Woo hoo, congratulations, Miss Sherry! I was wondering...do they usually lay the eggs on the tips of the leaves? I have some small wild black cherry trees that I bought this year and put them in 3-gallon pots. I'm not so sure I want them laying on them this year yet because I don't know if there would be enough for the cats to eat. I'm really looking forward to when those trees and my willow trees get bigger and hopefully I'll get some cats on them then.
Cathy

Thanks for posting the picture MissSherry! Maybe it'll help me find RSP eggs this summer.

Yes, Cathy, they always lay their eggs on the very end of the leaf, as do viceroys. I watched one laying eggs last year, and it was so interesting! She landed around the center of the leaf, then slid downward before depositing an egg - a couple of times, she must not have been pleased with her positioning, because she'd go back and do it over before laying the egg. It seems to be real important to RSPs to get that egg right on the very tip!
RSPs don't eat much in relation to the size of the caterpillar or the butterfly - gulf frits eat more.
Red-spotted purple eggs are easy to find, bernergrrl. I can't recall ever seeing one laying her eggs up real high - I'd say 15' is about as high as I've ever seen them laid. Tiger swallowtails must lay a lot of eggs up high in the cherry trees, though, because I see them up high all the time.
Sherry

WOO-HOO! It's offical! The start of the butterfly season is here--always is when MissSherry gets her RSPs.

Congrats, congrats!

Susan

Miss Sherry,

Thanks for posting the picture of the egg. So many times we don't know where to look to see the eggs and we miss them. I know that there are lots of RSPs around here in the summer, and there's a huge Wild Cherry Tree behind my yard. But, I now have a couple of small trees that I am going to keep pruned so maybe they'll lay eggs on my trees instead of the neighbor's tree. The neighbors could care less that they have BF eggs!

Sandy

Will RSPs use a pin cherry? That's what I have growing outside my front door--it was a volunteer that I didn't have the heart to pull...

I can't guarantee that they'll use it bernergrrl, but pin cherries are prunus pensylvanicus, and they're known to use many types of prunus - wild black cherry is prunus serotina. They occasionally lay eggs on crabapples/malus and willows/salix, too.
I'd keep the pin cherry, too!
Sherry

Nice picture, Miss Sherry...I always look at the egg with a lens when I get them..it is just amazing to look at the detail up close.
Here in Northeastern PA the RSP and the Viceroys' use Willow to lay eggs on. I'm not saying they don't use Cherry but I found so many last year, I mean tons, on Pussy Willow growing wild in the woods..I must have raised about 20 or so that all ate the Willow, they didn't like the Cherry I tried to feed them..go figure?

Aggie