Monthly Archives: May 2022

Just born

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A walk through the garden this morning revealed a lucky find of baby polydamas caterpillars just emerging from its eggs. Some were still eating the remains of the eggs. I love mornings like this, finding the miracles of nature in my own backyard.

The polydamas lays yellow to orange eggs in clusters of 10 to 14, which can typically be spotted on newly developed stems, or growing tips, of the Dutchman pipe. It takes four to six days to hatch. Once they emerge from their egg, they consume it before going onto the leaves of the plant.

The polydamas swallowtail caterpillars feed in groups when they are small, devouring the youngest leaves, as well as flowers before moving onto the older portions of the Dutchman pipe.

For more information, and additional photos, click on https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/polydamas-swallowtail-butterfly/?frame-nonce=e7c6cffbc2

A bonus find of a monarch caterpillar hiding in the Dutchman pipe, I am assuming getting ready to make its chrysalis.

A calmness

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Another successful morning in the butterfly house with three new beauties, two males and one female monarch butterfly emerging from their chrysalis.

There is such a calmness that washes over me when I watch these butterflies enter the world, climbing onto my fingers and taking its first flight after their wings are dry.

Fluttering by

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https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/20220521_100608.mp4
A gulf fritillary stopping by for a quick sip of nectar from a yellow lantana.

For more information about this beauty click on https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/gulf-fritillary/

Grand beauty

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This grand beauty, the giant swallowtail, hatched in our butterfly house this morning, 22 days after creating its chrysalis. It is one of the largest butterflies in the United States, alongside the tiger swallowtail and the Thoas swallowtail, found in Texas.

According to the University of Florida its forewing span is 11.7 to 17.5 cm for males and 13.5 to 18.8 cm for females. The author of “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies,” Thomas C. Emmel, said the giant swallowtail has a broken pattern on the bottom of its wings to conceal them from predators.

This is among one of my favorite butterflies. Their wings are incredible, with their tails only adding to the beauty. I hope we find more caterpillars on our citrus tree to raise in our butterfly house. This is our second successful hatch!

No. 130

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Four more monarch butterflies hatched successfully today taking our total count to 130 that we have released.

My husband built our first butterfly house on June 13, 2021. It has since been downsized and moved on our porch, as something was breaking through the screen to take the chrysalis when located outdoors. Our first monarch butterfly hatch was on June 23, just 10 days later. Our caterpillar raising has not been consistent since last June, until the past few months, as we have had a healthy supply of new caterpillars continually entering our butterfly house and finishing its life cycle. When you start to raise caterpillars, you see first hand that not all make it to a butterfly.

For more information about monarch butterflies, as well as photos from our garden, click https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/monarch-butterfly/?frame-nonce=efe6bbc090