Satyr Anglewing at UC Botanical Garden

I know this picture isn't lovely, but the butterfly decided to rest on a pipe, so that is the photo I took. This is a Satyr Anglewing at UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley on 24 February 2014. I had never seen this butterfly there before.

About a year ago, the creek bed under the bridge was cleared of a mass of vegetation and the stinging nettle had more room to spread out. Since nettle is the larval food plant of this butterfly, I think that more food plant led to more butterflies.

I hope Satyr Anglewing will be a regular at the Bot Garden.

New Film

My brother's new Monarch lifecycle film has just been released.

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Lives-Monarchs-Unavailable/dp/B00I7NJDBO/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1391784707&sr=1-1&keywords=secret+lives+of+monarchs

Fantastic detail and videography. There are many lifecycles on Youtube, but this one is different. It is more accurate and has much more information. I'm biased, of course, because I wrote the script and did the narration, but this movie is great! Check it out!

Photos above by Andy Liu.

Gulf Fritillary Egg

This is what a butterfly egg should look like. In the previous post, the butterfly eggs were on dried up tendrils. This one was laid on a nice green passionvine leaf. This is actually Passiflora 'Berkeley." The dark color with the light line indicates that it will hatch soon.

Gulf Fritillary Eggs

I saw a Gulf Fritillary laying an egg on a dead tendril yesterday. I thought that was weird because they usually lay eggs on green healthy host plant. I looked more today and found two more eggs. So I collected them and took a picture. I have them near a green passiflora 'Berkeley' leaf now so that they will have something to eat when they hatch. I wonder what would have happened if I had left them? Would those tiny caterpillars have had the strength to find good food? I don't know.

On a side note, my phone takes surprisingly good closeups. I can see the ridges on those eggs! Maybe I don't need a new camera...

Butterfly and Cat

So, my Gulf Fritillary finally emerged. I think it has been several weeks. I had almost given up on it. I was quietly working on my computer when my cat started caterwalling. Not a regular meow like, "I want out," or "I want food." A weird long, loud MEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW! Hmm! What's that? Turns out she was telling me about the butterfly in the living room. So sweet! She didn't eat it! I took it outside and put it on the quince and got this pic. It is the end of January and I have several Gulf Fritillaries in my yard, and one Cabbage White.

Artwork

I asked a friend to photoshop some pics to create a cover for my papercrafts book. Here are the results. Want to vote? Which do you like best? Anise Swallowtail? Gulf Fritillary? Red Admiral?

Oxalis

I guess the weedy oxalis is good for something. The bees and butterflies were going after the pollen yesterday. Sunny warm days mean that the insects are active. It also means I am hoping for rain.