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Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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Posted by karalynn z9 FL, Citrus (My Page) on Thu, Nov 5, 09 at 8:49
| Most of this summer I've hardly seen any monarch butterflies even though I have several milkweed plants that I grow just for them. A few weeks ago I found 3 monarch cats on the milkweed but they are the only cats I've seen this year. This has me confused since in past years I've had more cats then I had milkweed for them to eat.
Then I was out in the garden this past weekend and spotted a monarch butterfly that just couldn't seem to get enough of this one particular salvia. It would feed on from the flowers for a bit then flutter around the garden only to come right back to the same salvia to feed some more. It didn't seem to mind me standing there taking picture after picture.
Now that the weather has become cooler at night I'm no longer finding hummingbird moths on my front porch or darting around the garden. Before the cooler weather I had hummingbird moths in my garden every night visiting the vincas and porterweed. Do they migrate south during the winter?
Here's some pictures of the different types of hummingbird moths I've had in my garden this year.
Clearwing hummingbird moth - I think this is the neatest of the pictures I took. It's also the only one time I spotted this particular type of moth in my garden and the only time I've been able to get a picture of any type of hummingbird moth in flight.
Pink spotted hawkmoth - This was a very large but docile moth that I found hanging out on the front porch about a month ago. I was able to coax it onto my hand so that I could show it to my 4 year old nephew and 3 year old neice before putting it on the outside of the porch screen. This is only one of these I've ever seen in my garden.
And here are the three types of hummingbird moths that I've had on my porch all summer. I had to move them from inside my porch to outside so that they wouldn't be trapped which is why they are grouped together like they are. The green one is a Pandora Sphinx, the darker brown one is a Mournful Sphinx, and the tan one is a Tersa Shpinx. I only had a few of the pandoras but the was finding 3 or 4 of the others on the porch every week, some weeks I was removing several every day.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| Fantastic pictures, Kara! LOVE all your sphinx moths!! I've never seen a couple of those, and you are so lucky to have them ALL there to enjoy!! I think your "salvia" that your monarch is on is actually a russelia, if I'm seeing it right. Black calyx, long arching branches, right? It looks like russelia sarmentosa, which is also a FANTASTIC hummingbird plant. Mine froze to the ground last year, but has come back beautifully. I also noticed not as many monarchs this year as last, and I didn't find but 5 cats all summer. I had way more eastern black swallowtails this year. (Wonder if there is some correlation to the lower amount of one and the higher amount of the other?) Thanks for sharing such beautiful pictures. (You are right, the one of the clear wing is fantastic!!!) Marcia |
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| Loved all the pictures, Karalynn. Amazing creatures, all of them. I had been thinking maybe the incredible number of wasps this year was the reason for the fewer cats/monarch adults. My milkweed has been visited by adults, but not as many as last year, and it has stayed tall and pristine since late spring when the cats trimmed it back. Anna |
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| I have noticed less monarchs this year too. In the past I had a hard time supplying all the cats with milkweed but this year nothing. I haven't seen many around town either. I had TONS of swallowtails though. |
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| Hi - Thanks for posting the pics of the hummingbird moths... I thought I had the same thing in my garden but got a closer look today, and the wings are not the same, mine have 4 clear wings and it appears that yours have single wings...... they hover and then flutter and dart away and go up and down while flying........ but the body appears the same or similar.... any clue what they are ???? what do they like....? they seem to be searching and I have not seen them land on anything, they have been here all week maybe longer........ thanks, sally |
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| Marcia, thanks for correcting the identification on that plant. Now that I think about it the fact that the plants leaves didn't smell when I would brush past it should have been a clue that it wasn't a salvia. I love salvias but am not so fond of the smell of their leaves. I've had a lot more swallowtails this year then usual as well. Maybe there is a connection between their numbers. Sally, there are other varieties of clearwing moths so maybe what you are seeing is one of those. I've included a link to a really helpful site for identifying bugs. |
Here is a link that might be useful: what's that bug
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| I didn't think about the "smell test," Kara, but that would sure be a good clue. Interesting that others have seen fewer monarchs and more swallowtails. I wonder if it's just a good year for one and not the other for some reason? At first I figured it was because I had the mother of all fennel plants this year for the swallowtail larva...more than 6 feet tall, and about 5 feet wide. And I didn't have very many milkweeds, in comparison. But now that I'm hearing others have noticed a difference this year, I'm wondering........... Curious! (As are so many things that go on in our gardens). Marcia |
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| Thank you Karalynn, thanks for the link, it doesn't show the bug I had in my garden, mine had all-clear wings, 4 of them.... but the site said it was a 'hummingbird clearwing moth'... does that mean it is a bird, or a moth ? it seems to act like a bird, a hummingbird, the way it hovers and moves..... there were 2 of them..... quite a treat....... thanks again, sally |
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| I have just the opposite at my house. More Monarchs than ever before. I also have Queens & had paid no attention until last week. One of them emerged from the chrysalis & I realized it wasn't the expected Monarch. Now I see them in the yard also. Does anyone bring the eggs in & watch them grow into the caterpillar? I just brought in a milkweed branch with 5 eggs. This way I know the wasps will not get all the caterpillars. |
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| I've grown the same salvia for years in Ohio. It's a huge hit with the hummingbirds, but never saw butterflies on it. I never did know what the real name of that salvia was - no tag when I bought it. Grew like an annual for me, I put seeds aside in the fall. |
RE: Monarchs & hummingbird moths
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| Butterflies vary a lot from year to year, depending upon the location. This year I had what I would consider to be a normal amount of both Monarchs and Eastern Black Swallowtails. I haven't seen an Eastern Black in perhaps a month. Still have a good number of Monarchs, Polydamas, Skippers and Sulfurs. I haven't seen a Giant Swallowtail in a few weeks. Saw a Tiger last week, but they have been very scarce this year and last. Lots of things affect the number and kinds of butterflies. The two most important in my area are freezes and wild fires. If I don't get a freeze I will have Monarchs year round. Fires reduce the number of virtually all butterflies except the Polydamas, which feed and stay around the pipevines in my yard. |
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