Monarch News

In the butterfly news, more Monarch caterpillars were discovered on some Purple Milkweed plants I grew from seed this year. I decided to transfer the three that I found over to the Swamp Milkweed nearby so the Purple can get a good start this year. We're going to get the yard certified as a Monarch waystation- one of the requirements is that food plants are available. We have Swamp, Purple, and Indian milkweed plants as well as Butterfly Weed, another type, and this Fall I'll put some Common Milkweed seeds down at the top of the hill.

A Whatzit

Had an odd moth show up on the milkweed the other day- I've seen a few of these but was unable to get back with the camera before it flew off. I was pretty thrilled to get a new insect until I found out what it is- a Squash Vine Borer moth. This is a pest that lays eggs on squash vines which then hatch out into a caterpillar that burrows into the vine and eats it from within, killing some sections of the vine. As I found it four feet away from the squash patch this is not a good thing. Fortunately most of the vines are rooted in a few different places, so we won't lose much. We did just pick a nice healthy Butternut Squash and the season won't last too much longer, so it's not a major catastrophe.

Cycle of Life

Just noticed that there's a few small holes in some of the Swamp Milkweed leaves next to the back gate. Hmm. Do we have a vandal desecrating the milkweed? Let's put on our Sherlock Holmes hat and see who or what might be causing this. Step one: turn leaf over. Step two: look at underside of leaf. Step three: identify vandal. Yup, the usual suspect. Small, striped in black/yellow/white. Parent was around a few days ago- this is definitely a Monarch caterpillar. This one is about 3/8" long, but by next week will be double that size. The cycle starts again!

Sometimes the smallest and most unobtrusive butterflies can show some real beauty (or oddity). The first shot is an Eastern Tailed Blue- one of our smallest butterflies (they're about the size of a thumbnail). Normally they're seen fluttering around close to the ground, with only the pale blue outer surface of their wings visible. I've rarely gotten a shot of these little guys with their wings spread, but it's worth the wait- look at the second shot.

The third shot is of a Skipper butterfly feeding on some Swamp Milkweed. Click on the picture and check out that long tongue, which must be good for getting into the milkweed blossoms!

Wildlife on Monarch Lane

After mentioning the other day that visits from Monarchs had been pretty rare, I noticed that whenever I looked out in the yard today there was a Monarch feeding on the Swamp Milkweed. This leads me to believe that sometime soon something very small will start appearing underneath the milkweed leaves- the small object seen in the picture. This is a Monarch egg- about the size of a poppy seed. As mentioned before, as soon as the caterpillars hatch they start growing at an incredible rate. The Swamp Milkweed is still in full bloom, much to my surprise. It's probably because it's a bit shadier in our back yard so it blooms later than most of our local milkweed.

In other news, we have company- granddaughter Immi. Last night we ate outside on the deck, and Immi saw her first hummingbird- the hummingbird feeder was six feet away from where we were eating and the hummers were visiting the feeder as we ate. Also coming to the sunflower, thistle, and suet feeders next to that were three species of woodpeckers- a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers with one or two of their offspring (a pair showed up this winter and I hoped they would stick around), several Downy woodpeckers, and a juvenile Red-bellied, dressed nicely in almost all gray. I'm assuming it'll acquire adult plumage withing the next year.

Two Encounters

One close and one a little further away. The first is a family of swans on a pond near where I was doing a butterfly count the other weekend. These are not your Mute Swans found in city parks and the like; these are Trumpeter Swans.

Second shot is of a visitor that's been a little rare this year- a Monarch butterfly. We haven't seen too many of them this year, and the ones that have appeared on the Swamp Milkweed in the back yard have been feeding but I haven't seen any of them laying eggs yet. When that happens the caterpillars grow at an unbelievable rate- before you know what's happened several of the milkweed plants have been decimated and we start finding the chrysalises here and there. I'm guessing at least 35 of them emerged in our yard last year and headed south.

What's Up?

This is the little plot on the side of the garden- always interesting to see what comes out of the compost pile. Seen in the top picture, left to right, are an odd pair of heirloom tomatoes from Russia, Purple and Indian Milkweed plants in pots which are about to be transplanted, an Avocado, another regular red tomato, a Ginger plant, three different members of the squash family (Pumpkin, Delicata, and Butternut Squash) and a row of ornamental beans along the fence. All the squash plants originally started in the compost pile. The second picture is, I suspect, a pumpkin- it's about 10" or so around right now. The little light colored patch near the gate at the bottom of the fence is a Cicada Killer burrow- there's a few more in and around the plot.

Also noted recently were Goldfinches feeding on something on the Swamp Milkweed- they're so light they barely make the milkweed stems bend down. They also get busy on the Black-eyed Susans and various other daisy like plants at this time of the year taking the seed heads apart.

Noted at or near the feeders this morning were Hummingbirds, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, a Towhee, Carolina Chickadees, Titmice, and a Song Sparrow.

Nocturnal Visitor

Finally got a good drenching thunderstorm this evening- rain barrel has been dry for too long. It fills up very quickly when we get rain, and the rainwater is good for watering the tomatoes, which we're starting to pick quite a few of. The Yellow Pear plant is now two feet over my head and being supported not only by its cage but also by a nearby bush it's leaning on. As though to celebrate the rain, a large American Toad appeared on the front sidewalk. I decided that he would be happier in the backyard with a bit more cover and all sorts of nice things for him to eat, especially slugs. He expressed his displeasure at being picked up by urinating copiously all over my hand. Posted by Dirck Harris at 7:54 PM