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molanic

Snowberry Clearwing Happenings

molanic
9 years ago

I was outside and supposed to be doing yard work... but you know how easy it is to get distracted when something flies past you! There was a snowberry clearwing hanging around and darting in and out of my arrowwood viburnum, laying eggs I think.

When it appeared to lay an egg ON THE FENCE behind the bush I made my way through the flower bed (crushing some plants along the way) to see if I could find any eggs. I did not find any eggs and the little stinker would not stay in one spot longer than a second for a picture. After much time chasing it around I did manage to get one picture and then quit to go back to work.
{{gwi:505615}}From 2014_07


A few minutes later something caught my eye again. Holy cannoli this was a new one for me.
{{gwi:505616}}From 2014_07


{{gwi:505617}}From 2014_07

They were getting freaky like this for over 10 minutes. I even got a video.

Then I got worried and thought maybe they were stuck and the lower one was either dying or had already died. I had previously seen a monarch flying around with a very obviously dead mate still attached to it. I went inside to look online. Surprisingly, I could not find any info on how long they normally take to do the deed. When I went back outside though I found that they had finally separated and were unharmed! I spent yet more time looking for their eggs on all my host plants.

It was a good day for butterflies and moths... a bad day for yard work apparently.

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