This is a nice close up video of a Monarch butterfly laying eggs in our butterfly garden on milkweed.  The Monarchs really let you get up close to them without getting scared.  Right now we have them everywhere.  It is really cool to watch up close.  Right now we also have a lot of Queen, Giant Swallowtail butterflies also.

This video was shot today in our South Florida butterfly garden. It is a Giant Swallowtail butterfly laying eggs on a Wild Lime Tree / Bush. We planted this Wild Lime last year. This is the first season that we have started to see the Giant SwallowTails show up in our garden. This female appears to be laying eggs so I assume we will be seeing more.

Video of a black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar poking orange antenna out when touched.  Something else that is interesting is that a large wasp just landed near and stung one of these larger caterpillars and the caterpillar was unaffected by the stings.  We have seen wasps attack other types of caterpillars like monarchs and gulf fritillary caterpillars and they instantly turn to mush and are killed.  I guess the black swallowtails are immune to wasp stings.  Has anyone else seen this?

We took the following video of an Orange Barred Sulfur caterpillar in our butterfly today. Man are they getting big!

I was sad to hear from a local nursery in December that the season for Gulf Fritillary butterflies was coming to an end.  I enjoy watching them on the passion vine.  Since then, I have seen absolutely no sign of their season ending.  My vine is just crawling with at least 30 caterpillars now, even though our temperatures have been down into the 40′s and 50′s at night.  It was once down into the high 30′s a few weeks ago.  Whatever the reason, hopefully they will stay around a while.

I noticed that one of them was smart by forming it’s chrysalis on the south side of the house…where most of the sun is.  Unfortunately, we received a notice from our homeowners association that we need to have our roof pressure cleaned.  When they clean the roof, the gook gets all over the house and then they need to clean the house as well.  I am VERY stressed out and sad about all of the caterpillars that will be killed by the pressure cleaner.  I guess I will be out there hunting for them so that I can protect them.  I read once that you can remove it by attaching a string to the top, but I don’t know if that works.  If anyone knows how to successfully remove a chrysalis from a house without disturbing the butterfly inside, please let me know!

This is an absolutely WONDERFUL website to find out which butterflies are in your area:

http://butterflywebsite.com/atlas/constructtable.cfm

We have been very busy with homeschooling and holidays and I have neglected my beautiful site. Our current Monarch butterfly release count is 34. This does not include the 3 butterflies that had problems opening their wings. The wings were all scrunched up and curled. I think they had a problem hanging on once they came out of the chrysalis. A few of them fell to the ground and were not able to hang on after that. I kept them in a plastic container and fed them hummingbird food through a cocktail straw. Two of them ended up dying within a few days. However I kept one alive for over a week by caring for it in this way. I have been able to put a fallen butterfly back on the roof of the cage and it did actually complete the wing drying process and was able to be released.

It is so exciting to know that I have played an important role in keeping the Monarchs alive in this area.

I have been wanting to add a live video camera to my butterfly garden and backyard. I have read numerous articles lately about live cameras being deployed in remote locations to view wildlife and nature. I have been learning about CCTV cameras and home surveillance systems because it seems like the best way to do it. These systems allow you to setup outdoor security cameras which feed video back to a DVR recorder. The DVR can be attached to a network and allow people to view your cameras over the Internet.  Here are some sample pictures using software that comes with a DVR from CCTV Camera Pros: DVR viewer.

I can not justify the cost just for my butterfly garden hobby but the real reason for these systems is for home surveillance and security. I think that I can justify the cost for that and I am considering to add the following equipment to my house:

• 4 camera home surveillance system
• PTZ security camera

The link to the PTZ camera has a video demonstration. I would really like to be able to move the camera around remotely and be able to zoom in to possible catch some action.

If anyone has any any experience with these systems, please post comments.

Our current count is:

6 Released

1 butterfly in nursery still, and unable to fly.  This butterfly’s wings didn’t open up and he is still in my care.  I have been feeding it a store bought solution of hummingbird nectar and boy, does he love it!    I called The Butterfly Place and they recommended that I place it on the milkweed plant in hopes that it will feed and mate.  However, it has a hard time holding onto the plant for more than 10-20 minutes, so I have not been able to let it free.  I rolled a paper towel into a tube and set it inside a pot so that it would be able to hang on better.  It seems to be working well.  I hope he can survive for a few weeks.  Maybe the butterfly inside the chrysalis will mate with it. 

1 in chrysalis

1 chunky caterpillar released onto outside milkweed plant (gone the next day)

We released Monarch Butterfly #6 into the wild this morning. I tried to release it near the Penta plant in hopes that it would land on it to feed, but it went up to the palm tree instead. Hopefully it stays in my yard instead of landing on a nearby pesticide dowsed yard. I am curious as to the health of a butterfly after feeding from plants that have been sprayed by pesticide. I will try to research that soon.

Our current count is:

• 6 released

• 1 inside chrysalis

• 2 chunky caterpillars

• one baby caterpillar