Update From the Butterfly Ranch

From this week we've observed plenty of butterflies flitting-about and visiting the sxplosion of wildflowers out back in the prairie planting.  Including.....

Tiger Swallowtail

Spangled Fritillary

Monarch 

Dispatch From the Butterfly Ranch

Jill and I are in agreement that the 2019 butterfly recruitment was among the best of years in our memories.  Which would make for a lot of collective memory.

The dominant species was the monarch - and likely attributable to the abundance of milkweed host plant growing around here.  I suppose if more individual landowners and homeowners made an effort to favor pollinator habitat in lieu of sterile and manicured landscape we could provide these winged critters and all of their insect cousins a better start to life and survivability in general in an increasingly chemical dominated world.

At the time of this posting we still have monarch caterpillars that have yet to pupate.  We have chrysalis attached to the house, the porch furniture, garden plants, the shed and just about anywhere else you might care to look.  There are adult butterflies yet to emerge although the current generation flying-about should begin staging for the annual migration before too long.

Just like the orioles, tree swallows and redwing blackbirds have all left us for their southern homes - the monarchs will follow.  The eastern tiger swallowtail pupa overwinter as well as the first and second instar larvae of the viceroy.

As we prepare to say goodbye here are some photos to remember them by...

click on images for a closer look

Viceroy

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (black phase)

Monarch

Flying Tiger

Meet Papilio glaucus - the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

Characterized by yellow wings and black tiger stripes it is difficult not to take notice of this flashy butterfly.  The specimen captured in the photo is a paler phase.

Habitat is mixed conifer/deciduous forest and open land including urban settings.  It feeds-upon alder, willow and poplar and favors wetter habitat.  In Wisconsin it reproduces two generations.



click on the image for a close-up

Butterfly Ranch Report

Seen on the butterfly ranch was this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail...

 

Flutterby

From the butterfly ranch there is this...

 

Power of Observation

Try this sometime.

Locate an item of interest in the natural world and see what you can find/observe in the space of five minutes or so.

I did this the other day.  I picked a clump of milkweed in the yard and no sooner had I arrived to check it out this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail lit on a milkweed bloom.  It's flutter was a-stutter tho...

click on images for a better look

No wonder.  It was missing half of its tail.  I wonder what the story is behind that?

  

Lurking amongst the shadows and blending-in with its pale green camouflage was this katydid...

   .

Hiding in a milkweed bloom was a Monarch caterpillar... 

And locating caterpillar frass (poop) on the leaves of a milkweed I tracked this guy down...

It is mind-boggling to think of how much of the natural world we pass by on a daily basis simply because we don't take the time to stop and observe.  

Don't waste your powers of observation and never allow them to waste-away...

ButterFly Ranching Continued

In-coming!

From our walk thru the butterfly ranch is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail coming in for a landing on a Prairie Blazing Star.

 

Amazing....

 

 

click on image for a better look