Gulf Fritillary On Coneflower And Bee Flying

Here’s another shot with the Gulf Fritillary on a Marigold.

Gulf Fritillary On Marigold

This last shot I really like as well.  We have lots of Purple Coneflower right now, all growing because Leecy saved the seeds from last year.

I like how the eye is drawn to the foreground Coneflower and Butterfly, but it appears as a nice pleasing background with all the other Coneflowers slightly blurred.

Gulf Fritillary On Field Of Purple Coneflowers

Today we saw our first Gulf Fritillary of the season for 2010.

All the Purple Coneflowers that we have this year are from Leecy planting the seeds from previous seasons.

Gulf Fritillary Feeding On Coneflower

Gulf Fritillary Feeding On Coneflower 2

We saw a Monarch (it never did land on our Milkweed), Gulf Fritillary, and a Giant Swallowtail.  I also noticed that one of Monarch eggs had hatched, and another should hatch by tomorrow.

That’s what we “saw”, but we also managed to get some pictures of something we have never seen before, at least not in our backyard.

However, before all that, let me share a picture of something we have seen many times, but it’s always nice when it happens.

Giant Swallowtail Laying Eggs On Moro Orange Tree

The above picture is a Giant Swallowtail laying eggs on a Moro Orange Tree, also knows as a Blood Orange Tree.  She was also laying eggs on our Republic of Texas Orange Tree and Ruby Red Grapefruit Tree.

The part I’ve never seen before is a Giant Swallowtail “Puddling.”  Puddling is where Butterflies sip moisture and minerals from mud or sandy soils. What was interesting is that the Giant Swallowtail was “Puddling” in my backyard.  I did spread some topsoil earlier in the year, so I suppose there were salts and minerals in the topsoil.

Giant Swallowtail Puddling

Giant Swallowtail Puddling Closeup

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’ve got a pretty good supply of milkweed that should get me through the first wave of their (Monarchs) migration through Houston.  I look every day to see if I might have an early visitor, although realistically I expect it may be a few more weeks.

The same is true of two of my bird friends, the Purple Martin and the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds,  I can sit for hours just listening to them and watching them interact.

On both Birds and Butterflies Leecy and I are going to make a real effort this year to catalog what we see.

Just a few more plants and I should be good to go,  I may need another passion vine, and I’m not sure my current one survived,  My Pipevine did survive, but just barely. It’s poking out the smallest of leaves at the bottom of the base, but at least it’s alive.

So note to self for this weekend.

1. Clean up the Martin House and put it back on the housing pole
2. Buy a few more nectar plants (firecracker plant)
3. Consider buying another Passionvine.
4. Mulch the part of the yard I no longer want to mow, and make that area yet another Butterfly habitat.
5. Clean filters in Pond so the Koi can start interacting with their mates again.

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar Forming Chrysalis On Pool

We also have lots of Monarch Caterpillars feeding on the Milkweed.  Look how fat this Caterpillar is!

Monarch Caterpillar Eating Milkweed

Male Monarch Patrolling Territory

This Gulf Fritillary was also chasing females.  In the picture below, he was resting on the plant that was next to the Passion Vine.  Although I didn’t get any pictures of them today, we also have lots of Fritillary caterpillars right now.

Gulf Fritillary Warming Wings

Can you imagine being a predator and wanting to eat this?  Those spines look really dangerous.  Although those spines appear to be really hard and stiff (get your mind out of the gutter), in reality they are very flexible.

Fritillary Macro

He was sipping on some nectar until a female Fritillary came flying by then they both took off together straight up in the air.  Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get a shot of that.

Fritillary Posing

This first shot is just a partial view of the Reservoir.  If you look really close you can see some guy in a boat, but other than that the place was deserted.

Sheldon Reservoir

One particular Butterfly that I don’t have in my backyard, but that was prevalent at this place was the Common Buckeye.

Common Buckeye Sheldon Reservoir

Common Buckeye Sheldon Reservoir 2

I also saw a Queen Butterfly.

Queen Butterfly In Morning Light

There were also a few Monarchs on the Ragweed.  This first photo is a female Monarch.

Monarch On Ragweed

And here’s a male Monarch.

Male Monarch On Ragweed

Last, but not least, there were quite a few Gulf Fritillaries.  All of the Butterflies were still trying to warm up when I captured these pictures.

Gulf Fritillary Sheldon Reservoir