These don’t look like any type of Butterfly eggs that I’ve seen before.

Mystery Eggs On Redbud Tree

Mix Of Mystery Eggs On Redbud Tree

I’m not even sure how to describe what this insect looks like.  It’s shaped like a cone.  In the second picture, I think there some kind of head (I’m looking the brown part of the insect).

Any guesses what kind of insect (I’m assuming it’s an insect) this is?

Unknown Insect Eating Sassafras Leaf 2

Unknown Insect Eating Sassafras Leaf

Maggie is now 9 years old and is somewhat showing her age.  Her muzzle has definitely turned gray, she has some light cataracts, and she tends to lay down rather than standing.  Other times, she thinks she’s a puppy and starts running sprints around the yard.

She loves the weather like today where it was in the low 60′s and is supposed to be in the mid to upper 70′s all this week (yea, we’re really freezing down here:-).

After taking pictures of the Butterflies, I decided to take a few of the dogs since the light was really nice.

Maggie Yawning

Maggie Looking Directly At Camera

Maggie Looking At Camera With Face On Ground

Maggie Smiling At Macro Lens

Then there’s Sascha.  She is 7 years old and always has energy.  Whereas Maggie loves to be petted by anyone, Sascha is loyal beyond belief and loves to be near me no matter where I am.  She’s not one who needs constant petting, but she must be able to have a clear view of whatever I’m doing.  She also loves to be in the backyard no matter how hot or cold.

You may notice Sascha has that nasty looking skin irritation on her neck.  I’m guessing it started when her collar started rubbing against her neck a couple of weeks ago.  I took her to the vet on Friday and they gave her some antibiotics and some ointment to put on her neck.

Sascha Looking At Camera

Sascha Backlit Laying In Yard

We have 13 Chrysalises, eggs all over the outside Milkweed, and probably 10 Caterpillars.  As we find the Caterpillars we bring them inside as the weather does occasionally get a little cold at night.  There are at least 3 Female Monarch Butterflies that alternate between getting nectar from the Milkweed and laying lots of eggs.  One particular Butterfly looks very tattered, but she is the one laying the most eggs.

Here’s some pictures from today.

Monarch Caterpillar On Milkweed Stem

Monarch Caterpillar Eating Milkweed Pod

This is the tattered female Monarch that is laying lots of eggs.

Tattered Monarch Getting Nectar And Laying Eggs

I spent 3 hours trying to record a Monarch Caterpillar moving to the Chrysalis stage, but it never happened.  Perhaps I’ll be able to capture that tomorrow.

The one I was trying to record is on the right, but since that didn’t work, I just took a picture of one of the Chrysalises who didn’t quite finish shedding its skin.

Monarch Chrysalis Next To Monarch Caterpillar

This first one is a Gulf Fritillary.  These are scary looking Caterpillars.  Notice at the bottom left of the Caterpillar is the skin that it recently shed.

Gulf Fritillary Shedding Skin

This second picture of a Monarch Caterpillar who was still in the process of shedding its skin.  The skin that it had shed is in the top right of the picture.

Monarch Caterpillar Shedding Skin

I’ve never photographed a Monarch Caterpillar that was a mere minutes old.

You can even see its egg casing in the background.  It’s quite amazing to me that these little creatures become such large Caterpillars.

Minutes Old Monarch Caterpillar

Big Ant On Passionvine

It’s some type of Ant (obviously), but I’m not sure what kind.  He was just sitting on one of the Passionvine stems, like waiting to ambush something that would happen to come by.

Notice the little hairs on it’s head?

I thought since they were on my Sassafras tree they must be Spicebush Caterpillars?  Could these be some kind of Moth larvae?  The tree is definitely Sassafras.

Would anyone confirm these are IO Moth caterpillars?

UPDATE: Nancy Greig, Curator of Entomology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science was kind enough to reply to my email about what type of Caterpillars these might be.  She also thought these were likely IO Moth Caterpillars.

Closeup of IO Moth Caterpillars

Everyone knows about Ladybugs and Aphids right?  You typically can buy 1500-2000 Ladybugs for about $10.00, spread them around your Aphid affected plants, and in theory, they will eat the Aphids.  Personally, I’ve only had moderate success with this method, but I continue to use it.

Ladybug Stalking Aphids

Another insect that helps in Aphid control is the Hover Fly.  I didn’t know what this insect was until today.  These are insects that feed on that “honey dew” released by Aphids.  You can see some of that in the picture above (little white bubble).

Here’s a picture of a Hovey Fly eating, or regurgitating something, I’m not sure what.

Hover Fly Feeding On Aphids

We haven’t seen any Monarch Butterflies, but we do have 9 Caterpillars from the one Monarch from Mexico.  To give the Caterpillars the best chance of success, I have quarantined them in our Butterfly Enclosure.  I did this to protect the Caterpillars from predatory wasps and flies.  So far, all of the Monarch Caterpillars appear to be doing great.

Mexican Monarch Caterpillar Feeding On Milkweed Blooms

Mexican Monarch Caterpillar Feeding On Milkweed Flower

Mexican Monarch Caterpillar Feeding

Another Butterfly that has been making daily visits is a Giant Swallowtail.  From what I can tell, she really likes laying eggs on our Moro Blood Orange Tree.  On that tree alone I’ve counted over 9 different eggs, and I’m sure there’s some I haven’t seen.

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Egg

I was fortunate enough to also catch a glimpse of 2 Giant Swallowtail Caterpillars. The Caterpillar in the picture below is about two days old.  You can even see the egg casing (white) in the background.

Two Day Old Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar

We’ve also seen the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly.  I’ve been able to find 1 Caterpillar so far.  I’ll post some pictures of that later.

Ladybug Eating Aphid

The strange thing about this was that the Aphid was still alive and moving, while the Ladybug was eating it (I’m assuming it was eating it, maybe it was just holding it).

After a few moments of watching this, another Ladybug strolled by and decided to watch the event.

Ladybug Eating Aphid While Another Watches

Cloudless Sulphur Chrysalis Close To Emerging

What I didn’t expect is that the Butterfly would emerge in the late evening.  With most of the other Butterflies we have raised, the Butterfly emerged from the Chrysalis in the mid-morning hours.  Since it was cold outside we brought the newly emerged Butterfly inside for the night.

The next day we took the Butterfly outside so it could warm up in the morning sun.

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly Just Hatched

Here’s a Macro closeup of the Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly.

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly Just Hatched Up Close

This final shot was after the Butterfly flew a short distance away and continued to warm up in the sun.

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly Resting Before Flight

In the first, this is a newborn Monarch on the Gardenia Bush warming up in the sun.  I took this picture with my Macro Lens.  Look at the detail on the wings.  It’s really the first time that the wings look like they have texture to them.  When viewing the image up close, the wings remind me of a soft, microfiber towel or something.

Newborn Monarch With Macro Lens

In this next picture, it was taken with my 100-400mm lens.  It’s the same Monarch, but it flew over to the Orange tree to continue warming up before flying.

Newborn Monarch On Orange Tree

So I’m out in the backyard today, taking some pictures of Butterflies, when I notice this Honeybee that looks like its head is stuck in between the leaves of this plant.  My first thought (seriously) was how in the heck does a Bee get its head stuck between plant leaves?

As I look closer, I see that those “leaves” where the Bee had its head stuck are in fact not “leaves” but legs, the legs of a HUGE Praying Mantis.

I quickly switch over to my macro lens and begin shooting.

Praying Mantis Eating Honeybee

The Praying Mantis was really going to town on this Bee.  You would think (or at least I thought this way) that as aggressive as this Praying Mantis is, no other insect would dare come close, but that was not the case.  Some crazy fly decided that a partially dismembered Honeybee would make a tasty meal, so it flew right on top of the Mantis’ eye.

Praying Mantis Eating Bee With Fly On Eye

It took the Mantis about 5 minutes to consume about half of the Bee.

Praying Mantis With Dismembered Honeybee

Below is a brief video illustrating what I have described so far.

Another 5 minutes go by, and the Mantis is done eating.  During the next several minutes, it cleaned itself up, then put out a bright big smile.

Praying Mantis Head

This final video is a brief excerpt of the Mantis cleaning itself.