What’s Flying? – October

October came in on a breath of fresh air, as the first weekend of the month brought the first cool front to Tampa. With the approach of cooler weather and changes to some of the blooms in the gardens, butterfly habits and appearances will start to change, This month brought several species we hadn’t seen in awhile, including an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and several Viceroys.  Here are the species we’ve been seeing in the gardens recently:

• Gulf Fritillary
• Cloudless Sulphur
• Orange Barred Sulphur
• Sleepy Orange
• Spicebush Swallowtail
• Polydamas Swallowtail
• Pipevine Swallowtail
• Monarch
• Eastern Black Swallowtail
• Giant Swallowtail
• Duskywing
• Tropical Checker Spot
• Long Tailed Skipper
• Blues
• Fiery Skipper
• White Peacock
• Gray Hairstreak
• Tersa Sphinx Moth
• Imperial Moth
• Snowberry Clearwing Moth
• Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
• Florida Viceroy
• Monk Skipper
• Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Notes from the Field:

• Since the extremely cold winter of 2010, White Peacock butterflies have been scarce in the gardens. In the last month or so, we’ve seen a big uptick in their numbers, and just last week we were pleased to find larva on the water hyssop in the small pond. More than 20 small caterpillars are being raised in the lab now, and should be making their appearance as butterflies in the Flight Enclosure in the weeks ahead.
• A new sighting in the last few weeks was an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a female in beautiful condition. While northern gardens are filled with these large butterflies in the summer, they seem to be a little more rare down south. The cooler weather will likely bring more to the area in weeks ahead.
• Hummingbirds are occasional visitors to the garden. A female was seen several days in a row recently, feeding on firebush behind the Flight Enclosure. We haven’t seen her since, so she may have been passing through as she migrated south for the winter.
• After a slow start to the season, Polydamas butterflies are now abundant and laying hundreds of eggs each week on our Pipevines.