This is a big year for California Tortoiseshells. These pictures were taken right in my neighborhood. Two people have told me about caterpillars in the ceanothus. I am going to have to find those plants and photograph them next year. Plenty of ceanothus around, I am glad that it is actually supporting butterflies.

So cold today! The baby phoebes were supposed to be out learning how to fly and catch insects, but after a few tries, they cuddled up on the fence instead. Most of the students in my butterfly class showed up in spite of the cold. We didn't see many insects. We did see a few young pipevine swallowtail caterpillars. We looked at all the plants in the butterfly garden at Tilden, and Andy talked about them. After about an hour the class left and Andy and I went for a walk. It was lovely, but cold.

Sailing

Today, I went sailing on the bay with some friends. Perfect weather and nice breeze. So lovely! No butterflies flying above that salt water, but there were some on Angel Island: pipevine swallowtails, red admirals. I've posted a photo of a lady. And I also saw a California Sister but was unable to get a picture of it.

Spring Day

Today Andy and I went to Willard Middle School for Spring Day. The students get to do fun activities and earn tickets to buy snow cones and other food. Andy brought butterfly eggs, caterpillars and chrysalids and explained the butterfly lifecycle to anyone who would listen. I made tiny butterfly kites with the kids. An hour turned out to be plenty of time to make the show off the insects and make the kites. And we got strawberries and muffins for our effort. One science teacher asked us to come in and give a presentation, so I think I will be back at Willard soon.

The UC Botanical Garden plant sale was yesterday and today. The pictures posted show all the lovely plants ready to be taken away to loving homes. The sale was rather mellow, fewer people than normal. I think the economic downturn has affected the plant sales.

I had three rather interesting entomological encounters. First the plant pathologist at the sick plant clinic asked for help identifying some eggs. They were enclosed between two pieced of tape. When I asked what plant they had been on, but nobody knew. What kind of eggs wouldn't be glued down? In fact, I think they were not eggs, but slow release fertilizer. The mystery eggs were not eggs at all!

Then I saw boy, maybe 8-10 years old, wearing a mantis tshirt. I told him about a mantis I had for a pet for awhile. When he asked how long it lived, I told him not long because I killed it for my insect collection. His face just fell! I wish I had lied to him! But still, I had a good time finding plants for him that would support butterflies and moths. I hope he forgives me...

Then there were these two men who saw my California Tortoiseshell picture next to the ceanothis. The torties lay their eggs in the ceanothis blossoms. One of them said, "I have never seen a tortoiseshell in Berkeley!" Of course, I had to stop him and tell him that the picture was taken right across the street from where he was standing. I told them to look for adults in the middle of march when the ceanothis starts to bloom.

Well, maybe we didn't sell a lot of plants, but we had a good time and we all learned something.

Rose Society

Sunday afternoon, I gave a talk for the San Francisco Rose Society. They had no projector, so I brought my own tv to show a butterfly lifecycle video and do a powerpoint presentation. It was a small audience, so my 26" screen worked out fine. It was my first powerpoint ever, and I was very nervous about that. I was also nervous about getting the laptop and tv to work together. But, luckily, there are a few techie geniuses in my family, so everything went off without a hitch. My main message (plant caterpillar food) and secondary message (don't kill the caterpillars with insecticides) seemed to go over pretty well. So well that I was asked back to speak to the Golden Gate Rose Society. Two rose societies in San Francisco? Who knew? Andy came along, of course. He is always great at finding something to say when I become tongue-tied. He also sold plants and showed people the live specimens. We had a great time and met some nice people. And I guess we will be doing it again soon.

Well, it is March, and the California Tortoiseshells are back. I just learned recently that they lay their eggs in ceanothus blossoms. I knew that they used ceanothus, but I had thought that it was the leaves. And right now, there are so many beautiful ceanothus in bloom. They are mostly blue, but the flowers can also be white or purple. This plant is also known as California lilac, although it really doesn't look like lilac to me. Anyway, many species are in full bloom now, just as the Torties need it for oviposition. I even saw one on a flower today, but I wasn't close enough to see if it was actually laying eggs. I am going to have to keep an eye on the flowers to see if I can find any caterpillars.