Buon viaggio, Number 50!

Today's blip had to be #50, a butterfly that I found as a tiny pale yellow second instar in my garden (see extra).  Because of his irregular color, I made the decision to rear him in isolation - just in case there was something wrong.  As you can see, there was absolutely nothing wrong with this handsome boy (you can see the scent patches on his hind-wings, marking him as a male). He perched on my hand while I carried him to the garden to finish drying off in a nice sunny patch of lantana.  Soon, he'll lift high up into the sky, bound for Mexico.

Had a bit of a scare in the Monarch nursery yesterday when I found a cat lying on the bottom of the enclosure, looking unwell.  I moved him to an isolation container and - to my utter surprise - he pupated today, lying on a piece of paper towel.  I then had to try to get him hanging on something (while still soft) so that he wouldn't harden with a flat side (potentially causing malformations).  I won't describe to you the hair-raising 10 minutes of that - other than to say it involved a cotton ball, thread, toothpicks, tape and a hot glue gun.  Too bad it's too early for a drink.

For the past few days, I've sworn that I heard a juvenile red-bellied woodpecker, but I've never known them to raise two broods here so just figured I was mistaken.  Wrong!  I caught sight of the little 'pecker this morning as dad was shuttling food to him up in our big maple next to the deck.  Shocker!  Meanwhile, the cardinals are still feeding two youngsters - haven't been able to get a clear shot yet, but maybe...

I am heading into NYC a little later this afternoon with Peggy where we'll meet up with Kura on the roof of her apartment building for prosecco and cheese and laughs.  Staying over tonight and will catch up for brunch tomorrow before Peggy and I drive back out here.  Should be lots of fun.  And, it will be appropriate to remember 9-11 tomorrow morning with two of the people who shared that horrible time with me.

Cheers, people.

Debbi