I enjoyed looking at your photos! I can't say that I like those robber flies. I saw one with a Monarch cat one time. It had consumed half of it, and it flew off with the other half when it saw me (I think that's why it flew off with it anyway). Grrr! We try to save as many as we can, but we can only do so much. There are so many predators out there just watching and waiting for them. I also have trouble with wasps getting to my BST cats if I don't bring them in. A few years ago the last four "butterflies" to eclose were actually wasps. They had overwintered and I was really disappointed when those came out of the pupas instead of the Black Swallowtails. I think it was the very first year that I raised them. After that I have become more diligent at watching the host plants and bringing them in as soon as possibly, preferably in the egg stage. Cathy

Five years of butterfly garden growing by trial and error and I finally got a view of some *brown winged monarch fluttering by, no stop overs for feeding yet but at least they where seen in numbers from 3 - 8 weekly for the first time in the neighborhood in five years. Perhaps it's them pesky English sparrows one of my neighbors is long time fond of feeding that hurts there longer closer visits as they ruckus about in my yard as well ( there great bug killers of pest and such and they do bring about some bigger and more aggresive birds as well )I have made a compromise by education to the awfull bird feeding habits that they seem to possess. * brown winged = I can't ID em for certain as Monarchs as the bird feeding thing gets resolved I am hopefull for neaxt season for landings and pics. I also fond your site nice enough to join I have much to learn and will still read along in this forum thanks for the invite.

Thanks, all! The Passion vines are 2 types. One is from CindeeA, and is for the butterflies. It is "Passie Inflorence" I think? It has lovely purple blooms that perfume the whole property! It springs up all over the yard, but is easy to pull up if not wanted. The other is a yellow-fruiting variety from ECHO. It has huge leaves. Both types were badly burned by the freeze, but have recovered. Christine, I like the East Coast Mulberry variety best. It fruits heavily, and the berries are incredibly delish! But, they are all good! Where in zone 9 are you? I need to prune all my Mulberries soon, and if you are near Stuart, I can bring cuttings to work for you, and anyone else interested. I have 35 chickens, Barred Rocks, Buff Orpingtons and Delawares. They dig "dust-bath" holes all over the yard, steal my fruit, annoy the dogs- but we love them! They give us nearly 3 dozen eggs a day! There is no wasted food at our place. The only things the chickens refuse are donuts and citrus. Luckily, my husband likes both(G). Anyone in Palm Beach County that wants Mulberry cutiings, let me know! I'll start a separate thread. Why pay $35 when you can get them free? The Pakistan is winding down on fruits, so I will prune them all back to 5-6'. Lisa

Thanks all, We're very fortunate to have so many pretty songbirds here and we love to share them with other bird lovers. :) Terrene - We usually get quite a few Monarchs and several other lovely butterflies here. Populations seem about normal to me this year, but the Painted Ladies have been kinda scarce so far. Rachel - This juvie Cooper's (a female we think - it's BIG) has been hunting House Sparrows in the neighbor's azalea bush. We love to see and photograph the hawks (we have at least 4 species captured so far)... but we're in constant fear for our songbirds. Todate we've only seen them take Starlings and HOSP. Thanks again everybody, :) Kenn & Temple Backyard Birders in St.Louis MO. Here is a link that might be useful: Latest Slideshow