Juniper Hairstreak Revisited

Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus) is native to most of North America. Once thought to be two separate species, residents of eastern North America and western North America are now considered to be just one species.

As butterflies, adult Juniper Hairstreaks seek the nectar of many flowers such as Queen Anne’s Lace, Winter Cress, Common Milkweed, Butterfly Weed, White Sweetclover and many more. Here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, males looking for females hang out on Eastern Red Cedars, their host plant in this area. Want to find some Juniper Hairstreaks? Try shaking some branches of ERCs. You might just shake some free. Eggs are laid on the tips of the leaves the Eastern Red Cedar. After emerging from their eggs, the caterpillars will eat the leaves.

Juniper Hairstreaks are little butterflies, generally measuring in with a wingspan of 1 to 1.25 inches. The above photo might help you visualize the size with a Carpenter Bee in the image. Yes, a good bit of brown, and tiny but not to be confused with a moth!

The PawPaw Patch

PawPaw (Asimina triloba). An understory small tree or large bush. Native to eastern North America. There are patches of them here and there up here in the mountains. And for a few years I had three or four individual PawPaw trees growing in my yard. Ones that I had planted. I was thoroughly enjoying them. One had even bloomed for me. Then came the clippers. Not intentional clippers but they clipped nonetheless. All the PawPaw trees got cut down. Ack!

Since then I’ve planted three new, tiny, PawPaw trees. Two have survived. But I’ve had a surprise. Where the clippers did their accidental thing, where the trees were cut down, they are coming up again, from root suckers that under normal circumstances form colonies or thickets. 

The reason for my fascination with PawPaws? They’re the host plant of one of my favorite butterflies, the Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus). Plant them and these butterflies will come.

And all is well in the PawPaw Patch.

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Skinks

Juvenile Skinks enjoy scampering up and down the cedar siding, and running back and forth across the porches of my cabin as they look for their next meal. It’s like having my own personal pest control company on duty! They eat insects, spiders and other invertebrates. As youngsters, my Skinks sport a cool looking shiny tail of a marvelous blue color that can be detached if the Skink is caught by a predator. AND the tail will continue to wiggle as the Skink escapes, frightening, diverting the attention of, or at least entertaining the predator. AND most of the time the Skink is able to grow a new tail. This one is either a Common Five-lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) or a Broad-headed Skink (Plestiodon laticeps). At this young stage these two species are nearly indistinguishable. Whichever it is, I love having them around.

Northern Pearly-eye Joins the Chat

A couple days ago as I stood outside the yoga studio chatting with my dear teacher Kumud, a Northern Pearly-eye (Enodia anthedon) came by to join in the conversation, landing on me. I must keep in mind what it had to say. So profound. This friendly creature, this butterfly, has a wingspan of two inches. And is colored with many shades of brown. But it is butterfly not a moth.

Here’s a closeup of its antennae. A good way to tell the difference – butterfly or moth. This is what a butterfly antenna is like. A simple “wire” with a club-like top. A moth has a feathery antennae if it is male. A female moth has antennae that are saw-toothed. Butterflies can be tiny and brown. Moths can be large and marvelously colored. Pay attention to those antennae.

White and Red Dogwood Berries

Autumn is approaching. The leaves of some Flowering Dogwoods are getting richer, more and more red. Their crimson berries, or drupes, are in abundance. This is the species of Dogwood that most people think of when “Dogwood” is mentioned.

Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) and Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa). Two different Dogwood species. One of seventeen species native to North America. Like most Dogwood species, these two have opposite leaves as well as leaves with visible veins that curve parallel to the smooth edges.

Gray Dogwood’s creamy white berries are plentiful now too, much to the pleasure of Cardinals, Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers, Bluebirds and many other songbirds.

Flowering Dogwoods grow as single trees. Gray Dogwoods form colonies, by growing suckers and spreading. These dense colonies create a perfect space for nesting songbirds. Glad to see these berries. Autumn is approaching!

Pipevine Swallowtail

Brand new! This Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) has just emerged from its chrysalis.

A couple years ago I decided that if I wanted to see Pipevine Swallowtails, I should get a plant that would engage them. Their host plants are in the genus Aristolochia. One of them, Woolly Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia tomentosa) filled the bill since it’s native to the eastern US and southeastern Canada. Perfect. I put up a trellis, planted it and let it grow.

And nature did its magic. Pipevine Swallowtails came and deposited eggs on the leaves. Those eggs became caterpillars. Many caterpillars.

I was beside myself with glee.

The little caterpillars ate the leaves of the vine, getting larger and larger until it was time for each of them to create a chrysalis. Much to my surprise one of the plump black and orange dotted creatures decided to present me with a gift. The gift of perfect location. It built its chrysalis right next to my front door at the perfect height for me to watch its progress. The perfect height for my camera to capture happenings.

The chrysalis was attached to the cedar siding with two little silken threads, one at the back and the other near the front. And it hung there day after day. Glowing with its incredible coloring. Glowing yellow creating the illusion of warm candlelight coming from within.

As time passed the chrysalis turned more and more paper bag brown. But still it seemed to glow from within with that warm candlelight yellow.

Then at about day 17, the chrysalis looked as if there was something inside, not just candlelight but something resembling a butterfly eager to get out. I thought about manning a station. Sitting, watching constantly to see the miraculous moment when the butterfly emerged. But I didn’t.

My next observation just a short time later, the chrysalis was just an empty shell. The incredible NEW butterfly was hanging onto the siding, pumping its butterfly “blood” into its wings. Getting ready to fly away to begin its extremely short life of just 6 to 14 days.

What an extraordinary thing to witness. I’m so very glad I planted that Wooly Dutchman’s Pipe.

Hosta

Hosta (Hosta) can be a beautiful addition to your garden if you don’t have it already. Hostas are herbaceous perennial plants that are native to China, Japan, Korea and the Russian Far East. They produce attractive clumps of leaves each summer which are topped with blooms that are either white or lavender. But a word of warning. The Hosta is a plant that I’ll avoid. The fact that the plants are not native is one strike against them. I find a need to encourage fauna that are attracted to native plants. But the big factor that negates any chance these plants have — they are like candy to deer. Rabbits, slugs and snails also eat the leaves and roots. Rhizomes are eaten by voles but deer are really something that I don’t want to encourage. Without a doubt.