Butterflies, Skippers & Moths

A couple of weeks ago I opened the door to let the dogs out for their morning business and saw something on the door out of the corner of my eye. Turning to look, I nearly fell over! This moth is about 2" long, what a monster! I was really excited because I instantly recognized it as a Hawk Moth, sometimes called a Hummingbird Moth because it can hover in midair like a hummingbird and is also a nectar feeder. Moths in this group also have the longest proboscis (tongues) in the world (Morgan's Sphinx Moth holds the record at 1 foot long). It was so wonderful to get a nice picture of this beauty! Note: My apologies for being so slow to put up new pictures, I've been working on my book! If you would like read more about these moths, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: White-Lined Hawk Moth For more informations on this fascinating family of moths, visit this Wiki page: Wiki: Hawk Moths Explored on ipernity on April 7, 2014. Highest placement, #2.

8 more pictures in notes above! :) Hooray! Hooray!!! Sing to the high heavens, for Emerging Day has arrived!!! Miracles of all miracles, I can hardly believe my own two eyes!! I have had the distinct and awesome opportunity to successfully raise Clio Tiger Moths from eggs through all caterpillar stages, and through the month-long duration of their pupa stage as they transformed into adult moths, and now they are emerging in all of their incredible beauty for me to share with you!! The entire event from start to finish is simply AMAZING to me. I have never tried to raise caterpillars before, and I thought I might end up killing them all, but I have somehow managed to do a good job, as they are now hatching as adults, one by one, with wet and wrinkled wings. I find them after they wiggle out of their cocoons and sit still, slowly pumping blood into their wings to inflate and flatten them over the course of many hours as they dry. At night time I am releasing them onto the white railings on our back deck where they can sit safely camouflaged and when they are ready, they fly away into the night! Each will "overwinter", clinging to the bark of a tree until the springtime, when they will come out of their hibernation state and feed before mating and beginning the cycle all over again! Isn't it an amazing miracle?!! WOW!! I have a huge show to share tonight, with 7 different images of the moths and pupae about to hatch! I will make all of the images available for closer inspection but they will also be viewable here as insets on the picture above, which shows a newly emerged adult with rumpled wings! :) Elizabeth David CBE (born Elizabeth Gwynne; 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer who, in the mid-20th century, strongly influenced the revitalisation of the art of home cookery with articles and books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes. Wikipedia: Elizabeth David

It takes several hours before these moth's wings flatten out and dry properly. Watching carefully, I could see this moth slowly pumping the wings, working blood into them to help inflate them. I coaxed this moth onto a milkweed pod so that I could take pictures. Thankfully it only needed to crawl a few steps, as I didn't want to disturb it. A few pictures later, I set it down on the pod and left it in peace. :)

This was the very first moth that emerged, and before I released it, I was able to get it to crawl onto my finger for a picture! They look like British royalty with those lovely tiger-striped wings! Not the same as the spotted ermine but I think lovelier by far! :) (Texture by Jerry Jones )

This moth has dried its wings and is clinging to the side of the habitat I have for them. Later I will release them outside on our white wooden railings. They will be safe from hungry birds with the perfect camouflage if they should stay for a day or two, but the ones that I've released so far have all flown away during the night!

I thought this position was just so funny looking when I saw it on my computer! Definitely one very cool moth, it reminds me of that stance I see rappers do sometimes with their arms crossed around themselves! :D So funny!

How beautiful these moths are. I don't know about you, but personally, I didn't know moths could be so pretty until I became a photographer. It never occurred to me that moths could be as lovely or moreso than butterflies! What a reward for me to see dozens of them after the months of caring for them! A true and utter delight! (Texture by Jerry Jones )

(many text notes above) This moth is just about to emerge and you can see it clearly inside the cocoon! In fact, if you look carefully, you can see the antennae! (look for the notes on the picture to see different points of interest)

(many text notes above) I took this picture so that you can see its eyes and antennae, clearly visible in the coccoon. A few hours later, this moth emerged and I showed Steve...and then I showed him the picture of it in the cocoon. He was amazed. So am I, so am I! :)

4 more pictures + 2 notes above in notes! :) Last night when I went to bed, a couple of the caterpillars that I am raising looked strange. Peering closely at them, I realized that all of their "fancy hair" was gone, and all that remained were some stiff prickles. My first thought was that they were dying, but then I immediately put it together: they are beginning to "pupate", which means they are preparing to change from a caterpillar to a pupa. Most moths form cocoons around their bodies, though a few species crawl underground and pupate without forming a cocoon. Clio Tiger Moths will often form a nest from their own hair where they will be protected from predators and the elements while they are in their cocoons. However, just as the information I've read has said, not all caterpillars choose to pupate and form cocoons in nests. This morning I looked into the habitat and discovered that the "sickest-looking" one had formed a cocoon during the night!! Absolutely AMAZING!!! To think. I took a little 2" stick home with some eggs on it. The eggs hatched into about 50 1/16" caterpillars, and over the course of many weeks, grew into 2" caterpillars and now they are forming cocoons...which means that in time they will emerge as adult Clio Tiger Moths...and I've gotten to see every stage except the emerging! Isn't it just the coolest thing EVER?! :D The above picture shows two views of the pupa I saw this morning. The image in the lower right was taken this afternoon as the cocoon as matured! So fascinating! If you would like to know more about the pupa stage in moths and butterflies, Wiki has a very good page here! Wikipedia: Pupa Thanks to Jerry Jones for the two textures I used for the background: Well Worn 1 and Fire Damage 10-21-09 TOTD # 87

3 notes above to explain what you're looking at! :) I wanted you to see what a pre-pupating caterpillar looks like without all of its fancy hair! These are the only ones that aren't in a nest, and I carefully placed them on our counter, along with the mature cocoon. On the lower right, you will see the shed skin, legs and outer eyes of the pupa that is in the cocoon! This change is just totally amazing to me!!!

I was faced with a bit of a dilemma today, because I like to clean my caterpillar habitat every day to keep the environment healthy, but when the caterpillars began making nests, they adhered them to the sides of the habitat, and I didn't want to hurt or disturb them. However, I realized that it wouldn't hurt or bother them if I carefully detached the nests, and I really didn't have a choice. The largest nest was the one I was most curious about because it looked like many caterpillars had created a massive nest to pupate in as a group. Investigating was fascinating. First I detached it so I could lift it up. I carefully lifted up one corner and found lots of large, but not pupating, caterpillars snoozing under the warm blanket. Lifting the nest off the ground, I detached a few caterpillars which weren't ready to pupate yet, but were a bit caught in the nest. Then I held the nest up with the sun behind it and looked at the amazing sight! I could see many different pupating caterpillars forming the nest!! It was so wonderful to be able to show this pair of pictures so that you can enjoy this cool experience too! Notice that the silhouetted image in the note above is the SAME as the main image, except that the sun is shining through it! Incredible! I also have another inset image which shows a single nest. The extra blob you see is the shed skin that I showed in the previous picture. WOW WOW WOW...just WOW!!! I hope you liked the show, I know this kind of thing isn't for everyone, but I also know that a bunch of you are just as interested as I am in the life cycles of the animals we find! :) Such a fascinating adventure this has been! :)

3 more pictures above in notes! :) If you would like more information about this wonderful adventure from the start, this page (click) has all the pictures I've taken inset in the main image, along with the story! Yesterday after Steve got home from work, I brought my caterpillar habitat over to the counter so I could look at them. Taking the lid off, Steve exclaimed, "OMG, are they moldy?!!!!" "No," I said in delight, "They're making nests!! Inside the nest, there is a caterpillar turning into a pupa, and it uses its own hair to create this nest, which protects them from predators and from the elements! Isn't that cool?!!" Steve and I were completely fascinated by the new developments in the habitat. I'd noticed that in the past couple of days, the number of leaves consumed had begun to slow down. Thank goodness, because I've been starting to get worried about their food supply. It's dry as a bone outside and the milkweed plants are almost all dried up and dead now. There are still enough plants left to get leaves from for another couple of weeks, but not a lot. I was incredibly relieved to see that the largest caterpillars, otherwise known as "5th instars" are finally turning into pupas. (Here is a picture of a Clio Tiger Moth pupa .) Did you know that almost all insects go through dramatic changes as they grow from hatchling to adult? Each time they moult, it is considered another "instar", and each instar usually looks different, sometimes vastly different! In fact, this is why it can be so hard to identify insects, since it's so difficult to tell if the insect you're looking at is an adult or a developing instar! Fascinating, isn't it? I don't know how long it will take for the pupa stage. Some information says 10-14 days. Other information says as long as 4-6 months. I wish I knew! I'll try to find out though, so wish me luck! I did find some pictures and a bit of information showing nests and pupa in case you're interested: Wild Utah: Clio Tiger Moth Larvae

3 pictures above in notes! ENJOY! When I found out the weekly challenge was "Measurements", I had fun thinking about what I should take pictures of. Then, I went to take care of my caterpillars and it hit me! I sang out loud to my big, fat, fluffy caterpillars, "Inchworm... Inchworm... measuring the Marigold... you and your arithmetic... you'll probably go far..." All night long I was humming that song! :D This morning I found a caterpillar that was an inch long and used him as a model on my ruler! Then, I took him outside an placed him on one of my Marigold seedlings and he measured the stem for me... 1" long! :D (see the inset picture!) If you'd like to see the video from "Hans Christian Andersen", it's just wonderful and features Danny Kaye singing "Inchworm"...ENJOY!!! :D "Inchworm" from "Hans Christian Andersen" (I have two other picks for Bokeh Thursday in the next images! :)

5 more pictures in notes above! About a month ago, I found a butterfly on our property that I'd never seen before, a California Hairstreak. I managed to get a few nice pictures but unfortunately my dof was not deep enough to include the entire butterfly in crisp focus. I was a bit sad about that, since I didn't know when I'd get the chance to take more pictures of these beautiful little butterflies. Yesterday I was discovered another patch of milkweed flowers, and these are very healthy and doing well with bright green leaves and flowers which are only now peaking with many more to bloom. Wonderful news for me, because I am raising Clio Tiger Moth caterpillars and they are eating like pigs! I have begun to worry if I would be able to find enough leaves for them, since the other plants I know of are starting to die. Finding this new patch has filled me with great relief because there will be enough food for my oinker-pillars! :) Another thing that I love about this patch is that it's very close to the house, and today I went over with my camera to see the visitors, and I saw the very butterfly I'd been hoping to find!!!! This time I was very careful to choose more aperture settings to be sure I'd get a nice selection in focus. I also made sure to move around to the side of the butterfly that the sun was hitting instead of staying on the side which was shadowed. Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. Her birthday on June 27 is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and was authorized at the federal level by presidential proclamation by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, her 100th birthday. Wikipedia: Jesse Owens Explored on August 23, 2013. Highest placement, page 2 (#39).

I liked the way this picture turned out too. I am always amazed how long insect proboscis' can be! Did you know that the Morgan's Sphinx moth has a proboscis that is just over 30 centimetres (1 foot) long?!!!!! INCREDIBLE!!! It's used to reach nectar in an orchid that hides its nectar almost a foot deep into the flower. It's also known as Darwin's Moth because Charles Darwin predicted its existence some 40 years before it was discovered! Wow!!!

As I looked at this image, I suddenly said, "OHHHH!!! I GET IT!!!!" Now I understand why the stamens grow the way they do! They come out from behind the flower and arc up and over the flower. An insect will land on the front to sip nectar and the weight causes the stamens to bend forward and brush pollen onto the head of the insect!! INGENIUS!!!! I sat and observed this patch of flowers for a little while and could see that the most common visitor are these lovely orange skippers, which flit quickly from blossom to blossom. And now we can see that every time they visit another flower--hundreds of them every day!--they pass the pollen around to the other flowers! Isn't that fascinating?!! :D Just another reason I'm overjoyed to have this amazing camera and lens!

I have been finding these tiny moths on our porch at night, and this time I found one in our kitchen! I couldn't resist, so out came the macro flash and I got several pictures to share!