Oh my….another miss….this time on Sida sp. The adage “Close only counts in horseshoes (and hand grenades)” needs to add “and butterfly egg laying”.Just because a butterfly lays an egg on a plant doesn’t necessarily mean it is a host plant.On Bidens alba? the maypop tendril is right there, come on….FOCUS…get some better aim. This butterfly had gone rogue…laying everywhere. That’s when she fluttered so close to me that I swear she was trying to lay an egg on ME. The butterfly continued to flutter around when I saw her lay an egg on some Sida rhombifolia. I was in the middle of taking a photo of a planthopper when I noticed Miss Frit had laid an egg on a single silk strand of a web of the resident Long-jawed Orb Weaver Spider (Leucauge argyra). I got another shot of her actually hitting the intended maypop target with an egg. What’s it gonna eat when it hatches wayyyy out there on a spider silk strand? I took a photo as she fluttered beneath my hands. That’s when I noticed that she laid an egg on the blackberry stem hidden within the maypop. I figured I’d finish off my photos over there. Ok, Using the maypop, that’s more like it.Īt any rate, I glanced up and saw a Gulf Fritillary Butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) fluttering over where the Florida native Maypop Vine chose to pop up this year. Still, there is a delete button to make room for a once in a lifetime shot. It is a habit that has served me well…although it can be a bit frustrating at times to get that “memory full” message when an amazing creature is in front of you. I also rarely go back inside without full capacity on the camera being used…I believe in efficiency and there is ALWAYS something of interest to be photographed in nature. That way I get back inside within a reasonable amount of time, am not overwhelmed with too many photos or choices and I don’t get a sunburn. I allow myself the 20 or so high quality photos that can be captured on the camera’s internal memory. Since I only write about what happens in my own yard, I learned a long time ago to not use a SD card in my camera because I’d never get back in the house if I had unlimited shot capacity at hand. I got a few shots and was satisfied I probably had a good one to share. Being a favorite butterfly of mine I grabbed my trusty Nikon point and shoot from the dining table and headed out to try to stealthily creep up to get a photo of this beauty in constant motion for my “Central Florida Critter of the Day” blog. Through my kitchen window I spotted a Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly nectaring at the Bidens alba just off my patio. I’m an observer of nature which is how I learn things. Gulf Fritillary Butterfly Egg on Passiflora incarnata (Maypop) a native larval host
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