links:

www.connecticutmoths.com

The Garden Community

 I Village

http://yucky.kids.discovery.com/

Colecting Supplies

BioQuip web site

New

Osipov.org

Silkmoths andButterfly lookup

What's new?

Hey there is another Insectarium now in Wildwood, NJ. on the boardwall. http://www.wildwoodinsectarium.com/insectarium.htm

New this year: pest world for kids check it out click on the link. Also good for teachers or home schooler.

I found this web site that specialize in growing plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies to the garden, Rose Franklin’s Perenn http://www.butterflybushes.com/index.htm

The Black Swallowtail project has been going so well for the past six years I decided to move on this year and try Pipe vine Swallowtails. They were once very common in the North East part of the country in the 1800’s, but are almost never seen

Another web site: http://www.westnilefever.com/west_nile_mosquito.htm everything about West Nile

Check out his web page.

http://www.rlephoto.com/butterflies/000families.htm

Insects on the web:

   20 Amazing Examples of Animal Camouflage:

   http://www.boredpanda.com/amazing-animal-camouflage-photos/

  22 Weird and Beautiful Caterpillars:

   http://www.boredpanda.com/22-weird-and-beautiful-caterpillars/

   http://www.whatsthatbug.com/

   http://www.isis.vt.edu/~fanjun/text/Links.html

   The Wonderful World of Insects
    A kid-friendly site with an abundance of information about insects and related organisms

   http://www.scientificsonline.com/ Edmund Scientific

   http://www.tils-ttr.org Ron Gatrelle
 

  Raising Butterflies and Moths

A method for finding and rearing Butterflies and Moths is a simple 5 step process:

1. Grow a garden with abundant amounts of nectar flowers to attract adults and food sources for their caterpillars. For example, we grow dill and parsley for Black Swallowtail caterpillars. We also grow Zinnia, Aster, Butterfly bush and other nectar-bearing plants, which also happen to have very beautiful and colorful flowers.
2. Look for caterpillars or eggs. This takes some time and involves looking under and around the food sources.
3. Put the caterpillars in bug boxes with plenty of oxygen so the caterpillars don't suffocate.
4. Feed the caterpillars daily (this is work at times, but the food must be pretty fresh).
5. Once the butterfly or moth hatches, provided they are a local species, we have a 48-hour rule. We keep them for 2 days or less and release them into the wild. Better to have them find a mate in the wild than die in our hands. This also enhances our chances of finding more caterpillars. Moths will mate in captivity, but we have had little success with butterflies mating and laying eggs.

We have 2 cicada killers last year. To find out more click the link below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_killer_wasp#Life_Cycle_and_Habits

From our butterfly garden in Philadelphia, PA. U.S.A.
Names in red are first time recorded in our yard.

April: Cabbage White (April 25)

May: Cabbage White (male & female), Black Swallowtail ( female)

June: Cabbage Whites (male & female), Spring Azure, Tiger Swallowtail (male), Humming bird clearwing, Monarch (male)

July:  Cabbage Whites (male & female), Snowberry Clearwing, Humming bird clearwing, Black Swallowtail (male & female), Tiger Swallowtail (male & female),

Tiger Swallowtail (female black form), Red Admiral, Wild Indigo Dustywing,

see below, Silver-Spotted Skipper, Monarch.

August: Silver-Spotted Skipper,  Cabbage Whites (male & female), Spicebush    Swallowtail (male & female), Tiger Swallowtail (male & female), Monarch (male & female), Red Admiral, Black Swallowtail (male & female), Summer Azure, Common Buckeye, Aug. 12th, Humming bird clearwing, Snowberry Clearwing, Viceroy

September: Monarch (male & female), Cabbage Whites (male & female), Black Swallowtail (male&female), Skippers, Gray Hairstreak,  Common Buckeye

April: Cabbage White

May: Cabbage White, Red Admiral, Black Swallowtail ( female),

June: Cabbage Whites (male & female), Black Swallowtail ( female),  Red Admiral, Tiger Swallowtail (male)

July:  Cabbage Whites (male & female), Tiger Swallowtail (male & female), Tiger Swallowtail (female black form), Skipper, Monarch (male & female), Painted Lady, Question Mark, Red Spotted Purple, Snowberry Clearwing

August: Silver-Spotted Skipper,  Cabbage Whites (male & female), Tiger Swallowtail (male & female), Monarch (male & female), Red Admiral, Eastern Meadow Fritillary, Painted Lady, American Painted Lady, Spicebush Swallowtail, Common Buckeye Aug. 29th. see below:

September: Monarch (male & female), Cabbage Whites (male & female), Skippers, Common Sulphur, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Tiger Swallowtail (male & female), Black Swallowtail (male), Gray Hairstreak

October: Cabbage Whites (male & female)  Monarchs (male & female),

Eastern Tailed-Blue Red Admiral,  Alfalfa Sulpher (male)

November: Cabbage Whites (male)

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