It seems impossible that the last entry I made in this blog was last August! Time just flies by...
Well we have a new butterfly season upon us. We have the first groups of monarchs and black swallowtails in the butterfly house... the females are busy laying eggs... we will have lots of adults to release as the season goes along.
Let's catch up with what has gone on this season already, that I did not have time to write about. Last season, we raised a number of cecropia moth larvae to the point they formed cocoons; we wintered them over in a cold basement. This spring, we put them in the greenhouse and by the end of May, all had emerged. We put the females in an old bird cage and let the males go in the greenhouse. Within a week, they began laying eggs... which are now hatching and feeding on a crab apple tree in our yard. We have them in a protective sleeve, so the predators won't get them. The adult moths only live for 10-14 days, then they die... kind of sad to see when you have spent so much time and effort raising them. Oh well...
My intent this year is to chronical the life of the butterflies with pictures... trying to take shots at every stage of development and to post the pics here at the blog. Hopefully, time with permit this to happen.
Final thought tonight... remember the butterfly house at Cayuga Nature Center. It is a great stopping point on your way north on Rt 89. They have created a wonderful community resource and we need to support it... and them. More on that later.
J
