Excellent photos Sandy. Congrats on adding it to you life list, and especially for establishing a new county record for it. It's definately a fun time of the season when strays find there way to new locations so folks can discover them. You thread immediately made me think of Macroglossum pyrrhosticta, and brought back some wonderful times seeing and rearing them in Hawaii and the Philippines. But I won't hijack your post about them here... instead I'll tell a story about them in a new thread. ;) Larry

Cooper, I have been watching for them here in southwest Missouri and so far, none at my home. Here is a link that might be useful. Here is a link that might be useful: Purple Martin Scouts Arrival Oklahoma

Carol, I love hearing them whizzing and whirring around the property. That make all sorts of sounds that are very interesting. We have a lot during spring migration and late summer migration, but fewer throughout the summer. Still, we usually have 6 or 8 or 10 around at any given moment during the summertime. I have to put out 4 or 5 or 6 different feeders because otherwise a couple of dominant males will "guard" and fight over a lone feeder or two. They do nest here and raise their young, and you know when you're near a tree or shrub containing a hummer nest because a hummer will come and fly in circles around your head trying to make you go away. We have a neighbor a mile or so south of us who has been feeding the hummingbirds for her whole adult life. (I believe she is in her 80s). She has a lot of feeders and probably dozens if not hundreds of hummers at her place on a regular basis. Her granddaughter told me she has to refill her feeders daily. I love having hummers around, but to feed then at the level she does would be a full-time job. Susan, I would expect to see the ruby-throats sometime soon just on the basis of how danged hot it is here now. They usually aren't far behind the rufous when it comes to finding us in spring. I may or may not see black-chinned hummingbirds in the spring, but they always visit in the summer. When we moved here, I never expected to see anything but the ruby-throats, so having lots of rufous and the occasional black-chinned hummer is a bonus. American Cross Vine is native and it used to be found all over Texas. Now, with the continual conversion of wild land full of native plants into housing subdivisions with nicely manicured lawns, it is not as common as it once was. We always had it in Texas, and it was one of the first vines I planted when we moved here because I knew if I planted it we'd always have hummers. It is not invasive anywhere that I've grown it, but I've only grown it on clay soil---black gumbo clay in Texas and Red River red clay here in OK. I suppose it has the potential to become invasive in good sandy loam, but have no idea if it does become invasive. The hummers love it. Because I wanted hummers, the other vine I planted right away after the house was built was trumpet creeper. I don't care how invasive it is, I still love it and have planted it in several locations. We have both the orange-flowered one and the yellow-flowered one. Another vine that is a huge hit with the hummers is coral honeysuckle. I have "Pink Lemonade" honeysuckle on the cedar entry arbor that leads into my veggie garden, and it has hummers visiting it from sunrise to sunset when it is blooming. Their favorite tree (and I know it is a trash tree but they love it and I love it so I planted it anyway) is the mimosa that I planted just west of my garden. They surely do love the mimosa. They also like the Chaste Tree and Desert Willow tree. All the above vines plus some of the common annual vines (especially morning glories) are faves of the hummers. Their favorite non-vining plant has to be the Texas Hummingbird Sage. I planted a packet of seed of Texas Hummingbird Sage from Seeds of Change about our 2nd or 3rd year here and it has reseeded itself ever since. I plant other annual sages and the hummers visit them too, but Texas Hummingbird Sage always draws the largest crowd. I see hummers at the Laura Bush petunias too and I'm sure they visit many other flowers, but if I am in the garden, I'm usually too busy to stand and watch them to see which flowers they're going to. We have hummers that live here and they return every year. I know which ones are the returnees because if I hang the feeders in different spots than they have been in during previous years, the returnees hover and buzz at the places where the feeders "used to be". They don't like change! The regulars are quite used to me and follow me around the yard. They'll sit on top of a tomato cage, the garden fence or even the electric line and hang out for a while and watch me work. If I go back towards the house, the resident hummers follow me there. I have to be really careful because sometimes when I go into the house, they follow me right inside. It is never a good thing for a hummer to come into a house with a cat or cats inside. Chaos ensues. I have to throw the cats out, calm down the bird and then guide the bird back to the door so it can fly out. Sometimes I have to catch them by cupping my hands around them while they're at the window trying to fly back outside. One year, the hummers or possibly one single repeat offender, would follow me into the house, go straight to the ceiling fan, perch on a fan blade and ride the ceiling fan around and around and around. It was bizarre. It hasn't happened since that one summer, so I think we had a hummer who thought the ceiling fan was an amusement park. Finally, I cannot wear red when working in the garden or the hummers become convinced I am a flower and keep trying to land on me. Dawn

They also love to eat Rue, an old medicinal type herb, with lovely blue-green, lacy foliage. Precure Nursery sells it, as well as very nice Fennel and Dill plants. I know they don't spray the Dill and Fennel because they are considered food plants, but they may spray the Rue on occasion. If the Rue is sitting on the tables with the Fennel and Dill, it is relatively safe to say it has not been sprayed. If, however, it is located on a table some distance from the Dill and Fennel, it has been sprayed. I know one summer they had a problem with mealy bugs on the Rue, so they moved it to the Perennial plant section and sprayed them. Someone purchased the Rue plants unsuspectingly, and when the cats consumed the Rue, they died. That said, I highly recommend Precure because they sell a lot of butterfly host and nectar plants. I have purchased other host plants such as Blue Crown Passion Vine (for the Gulf Fritillarys), Pussytoes (Antennaria, for the American Ladies), Pearly Everlasting (American Ladies), and other things. Their herb plants are usually pretty good sized. I have to go there today to get more Rue and Fennel, so I can let you know the status of their Rue if you would like. The thing I like about Rue is that it is also the food plant for the Giant Swallowtails, so you would have 2 different butterflies using them for larval food. The Black Swallowtail is Oklahoma's state butterfly, too! If you want to, you could hand-raise a couple of the caterpillars so your daughter can see the life cycle up close. Just use a plastic container, with airholes punched in the lid, small enough the larvae cannot get thru them. I put a paper towel in the bottom (change daily cuz caterpillars poop a lot), and add fresh Dill leaves in the morning and evening, removing whatever is left of the old. I use the plastic containers and cut out the inside portion of the top, put a paper towel over the container and put the lid back on (you will have just the rim of the lid left) or you can cover the entire container with a paper towel secured with a rubber band. When they reach the last instar of growth, they will began to wander around the container and empty their guts. If your container is tall enough, you can put some sticks or something wooden, stand them up or lean them against the sides, and they will pupate either on these or on the sides, top of container. When the cat has found a place to pupate, it will spin a "harness" and position itself securely against the stick or side of the container where it will remain motionless. Eventually, they shed their skin for the last time and in its place is a chrysalis, either brown or green. Inside its interior is turning to liquid and then reconstituting as a butterfly. In about 7-10 days, you will see the chrysalis begin to darken. Within a day or so, the butterfly will slide out of the chrysalis and hang to dry. The wings are all crumpled up and damp looking. Don't disturb it. The butterfly will begin to pump fluid into the wings, the wings will extend and dry. After a few hours, the butterfly will be ready to fly. This may sound difficult, but it is not at all. I have used containers like large, plastic pretzel containers from Sam's Club, mesh cages purchased from Educational Science online, butter/margarine containers, etc. I cover them with paper towels held in place with rubber bands. The most important things are keeping the containers clean, and providing fresh food daily, twice daily when they get big. You will notice them growing and eating more and more. Congrats on your big, beautiful caterpillars! Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Black Swallowtail Life Cycle