Asclepias syriaca (common names: Ipek Fidani)

Wow ababy Caterpillar being born SUPER PIC Di :)

Your so lucky Di how brill is that 2 see?

Fantastic :O

How Lovely u can see the butterfly inside wow :)

Truely Beautiful Di :D

Hi Diohio,
You are deeply into habitat gardening, by the photos and the depth of your knowledge. I'm sure this is the way of the future...we are stewards of the environment. You are also an accomplished wildlife photographer, the picture of the monarch chrysalis is amazing. they have to be one of the most beautiful things nature has produced...they look like fine green jade with gold spots.. Congrats...looking forward to your summer postings.

Gorgeous... I went looking for chrysalis last summer when I took the pictures of the milkweed. the monarch that I followed (it wasn't easy) lit in several places but seemed exhausted...the abdomen seemed flattened and I wondered if it was nearing it's end. It was in the same area as the larvae that I had photographed, but there were no other butterflies visible in the immediate area...I'm also interested in the Viceroy...have you had any opportunity to view or photog. them?

Yes Lori, I just posted a pic for you ! I've only seen one in my yard :(

Thank you very much Lori. I agree, we are stewards. The Monarch chrysalis fascinates me.

Facinating :-)

Amazing how you get these photos. Do you keep watch all the time waiting for them to hatch?

Agree with Lori - Alan Titchmarsh described butterflys as 'flying jewellery', which I thought was nice.

Thank you for posting this Monarch series.Your photos are beautiful and this was really interesting!

Thanks for the Monarch lifecylce photos, they were great! Is this all happening at your property?

Thank you Grammazoo and Tasteyq. Yes, I collect the eggs or larvae from my yard and bring them inside until they eclose. I have 10 gallon aquariums inside and "cathouses" outside (that are usually filled with moth larvae). Once they eclose (come out of their chrysalis or pupa) I take them outside and put them in an empty cathouse until their wings dry and then I release them either later in the afternoon or sometimes I'll wait until the next day.

What an extremely worthwhile job! How come I missed all this when you posted it? Anyway, I'm glad I found it now.

Wow, Diohio! They're beautiful :)

wow again, brilliant Diohio

Amazing.

You must have a magical attraction.

How many do you usually raise? and they are beautiful :)

Diohio, this is fascinating.
Any chance of you writing a blog about this ?

Thanks everyone !
Xela if you look on page 17 of my pics I have the entire Monarch life cycle. I've never written a blog and I'm not even sure how to write one, and I wouldn't want to add the same pics that I've already posted.........otherwise I'd be glad to. I guess I could just write one without pics>>?? I kinda explain under each photo though.

Sandy the number of Monarchs I raise is different each year, depending on how many eggs and caterpillars I find on my milkweed. A few years ago I tackled over 600 and that was WAY too much. I barely had time to sleep. Most years it's between 50 and 100. And then I also raise Black Swallowtails, Eastern Commas, Question Marks, Red Admirals and a few different moths. I love the Giant Silk moths.

OMG 600!!!! that is crazy how do you have time for all of them!!

I didn't have any time when I had 600+. I also had Regal moths that year and I only got a few hours sleep every night. It really was crazy. The good thing about the Commas, Question Marks and Red Admirals is I have huge pots of Wood Nettle and when the butterflies come to lay their eggs on them I can either let them be or I can net the whole plant, pot and all, to protect them from preditors. Then when they eclose I just let them fly free from the net.

Amazing, what a wonderful, benefical hobby you have ! Thanks for sharing !

I agree, Flcrazy! Just amazing, Di.... thanks for showing us what you do. How are the fawns and turkey poults doing?

Thanks everyone !
Lori, we've only had 4-6 deer show up the past few months. Punkers and her one fawn. I don't know what's up with that because she had 3 fawns last year.......she had two this spring and must have lost one somehow. We usually have 6-10 fawns coming in but this year only that one. I hope we don't have the wild dog problem again. I haven't seen any so far.

I havn't seen the turkey poult for about a month now. I have a feeling that once it starts getting cold they're all show up.

My cousin (the beef farmer) was telling me that the wolves are getting very brave this year...following the does into the fields. He watched as the doe tried to draw the wolf away from where she left her fawn in the tall hay. He said it seemed to work for a while and then the wolf doubled back on her trail. He keeps a rifle nearby...he fired a shot into the air...and the wolf went back into the bush while the doe and fawn went opposite directions.He said he saw them together later up on the ridge.. lucky for her it was a lone wolf... not the pack training the young to hunt or it might have ended differently. He says the gobblers up there are getting plentiful and many are being killed on the roads.

Oh my Lori ! I'd imagine that many a fawn is taken by wolves. That's nature I'm afraid. We don't have wolves here but I did hear the coyotes howling the other night when I took my dog out. I don't know if a coyote would try to tackle a fawn or not.
When we first moved here 14 years ago we had a wild dog problem.........too many people dropping off unwanted dogs and they formed a pack.

too bad, aye? One evil spawns another.... what a wolf can do...a dog can do also! Cayotes are becoming a problem here as well...they are spreading north and east and they are pretty canny creatures, putting pressure on the wolf, hare, fox and deer populations who had their own balance until the cayotes showed up... only takes one facet to overweigh the situation and then there is collapse.. Like the old commercial said: "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature!"

The coyotes here take down deer in packs...we have no wolf population at all but we do have cougar that have taken full size deer down in a neighbors yard. Nobody leaves cats or dogs out at night.

Catfinch, I'll bet that's what they're doing here. I just heard that a lot of people in my area are losing cats and dogs to the coyotes. That's scarey !