Winging In

It is not even the middle of April and I have already come across these Lepidoptera visiting what few flowers are blooming.  I do not remember a spring when they have visited so early.  Is it because our winter was mild?  It is due to climate change?  It is because my yard has now grown into a good habitat?  There were two others, smaller and dancing in the air much faster, that I could not capture with my camera.

There was another Zebra Swallowtail that visited earlier and even went to the persimmon tree waiting for its blossoms.  The one above has one of the fuzziest coats of hairs and I wonder if these get shed as weather warms.

There are at least seven families of butterflies on the globe.  They have a life history that is most complicated as they reproduce on only certain plants, some use chastity belts for their female partners after they mate, some mate for HOURS(!).  Most have four life stages but one actually has the mother die when the young emerge from her abdomen.

These visitors were in pretty good shape.  I had taken a photo of an even earlier butterfly whose wings were so shredded I wondered how he/she could still fly.

Some lay eggs in batches and some singly.  Some eggs are attached with a special glue to the leaf of a specific plant and others have eggs that fall to the base of the plant.  Some eggs have a symbiotic relationship with ants that protect them.  And as most of us know the pupa stage can be the most fascinating.  That transition time when a caterpillar evolves into a winged beast.  The process involves hormones and various types of cells and is extremely complex, in my view.

The redbud, the daffodil and the apple tree all seem to be able to provide some sustenance for my visitors.  I guess spring has finally arrived.