This is the first Pipevine Swallowtail we have seen in 2011, and it was going crazy on the red Wildflowers.  It was just bouncing from one red Wildflower to the next getting nectar.  If you can see the proboscis it’s covered in pollen.  While I didn’t notice this Butterfly laying any eggs on our Dutchman’s Pipevine (we have lots of it and it looks really good right now), I’m hopeful that other Pipevine Swallowtails will begin to visit and lay some eggs.

First Pipevine Swallowtail Of 2011 On Red Wildflowers

One day while Leecy and I were investigating the property looking for Deer horns (Leecy just corrected me, they’re called antlers.  Obviously I’m not a hunter), Leecy spotted these 2 Pipevine Caterpillars on these dry blades of grass.  This was a little unexpected because we didn’t see any Pipevine plants in the field, but there were lots and lots of Pipevine Butterflies flying around (probably the most prevalent Butterfly we saw).

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars Found At Country Inn And Cottages

On Wednesday I had a little work to do (I know, I’m supposed to be on vacation) so while Leecy went horseback riding (more on that in another post), and I had a little time to kill, I decided to roam the 200 or so acres around the Cottages looking for Butterflies.  Overall the Wildflowers are pretty limited anywhere in the Texas Hill Country, but I did find a little place out in the field that had some yellow Wildflowers growing.  That turned out to be the best place to find a variety of Butterflies.

There were Painted Lady Butterflies,

Painted Lady Butterfly Found At Country Inn And Cottages

Variegated Fritillary Butterflies,

Variegated Fritillary Butterfly Found At Country Inn And Cottages

Queen Butterflies,

Queen Butterfly Found At Country Inn And Cottages

and many other smaller Butterflies that I wasn’t quick (or patient) enough to get pictures of.

One of the most unusual Butterflies (for me) I saw was a Goatweed Leafwing Butterfly.  You may not be able to see this from the web, but if you look on that blade of grass (or Goatweed I guess) towards the bottom, you will see a small Caterpillar.  Obviously I didn’t notice this until I got back to the Cottage to examine the pictures.  This is not a Butterfly I would expect to see in my backyard.

Goatweed Leafwing Butterfly With Caterpillar

We also saw some Monarch Butterflies and I wish I would have brought my Milkweed book as I’m sure there were varieties of Milkweed out in these fields that I’m just not accustomed to seeing.

Well, here it is.

Pipevine Swallowtail Chrysalis

Leecy is too afraid to be a hand model, so she held up a paper towel for the background.

This particular Chrysalis was brought inside because it made the Chrysalis right above the air conditioner outside and it was in danger of blowing away.

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar Eating Stem

I’m going to guess I may not see too many more Pipevine Swallowtail at least for a little while since my Host sources are so low.  I guess they could fly by for some of the nectar plants.

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar Looking Large

I got a few pictures, but I missed several and several others weren’t that good as I got over-excited.

The plants that seemed to be attracting the most Butterflies were the Lantana and Butterfly Bush.

The most prevalent Butterfly I saw today was the Eastern Black Swallowtail.  Interestingly, none of them were laying any eggs, they were just going after the nectar and chasing each other.

Eastern Black Swallowtail On Butterfly Bush

On top of all that, we’re having a crisis.  We are running out of Dutchman’s Pipevine (Aristolochia Fimbriata) and neither Joshua’s Native Plants nor Buchanan’s Native Plants has any in stock.  We have at least 15 huge Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars and although I’ve been thinking they will soon stop eating and form Chrysalises, I’m apparently mistaken.  I could have sworn they were going to stop eating yesterday, and yet today there they were, still munching away.  They were even eating the Dutchman’s Pipevine stems since there were so few leaves.

I’m going to start calling first thing in the morning and see if any other nurseries have this plant in stock.  For those of you in the Houston area reading this, if you know of a source, please share!

We’ve got two types of Pipevine, Giant Dutchman’s Pipevine and Dutchman’s Pipevine.  I haven’t seen anything on our Giant Dutchman’s Pipevine, but our Dutchman’s Pipevine has lots of Pipevine Butterfly Caterpillars on them.  This is also rather interesting (I think I’ve mentioned this before) because last year we didn’t really have any Pipevine Caterpillars, whereas the year before we had lots of them.

So anyway, without further adieu, here are some pictures of the Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars.

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar Feeding

Let me state a disclaimer right now.  I’d be more than happy to pay for Leecy’s manicures.  She “claims” I interrupted her from her crafting, and that’s why her nails look all…..well that’s why her nails look like they do.

Now on to the Caterpillars.

Two Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars Feeding

We have had on and off years with the Pipevine Swallowtails.  Two years ago we had lots of them, then last year I don’t think we had one.

Pipevine Eggs On Dutchman Pipevine

There are a total of 5 videos, each one is less than 2 minutes long.  Watching these should give you a decent idea of how to start (or continue) a successful Butterfly Garden.

In this first video, I talk about how to buy Milkweed, what prices you should expect to pay (at least in Houston), how to tell if you have healthy Milkweed, and how to plant your Milkweed plants.

In this second video clip, I talk about the importance of having Nectar plants for your Butterfly Garden.  I also show a brief clip of my Butterfly Enclosures.

By the way, some good nectar plants I recommend are Penta, Salvia, Purple Coneflower, Lantana, Butterfly Bush, and the Cigar Bush.

In this third video clip, I talk about some other Host Plants for your Butterfly Garden including, Pipevine, Fennel, and Citrus Trees.

In the fourth video clip, I talk about some additional Host Plants for Butterflies including Spicebush and Passion Vine,  as well as what kinds of Butterflies you can expect to attract with the different Host Plants.

In this fifth and final video clip I talk about some additional Butterfly Gardening tools such as portable Butterfly Enclosures and long tweezers.

If you have any questions about these videos, where to buy plants or the additional Butterfly Gardening tools, just send me an email or leave a comment.

Hope you enjoy and it makes sense!

I didn’t see any Eastern Black Swallowtails flying, but we do have lots of Chrysalis and Caterpillars.

Speaking of Butterflies, Leecy tells me we have about 115 Polydamas Chrysalises.

Gulf Fritillary Laying Eggs

1. Polydamas Swallowtails don’t have the “tails” like Eastern Black and Pipevine Swallowtails
2. Pipevine eggs are brown, rust colored whereas Polydamas eggs are yellow (see pictures below).  Both lay their eggs on Pipevine
3. Pipevine Swallowtails have one row of orange dots when their wings are closed, whereas Eastern Black Swallowtails have two rows

Pipevine Swallowtail Eggs

Pipevine Swallowtail Eggs

Polydamas Swallowtail Eggs

Here’s a Gray Hairstreak.  I actually do see these guys in the backyard occasionally, but I’ve never been able to get a picture.

Gray Hairstreak

Then there was a Pipevine.  I must have tried to take over 50 photos of this Butterfly while it was in flight and none were in focus.  Fortunately for me, he decided to take a break along the trail and I snapped away.

Pipevine Swallowtail Resting

Here’s a Butterfly I’ve never seen before.  It’s a Variegated Fritillary

Variegated Fritillary

Is the Butterfly below a Monarch?  Nope, it’s a Viceroy.

The differences between a Viceroy and a Monarch are Viceroy’s don’t host on Milkweed, and they have a thick black line loops across their lower wing.

Last but not least is the Question Mark Butterfly.  These Butterflies prefer to get nectar from tree sap, rotting fruit, animal droppings, and roofing?

For some unknown reason, this Butterfly was sipping at something on this roof.  No idea why unless the roofing contained some type of sap.

Another shot of the “family”

Just for fun, I grabbed the macro lens and took some shots.  Another thing I have never realized is just how shiny they are.  Is it just me or do these guys look like brown gummy bears (click on the picture to see them up close)?

Here’s another shot

And the final shot.  I think this guy started to feel a little warm in the sun as he started to crawl to the underside of the leaf.

Since most Monarchs are off migrating, the majority of the Butterflies we have are the Swallowtails.  Their eggs are really tiny, and they tend to be born in groups.  They also apparently tend to eat in groups as well.

Here’s how we run our nursery for them (Pipevines and Polydamas).

1. Monitor the eggs until the hatch

2. Once Eggs hatch, cut the string of leaves they are on and bring them inside

3. Put the string of leaves in that green florist foam that absorbs water

4. Create metal climbing structures for Chrysalis formation

5. Place the Caterpillars in the new enclosure.

6. Change food and clean frass daily