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One of the Giant Swalllowtails I raised came out of its chrysalis today! I don't know if that is really good, this late in the year, but at least I was able to get some pictures of a Giant Swallowtail adult. I need one for the rest of this site, once I finally get around to finishing it and I hadn't been able to get one yet. I had expected to have to wait until spring for them to emerge to be able to get a picture of one. I took nearly a whole roll of film of pictures of it, hopefully they will turn out ok. It will be a while before they get developed because we usually drop our pictures off at a nearby grocery store, but since they are on strike now, they aren't developing pictures.
The bigger news though - I'm really excited about this! Just as I was getting ready to go back in the house after getting the pictures of the Giant Swallowtail I saw a butterfly that caught my attention in front of the house. I moved in closer to get a better look at it. Slowly. Oh my god, it looked like a Variegated Fritillary! I got in closer, yes that's what it looked like. I still had the camera with me so I just started taking pictures, any pictures of it before it flew away. Even if it wasn't a Variagated Fritillary, I knew it was something I had never seen before. Got lots of pictures. Went in the house and got a butterfly field guide, looked up Variegate Fritillary, and yes!!!! It's a Variegated Fritillary!!! This is first one of these I've ever seen! They may be common in some parts of the country, but I've never seen one. I planted a passion vine for them, but I really didn't know if one was ever likely to find it. The neighbors probably really think I'm weird after they saw me in front of the house just staring.
Wow! I'm still excited about it! I had given up on seeing one this year. Again, I wanted a picture of one to use on the other part of the site. I hope the pictures turn out ok. Its wings were perfect too, so they could be really nice pictures.
I know I have been bad about keeping this updated recently, but I will still go back and add some dates back in. I do want to thank some of the people who have stopped in and left comments lately. I apologize for not answering right away though. It turns out I didn't have part of the software set up right and it wasn't notifying me when someone leaves a comment. It should be working now though. As soon as I finish here, I will go back and respond to those comments.
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