Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A New Visitor - Heliconius charitonia

Butterflies are self propelled flowers.  ~R.H. Heinlein

The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity. ~Attributed to George Carlin
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The Zebra Longwing, Heliconius charitonia (Linnaeus),was designated the Florida state butterfly in 1996.
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A couple weeks ago a friend of Tammy's from The Garden Gate in Gulf Breeze, Fl gave Tammy a Zebra Longwing caterpillar. They are not commonly found in Northwest Florida and their host plant is the passion vine which is also the host plant for the Gulf Fritillary which are quite common in our area.
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Zebra Longwing caterpillar (about an inch in length)
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Zebra Longwing pupae (about an inch in length)
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Hopefully I'll be able to post an image soon of the first Zebra Longwing butterfly to emerge at 1 Acre Wood.
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Grace & Peace

posted by CAS @ 9:09 PM   0 comments

Sunday, August 10, 2014

200 and Counting

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly." - Richard Bach
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"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly." - Buckminster Fuller
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Tammy reached a milestone this morning when she released her 200th Monarch butterfly of the year. We both have enjoyed creating a backyard habitat conducive for several species of butterflies native to our region. We have planted host plants for Monarchs, Cloudless Sulfurs, Gulf Fritillary, and Swallowtails and have enjoyed watching the whole life cycle play-out first hand. 
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A very hungry caterpillar
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chrysalis time
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pre-emergent
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#200 pre-release
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Monarch populations as well as other pollinators to include bees have been on a significant downward trend for several years. Whether these declines are part of a natural cycle or more directly tied to the increased use of pesticides and the ever shirking availability of host plants along their migration paths may never be known. I do know that 2014 has been a banner year for Monarchs at 1 Acre Wood and I can only hope that other areas are seeing increasing numbers as well.
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Grace & Peace






posted by CAS @ 2:26 PM   0 comments