My butterfly garden was full of a brilliant orange this morning as a few gulf fritillary butterflies fluttered in feeding on the nectar flowers.
Gulf fritillary sipping from a porterweed.
The nectar from the flowers holds both proteins and other chemicals, which help the butterfly both receive energy, or pheromones for males. When the butterfly is fluttering by a nectar plant it will look at the shape, color, fragrance and test the flower by using its antennae, palpi, tarsi (feet) and its proboscis, which all have sensory receptors.
Gulf fritillary sipping from a porterweed.
I read in “Florida Butterfly Gardening” that the nectar may only be secreted during certain hours of the day, which may be why the butterflies are abundant during the morning hours.
Gulf fritillary sipping from a porterweed. Gulf fritillary sipping on a penta.
A female monarch butterfly paid a visit to our front butterfly garden again this morning busy laying more eggs on almost every milkweed we have. By the end of the week we should have tons of baby caterpillars munching away.
Have you ever wondered how many eggs a female monarch butterfly can lay? As I was sitting in the garden watching the monarch find all the milkweed, I became very curious. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the monarch butterfly can lay between 100 to 300 eggs in her lifetime, which is amazing to me. When the eggs first hatch, the caterpillar is only one centimeter before reaching the final length of five centimeters, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
We had another monarch hatch this morning in our butterfly house. It sat on our hand all the way up the boardwalk to our beautiful penta, where it remained when we walked away.
We had six more gulf fritillary butterflies hatch in our butterfly house this morning, creeping our number up to 13 successes. They were beyond ready to be released this afternoon. Many started digging in right away, taking long sips from the sweat nectar, after I placed them on the penta. Five of them stuck around giving me a chance to try out my new camera. I forgot how much fun it is to take pictures with a good quality camera. So . . . needless to say there is picture galore today of the gulf fritillary, a true favorite of mine.
And of course a few beauties hung out for a little while before climbing onto the penta.
Interesting fact: a butterfly usually does not have more than five distinct colors on its wings. According to author Thomas C. Emmel in “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies,” each scale on the butterfly’s wing has one color. The intensity of the color is a result of the overlapping of scales, as well as the light’s reflection off those scales, Emmel wrote.
Furthermore, there are only two types of colors, pigmented, which are chemical compounds, which may come from the organic dyes in the plant the caterpillar eats, according to Emmel. The second is called structural, which comes from the reflection of the light.
The gulf fritillary is among the most common butterflies found in Florida. Since the species cannot handle any kind of freezing weather, Southwest Florida is a perfect location for them to be. They frequent our garden daily.
According to Emmel, the brown and red areas are pigmented scales, while the silver spots appear through the light, as it refracts through prisms in the scales of the wings.
It is so incredibly fascinating to learn more about these beautiful insects. I have grown a new appreciation for them and enjoy the many species even more fluttering in our garden.
A zebra longwing, the Florida state butterfly, stopped by for some sweet nectar from a red penta flower. I was so excited to photograph this beauty. This flower is among the most visited nectar plant in our garden. The U.S. Forest Service stated that they are intelligent insects and can remember where they are getting their food sources, therefore returning to the same plant they fed on before.
This species of butterfly can live up to several months, as they feed on both the nectar and pollen of flowers. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the zebra longwing’s saliva enables them to dissolve the pollen taken in from the flowers for its nutrients, which are rich in proteins. Because of these proteins it allows the butterfly to produce eggs for many months. Their lifespan can last as long as five or six months, while other species only live for a few weeks.
Once the zebra longwing gathers pollen, which collects in globs along the outside of the proboscis, it will find a quiet leaf that offers some shelter for an hour, or more, as it” secretes digestive enzymes,” which is done through the tip of the proboscis, according to author Thomas C. Emmel of “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies.” Those enzymes break down the pollen grain protein into amino acids, which then go through its proboscis. Emmel stated that the amino acids are then used to produce sperm, or eggs, in addition to helping with body maintenance.
