One of the new blogs that I found recently and which is sure worth a visit SA Photographs - Joan posted some photos of the monarch butterfly in the southern hemisphere. They are actually very different to the ones here in the northern hemisphere, at least in this part of the USA. So I wanted to show her what ours look like. The only part of their life cycle that I havent photographed in the Pupae stage because I have never been able to find one, this summer I am planning on making some sort of enclosure so that I can see and photograph them as I believe they are very beautiful, green with gold dots around it. I see plenty of the caterpillars but I have no idea where they dissappear to to form the crysallis and I have been hunting for a few years now LOL. The milkweed plant that they feed on makes them unpalatable and poisonous to predators which is their defence mechanism. There are very few insects that will feed on milkweed.
There is a similar butterfly to the USA variety and it is a King butterfly or something I cant remember exactly will have to do a bit of research. They are exactly the same except they have a black line diagonally across their rear wings which the monarch doesnt. I have a photo of one of those somewhere too, will see if I can find it.
Had a cold snowy windy day today and I stayed curled up inside crocheting, andyone care to place an order for a poncho LOL. Cyndie received hers yesterday and seems very pleased with it, my only worry was that it was long enough because she is pretty tall. She is going to have a photo taken while she is wearing it and if it is okay with her I will share it here when she does. I am really finding the crochet theraputic and relaxing.
Hope everyone is having a good week, ours started off lousy weatherwise but I suppose I am going to have to get used to that if I want to live here LOL. ((((((Hugs))))))
Lori
xx
2 comments:
What a beautiful post Lori!! Thank you so much for showing this to me as I really like to compare the species in different parts of the world. Those photographs are brilliant.
If I find caterpillars I put them in glass jars with airholes in the lid. That way I can photograph them during the different stages. I also bought a small fish tank, put about 1 inch of gravel in it and now I can put some of the crawling bugs in there. It has a fine mesh lid which I place on top so that they cannot get out. When I have finished taking my pictures I let them go but am careful not to take anything from far away which would put them out of their natural environment.
So come over for a couple of weeks visit if not a year!! It really is hotter than hades here now, but we have been having rain almost every night which cools it down some then we have the humidity to contend with the next day. But I love it!! I would freeze my butt off if I was in the USA now and have always made sure my visits there were in the spring or summer. :) I really am a chicken when it comes to the cold and always said that I should have been a bear so I could hibernate. LOL!!
I loved that poncho and hope you get lots of orders for more. I taught myself to crochet too but have not done it for years. It is a great hobby for the winter.
Thanks again Lori, I loved the pictures.
Absolutely gorgeous photos, so vivid. Love those butterfly's.
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