Earlier this morning, Mary spotted a dark chrysalis near our back door.
This is what it looks like now.
In a few hours, it’ll flutter off to join the wild population here in Morris.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I just had a monarch stop by for a snack on my nectar plants. Unfortunately I don’t have any milkweed for them to lay eggs on, but hopefully the nearby prairie parks are supporting a new generation.
I do have a black swallowtail caterpillar on my Rue plant that is growing nicely. There were four eggs which hatched, but only the one larva is still here a week later. Multiple species of Swallowtails like Rue as a caterpillar host plant, but I sowed a pot of parsley and dill to ensure a food supply in case more swallowtails would like to visit my tiny garden.
Nice! I was watching my swallowtails lay their eggs on my lime and lemon trees the other day. Nice to have them around!
OT Animal news. Allergies have prevented dogs from being used in homes for the elderly (they are great for improving quality of life), but now thst problem has been solved. Dogs are hardly close relatives to butterflies but it is a feel-good news item many of us might need.
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“Gene-edited beagles produce no detectable major dog allergen, early tests find”
.https://phys.org/news/2026-08-gene-beagles-major-dog-allergen.html
Now we need to GM beagles to live as long as bowhead whales.
A fun detail is, some insects can retain some memories from the larval stage despite the complete ‘rebuild’.
BTE how far north do hummingbirds travel? They are subtropical but might reach your southern border.
The ruby throated hummingbird is found in woodland all the way into southern Canada, and winters in Mexico or Central America. They aren’t common in the prairie regions as they prefer woodlands and orchards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby-throated_hummingbird
The anna’s hummingbird doesn’t really migrate much. It lives along the west coast of North America. It can be found in southern British Colombia and those parts of the Alaskan panhandle that reaches southerly. This is entirely due to the natural agglomeration of concrete-lined primate nests that have urban gardens and the homo sapiens sapiens who live there who grow certain plants to decorate them for status and possibly also artistic expression. They and the trochilidae are commensal. Some members of this ape species also inexplicably put out hummingbird feeders full of refined concentrated calories year round, similar to aphids with ants.
We have hummingbirds year-round here in Monterey County, CA.