 1

Butterfly Clue 1

Clue 2

Butterfly Clue 2

 Clue 3

Butterfly Clue 3



Clue 4

Butterfly Clue 4

Clue 5

Butterfly Clue 5

Clue 6

Butterfly Clue 6

 Clue 7

Butterfly Clue 7

Click here to see the answer.

Beautiful Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

Beautiful Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

This morning was filled with beautiful giant swallowtail butterflies! 





Giant Swallowtail butterfly feeding on zena.

 

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly feeding on zena.

 

My zena's are finally blooming, so they stuck around a while longer.





Giant Swallowtail Butterfly feeding on zena.

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly feeding on zena.

 



Giant Swallowtail Butterfly feeding on penta plant.

The giant swallowtail butterflies also fed on some penta flower plants in my backyard.  (Picture above)

The picture below is of a giant swallowtail butterfly laying eggs on its host plant, a citrus tree.





Giant Swallowtail Butterfly laying eggs on host plant (citrus tree).

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

 

Today I saw a giant swallowtail butterfly while watering my backyard.  It was beautiful and breathtaking.  It flew in around laying eggs on my citrus trees.  I was excited!

I got some pictures of it flying around.

 



Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

I took a look at my citrus trees later on and found some caterpillars.

 

Giant Swallowtail caterpillar on host plant.

 

Giant Swallowtail caterpillar on host plant.

 

I keep you posted with more on these caterpillars feeding and such.



Buckeye Butterfly

Buckeye Butterfly

 

The picture below is of a buckeye butterfly that I spotted in my backyard today.




Buckeye Butterfly

 

It is easy to identify these butterflies when you see them, once you know what they are!

It fluttered around in my grass.  The buckeye only landed and rested enough at times for me to get a couple of these pictures.




Buckeye Butterfly

 

 

Buckeye Butterfly

 

Buckeye Butterfly

Question Mark Butterfly

Question Mark Butterfly

Today I saw a Question Mark butterfly flying around one of my trees in my backyard.  These butterflies are always flying close to me.




Question Mark Butterfly
 

I love the shape of their wings!  I used to call them leaf butterflies because they blended in so well like a leaf.  The inside of their wings are beautiful.  It contrasts sharply to the light color on the outside.

A picture of the inside wings.

 




Question Mark Butterfly

 

They are beautiful.

 



Kissing Bugs

WARNING:

 

Kissing Bugs

I don't know if anyone has heard the news about kissing bugs spreading a danger of aids or a disease like it. 
Here's the article I read:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/chagas-tropical-disease-really-aids-145745645.html

I read the article and looked up what these bugs look like.

We have these bugs in Texas during the summer!

I will be taking some precaution of this until summer is over.

Zenas

My Zenas




Zenas

I planted these zenas a couple of weeks ago.  Looks like they are doing good.  Soon they will be food for the butterflies in my backyard.

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly



Gulf Fritillary butterfly feeding on zena

The Gulf Fritillary Butterfly is around Texas at this time of year. 

It's host plant is passionflower.  The caterpillars look like a orange-red-brown color with black thorns around the body. 

They are really not thorns!  They are actually pretty soft.  These black thorn looking things get larger as the caterpillar gets larger.

The Butterfly is very beautiful with white spots and a mixture of brown and reddish color around them.  I love watching these butterflies spread their wings because there is a totally different color on the inside from the outside!  A nice brown texture with black lining within.

Take a look!!

 

Gulf Fritillary butterfly feeding on lantana

 

Oh, yeah.  I forgott the 3 tiny little white dots on the upper part of the wing... How could I forgett that.  (Joking)

Gulf Fritillary

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar

I have some passionflower in my backyard.  Recently, I spotted a gulf fritillary caterpillar feeding on it.



Gulf Fritillary caterpillar on host plant

I have yet to see the butterfly, but I am waiting!  ....