we have all sorts of butterflies flittering about, monarchs, tiger swallowtails, blue swallowtails and more. yesterday i noticed tons of smaller butterflies on our peppermint patch, it was literally covered with flittering wings. i had no idea what type these are but found them at this great website. sage was lucky enough to even have one hang out on his finger for awhile.
fritillary, not sure what kind though
more fritillaries
common buckeye
we also discovered caterpillars all over some milkweed. they are milkweed tussock moth caterpillars. we collected a few and put them in a jar to watch. they love to munch on the milk weed! from what i've read, they do not compete with monarch caterpillars as monarchs prefer younger shoots while the tussock moths eat the older tougher leaves. regardless, we are enjoying watching them munch away at the leaves!
this upcoming week in our studies we will identify butterfly parts, try to find out if our caterpillars are indeed monarch 'pillars and read about butterflies in the handbook of nature study.
this was our outdoor hour challenge #22. what butterflies have you seen around your yard?
We have had a few tiger swallowtails but not many. I have had my eyes out for them this summer in my butterfly garden but not much action. We have had an abundance of hummingbirds in our butterfly garden this year though and that is exciting!
ReplyDeleteI loved seeing your butterflies, thanks for sharing.