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Posts Tagged: gulf fritillary butterflies
Why Influx of Caterpillars Linked to Hawks
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."--John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra Muir said it well. Muir (1938-1914), the naturalist and conservationist known as "The Father of Our National...
Three's company! Three juvenile Cooper's hawks, as identified by Andrew Engilis, Jr. curator of the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology,cooling off in an urban birdbath in Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Gulf Fritillary gets ready to lay an egg. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary caterpillars defoliating the passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Lady Beetle and Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars
What's this? A lady beetle, aka ladybug, sharing stories with Gulf Fritillary caterpillars? Well, not likely. The lady beetle (family Coccinellidae) preys mainly on aphids--it can eat about 50 aphids a day or some 5000 aphids...
Lady beetle, aka ladybug, with its new "friends"--Gulf Fritillary caterpillars. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary caterpillars move around the lady beetle, aka ladybug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A touching moment. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary caterpillars will grow up to look like this. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Strippers
We have strippers. Not anything to do with that thriving business known as "The Strip Club" in Las Vegas. The strippers we have are Gulf Fritillary caterpillars, which can skeletonize their host plant, the passionflower vine (Passiflora) faster than...
Two Gulf Fritillary caterpillars meet on a stem after having munched all the leaves. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A trio of hungry Gulf Frit caterpillars. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Frit catepillar does an end run. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two Gulf Fritillaries ready to mate. Note the decimated leaves around them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Survivors
Just call them "The Survivors." They made it through the winter: the bitter cold with subfreezing temperatures; the 54-day drought (will it ever rain again?) and the heavy rain that caught us thinking about ark-building. Butterfly expert Art...
A Gulf Fritillary spotted Feb. 17 near downtown Vacaville, Solano County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Another Gulf Frit on a passionflower vine on Feb. 17 near downtown Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary caterpillars on the move. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A seed pod from a passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Trouble with Late Bloomers
It's rather troubling trying to rear subtropical butterflies, Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae), in late autumn. The string of warm sunny days in late November meant plenty of days for Gulf Frits to mate and reproduce. From eggs to larvae...
Newly emerged Gulf Fritillary butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A brief bit of sunlight, and the newly emerged Gulf Frit fluttered its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
