Honeybrook ~ September Farm ~ Sunflowers

 I decided a second visit would be fun before the sunflowers are done for this season.  I can see that even with just a few days between the visits they are starting to go past the peak on about 1/4 of the plants. 

 

Yard Butterflies ~ #25 Red-banded Hairstreak

I found a Red-banded Hairstreak that flew out of my Limelight hydrangea and landed on the grass. #25 yard butterfly for 2024

Yard Butterflies 2024 ~ #24 Variegated Fritillary

 I was out working in the yard today and saw a Fritillary that kept moving in & out of my sights.  Finally, it settled enough to see it was a Variegated Fritillary and she was laying eggs on the garden pansies I plant every year for her.  I baby them along in the heat because that's one of their host plants.  She placed a good number of eggs between the front & yard pansies.  Of course, that meant I needed to play around with my camera and get pictures of the eggs. 

Garden Pansy with Variegated Fritillary Egg

Close-up of Egg

A Second Egg on a New Blossom

My Yard ~ Sleepy Orange

 Found this caterpillar on 7/18 on the Maryland Senna. Then, I couldn't find it again but yesterday I found it eclosing. Happy to announce the birth of a Sleepy Orange. It dried it's wings and left almost immediately. Saw one here today but didn't get any pictures.

HoneyBrook, PA ~ September Farm ~ Sunflowers

 Sunflower field at September Farm in Honeybrook. They grow them for people to walk through and take pictures. They had a nice take out area for sandwiches. They make cheese and have donuts and baked goods.

My Yard ~ Red-spotted Purple Caterpillars & Northern Hammertail

I have 2 small potted cherry trees that I brought from NJ.  Each year since I moved here I have seen Red-spotted Purple eggs and caterpillars.  This year they are earlier than previous years.  I check every morning to see how they have grown over the past 24 hrs.  2 of them look like they should be going into a chrysalis soon.  I am hoping they place it somewhere I can see it when they are getting ready to emerge.  There was a robber fly hanging around the tree that worries me that it will snatch the caterpillars and eat them.

Northern Hammertail Robber Fly

 

My Yard ~ Cloudless Sulphur Caterpillar

 Excited yesterday to find a Cloudless Sulphur caterpillar on Maryland Senna. It's a close up image and much smaller at this point. I also found more eggs so more caterpillars should be coming. This plant had Sleepy Orange cats last year. Hopefully they'll be back this year!

My Yard ~ Clearwing Snowberry Moth

 

Nature at Nottingham County Park

Peck's

Silver-spotted 

Peck's

Clouded Sulphur

Pearl Crescent

Clouded Sulphur

 

My Yard ~ A Great day

 7/15 was a great day in the yard. New yard bird #56 Yellow Warbler. FOY Spicebush #22 butterfly species for 2024, plus several Monarchs here.

Spicebush

Yellow Warbler

Monarch 

My Yard ~ Red-spotted Purple

 Saw my FOY Red-spotted Purple here on 7/1. Today, I saw another one plus found eggs and several very tiny caterpillars on the 2 cherry trees I have in pots.

My Yard ~ Gray Hairstreak

 Mint fresh Gray Hairstreak (FOY for yard #21) a month earlier than the past 2 years.

My Yard ~ Rustic Sphinx Moth on ChaCha Penstemon

 Something was eating my ChaCha Cherry Penstemon. I picked up a branch and felt something that didn't belong there. Must admit it took me back until I got a look at it. It's some type of sphinx moth. INat says Rustic Sphinx.

The interesting find yesterday on one of my deck plants. The report from butterfliesandmoths.org with the same findings by iNaturalist. Then I found a second one on the same plant.

Rustic sphinx: Manduca rustica

Observation date: July 10, 2024

Submitted by: Beth Polvino

Specimen type: Photograph

Observation notes: Found on ChaCha Cherry Penstemon. Had eaten much of the plant.

Status: Alive

Verified by: curtis.lehman

Verified date: July 10, 2024

Coordinator notes: None.

Checklist region(s): United States, Pennsylvania, Chester County

My Yard ~ Horace's Duskywing

 Yard species #20 for 2024 Horace's Duskywing. The butterflies are finding my gardens. This time in 2022 I had 9 species as I was just starting the gardens here. Last year at this time I had 10 species. If you plant it, they will come! On my small property, I have 16 host plants for the different species of butterflies.