Another long-tailed skipper emerged this morning. I made a lot of pictures of it, but the bug keeper I put the chrysalis in is made of plastic, which must be what made all the pictures blurry. I made one halfway decent one, then opened the top to get a better one that showed the top colors, and it flew out - I tell you, these LTSs are ready to go as quickly after emerging from the chrysalis as any I've ever seen! The colors didn't look as brilliant as they do on the ones I see nectaring in my garden, so it was either a female or it was still wet enough to darken the color. Anyway, here's a side view of him/her - Sherry

You're welcome, Angie! The long-tail skipper in the above chrysalis emerged late yesterday, so I released it this morning. I couldn't tell whether it was a male or female, because LTSs are so dark all over when they first emerge, you can hardly even see the teal color that comes out later. All the other cats have finally grown (they were TINY when I brought them in, practically hatchlings) and made their chrysalis, or maybe I should call it a cocoon. I read somewhere that some people think skippers are mid way between butterflies and moths. I can believe it, because all of these cats have rolled up in either the edge of the paper towel on the bottom of the cage or their host plant leaves, just like moths do, the only difference being that they don't make nearly as much silk as the big moths. I've got one chrysalis that enclosed in leaves, and the entire thing detached from the rest of the Desmodium stem, so that I've got what looks like a luna moth cocoon. Sherry

Susan, the LTS is on heliotrope. At the old mansion at this state park, Harkness, they have a whole sunken garden of heirloom heliotrope...It smells so good. The LTS was nectaring on that and annual blue salvia farenacea. Strangely, the one in my yard was on impatiens! Misssherry, that skipper cat is so cute. I once tried to raise a silver spotted skipper from an egg and it too died. They must have special needs. There was a very stiff SW wind yesterday and all of our hot humid weather has come up from the south so I think the LTS just came in on the breeze. Maryann

Rhonda, I don't always have a constant supply of host plants. I don't have any naturally occurring host plants for giant swallowtails, but I've planted Ptelea trifoliata, their favorite, which giant swallowtail caterpillars ate a few months ago - there are only a few leaves left, and the plants are just beginning to make new growth. I have a little rue for them, but not enough to support many cats. I plan on moving a little bitty P. trifoliata in my shady woods to my garden where I can plant it in a raised bed under better conditions. I also didn't have any natural pipevines, but there must be some fairly close by, because pipevine swallowtails show up here regularly. About two ?months or so ago a beautiful male nectared in my garden, and it was obvious that he had just emerged, being TOTALLY unfaded and untattered. I've planted woolly pipevines in my garden, and it does well, even spreads. Maypops/Passiflora incarnata grows roadside here, it's not hard to find, but I didn't have any on my wooded property, so I planted some in my garden, and it thrives, too. Many host plants grow naturally on my property - wild black cherry, tulip tree, sassafras, the doomed redbay, sweetbay magnolia, and others, but there are many others that I've planted for the butterflies - nearly all of them grow locally somewhere, I often take cuttings or seeds from locals, like false nettles, mock bishop weed, etc. Last year, the milkweed I had in my garden wasn't enough to feed the many monarch caterpillars on them, so I made trips to the local stands of A. lanceolata to finish feeding them. I also ordered and planted some milkweed vines, and I'll be getting some native American milkweeds, some that grow locally, some that don't, to add to my garden - I'm making some changes there. Once you retire and can devote more time to butterflying, you'll probably want to raise some caterpillars. Gulf frits are a good start - they're SO easy to raise! Sherry