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Pauline B

@socal.butterfly.pb

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. 🌻 California - zone 10b
. 🌲Backyard Photographer & 🐛 savior
. 📷 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
. 🦋 Pollinator advocate
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🚨 Not every caterpillar gets a butterfly ending.

This Pipevine Swallowtail chrysalis didn't make it. 🥺

If you look closely at the red arrow, you'll notice a large bulge where the wing case should be smooth and tightly formed. Compare it to the healthy chrysalises nearby, the difference is subtle, but it tells an important story.

During pupation, a caterpillar completely reorganizes its body into a butterfly. It's one of the most complex transformations in nature. Sometimes the process goes wrong due to genetics, disease, parasites, injury, or environmental stress, resulting in a malformed chrysalis like this one.

🌿 In the wild, most caterpillars never reach adulthood.

Predators, weather, parasites, and developmental failures are all part of the journey. It's a reminder that nature isn't designed for every individual to survive.

It's designed for the species to persist.

The next time you see a butterfly floating through your neighborhood, remember: it beat incredible odds just to take its first flight.

💙 Every successful butterfly is a tiny miracle of survival.

#PipevineSwallowtail #ButterflyLifeCycle #Chrysalis #NatureEducation #Entomology 🦋 taken in Anaheim Hills by @socal.butterfly.pb

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2 months ago

Please tell me you see it... 👀🦋

No, not the jasmine flowers.

Not the leaves either.

There are THREE Large Orange Sulphur butterflies hiding in this photo, perfectly blending into the yellow-and-white blooms like nature's version of camouflage mode. 😆

These bright yellow butterflies (Phoebis agarithe) often perch with their wings closed, making them surprisingly difficult to spot among flowers. What looks like a petal can actually be a butterfly taking a break, soaking up the sun, or waiting for the perfect moment to take flight.

🌼 Nature fact: This camouflage helps protect them from hungry birds and predators. Sometimes the best hiding spot is right out in the open!

How many did you find before reading the caption? Be honest... did you spot all 3? 😂👇

#HiddenInPlainSight #LargeOrangeSulphur #ButterflyPhotography #NatureChallenge #SpotTheButterfly 🦋🌿👀 taken in Anaheim Hills by @socal.butterfly.pb

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2 months ago

🐛🦋 How far would you zoom in to spot a future butterfly?

At a local nursery, I was browsing the herb section when a tiny movement on a 4-inch rue plant caught my eye. Hidden among the leaves was a 2nd instar Anise Swallowtail caterpillar—only a few millimeters long and easy to miss!

These little caterpillars start life looking a lot like bird droppings, a clever camouflage that helps protect them from hungry predators. Their favorite host plants belong to the carrot family, including rue, fennel, parsley, and dill.

It's a reminder that even a quick trip to a garden center can turn into a wildlife safari if you slow down and look closely. 👀

🌿 Next time you're in the herb aisle, check the rue and fennel plants—you might discover the next generation of butterflies hiding in plain sight.

#AniseSwallowtail #CaterpillarHunting #HiddenInPlainSight #ButterflyLifeCycle #NativeButterflies 🦋🌿🐛 taken in Anaheim Hills by @socal.butterfly.pb

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2 months ago

POV: You're at Bass Pro Shop... and accidentally find a hidden butterfly nursery.

🔎🦋 Come egg hunting with me!

Most people walk right past these shrubs without a second glance. I see a butterfly nursery.

This is Calliandra haematocephala (Powderpuff), a common landscape plant found all over Southern California shopping centers, parking lots, and strip malls. Today's search took me to the Powderpuffs outside Bass Pro Shop, where I scanned the fresh bronze-colored leaves for tiny treasures—the eggs of the Large Orange Sulphur butterfly.

The secret? Female butterflies almost always choose the newest growth. Those tiny cream-colored eggs are perfectly placed where hungry caterpillars will have the freshest leaves waiting when they hatch.

But nature's camouflage game doesn't stop there...

Halfway through the video you'll spot a Large Orange Sulphur chrysalis that looks almost identical to the leaf it's attached to. Its shape, color, and even the subtle leaf-like veins help it disappear in plain sight from hungry birds and predators.

🤯 Imagine being able to hide so well that people stare right at you and still don't see you.

Next time you're at a strip mall, look a little closer. You might be standing next to an entire butterfly generation and never know it.

🦋 Have you ever found butterfly eggs or a chrysalis in an unexpected place?

#LargeOrangeSulphur #ButterflyEggs #CaterpillarHunter #PowderpuffTree #CalliandraHaematocephala taken in Irvine, California by @socal.butterfly.pb

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2 months ago

How far would you go to collect caterpillars… risking a run-in with rattlesnakes? 🐍🦋

Today’s mission meant scrambling up steep, loose, rocky hillsides in search of wild fennel—the host plant of the Anise Swallowtail and, if luck is on your side, the elusive Desert Black Swallowtail, a rare butterfly in California more often associated with desert habitats.

Every step uphill felt like a test of balance as the trail crumbled beneath my feet. But when you're chasing caterpillars, the adventure is often hidden where few people are willing to look.

The best part? Turn around at the top and you're staring down at neighborhoods and busy streets below—a reminder that incredible wildlife can survive just beyond our backyards.

Nature doesn't always make it easy. Sometimes it asks for steep climbs, dusty boots, and a healthy respect for rattlesnakes. But the chance to find the next generation of swallowtails makes every step worth it.

🦋 Have you ever hiked somewhere that made you question your sanity... but paid off with an amazing wildlife find?

#AniseSwallowtail #DesertBlackSwallowtail #CaterpillarHunting #ButterflyConservation #WildFennel taken in Anaheim Hills by @socal.butterfly.pb

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2 months ago

🌿🦋 Nature doesn't care if it's a nature preserve or a strip mall.

Tucked away in an Anaheim Hills shopping center, hidden beneath a blanket of ivy and bougainvillea are honeyvines that help sustain one of North America's most iconic travelers — the Monarch butterfly.

Monarch caterpillars can only survive on milkweed. Without it, there is no next generation of Monarchs. That's why finding these overlooked patches of habitat in the most unexpected places is so exciting.

Honeyvines belong to the same family as milkweed and a perfect substitute when milkweed is completely wiped out.

Every vacant corner, parking lot planter, and forgotten landscape bed has the potential to become a tiny wildlife refuge. Sometimes the most important butterfly nursery isn't in a botanical garden. It's hiding between a coffee shop and a parking space. 🐛➡️🦋

#MonarchButterfly #Milkweed #UrbanWildlife #NatureInTheCity #AnaheimHills taken in Anaheim Hills by @socal.butterfly.pb

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2 months ago

HOA: “We maintain the landscaping.”
Me: accidentally starts a side quest 🌱

There’s this sad dirt patch by the dumpster—usually just trash fallout and heavy foot traffic, nothing survives. So I’ve been casually tossing seeds over there like a low-budget Johnny Appleseed… forgot what I even threw.

Fast forward—boom. Seedlings.
Pumpkin? Watermelon? Mystery produce unlocked.

Now the twist:
Everyone thinks they’re weeds… landscapers are probably days away from wiping them out…
and the usual traffic might trample them before they even figure out life.

So now I’m standing here like:
Do I rescue them?
Relocate them?
Or let nature run this chaotic little experiment? 🌿😅

What would you do? taken in Downtown Santa Ana by @socal.butterfly.pb

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3 months ago

POV: You volunteered as a mobile jungle gym for a bunch of tiny goth dragons 🐉🖤

These are pipevine swallowtail caterpillars in their 3rd instar—aka the awkward teenage phase where they’re eating nonstop, growing fast, and questioning nothing except “is this edible?”

Fun fact: those bright orange spots aren’t just for looks. They’re a warning ⚠️

These caterpillars feed on pipevine, which makes them toxic to predators.

So… are they venomous or poisonous?
👉 Poisonous, not venomous.

They won’t sting or bite you, but if something tries to eat them… big mistake.

Watching them roam across my hand is wild—each one has a mission, no GPS, just vibes and appetite.
Kind of makes you think…
Growth is messy, chaotic, and sometimes you just have to keep moving forward (and eating a lot) until you become something completely different 🦋 taken in Downtown Santa Ana by @socal.butterfly.pb

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3 months ago

Good Friday is about surrender.

Letting go.

Trusting the process… even when it looks like the end.

And this caterpillar?

It’s doing the same thing.

Hanging still…
right before everything changes.

Because what looks like an ending…
is actually the beginning.

By Easter Sunday…
it won’t even be the same creature. 🦋

Maybe transformation requires a little faith too. taken in Downtown Santa Ana by @socal.butterfly.pb

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4 months ago

This gulf fritillary caterpillar formed its J yesterday.

When its dark brown color got lighter, I knew it was a sign that it was ready to pupate.

I set up my cellphone and waited 30 minutes before the magic started.

It's 1 hour & 7 minutes condensed into 32 seconds.

This is the most vulnerable time for the caterpillar. If it gets knocked off to the ground it becomes brown soup. It has turned to liquid at this point.

Watch & see for yourself.

#butterfly #pollinator #pillangó #mariposas #vlinder taken in Downtown Santa Ana by @socal.butterfly.pb

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4 months ago

$149.99… but the REAL value? Hidden in plain sight 👀🐛

Found this Prunus ilicifolia ssp. lyonii (Catalina cherry 🍒—a tough, drought-tolerant SoCal native that butterflies quietly rely on) at Armstrong Garden Center and did a double take… then a triple take… then a “WAIT—are those??” moment 😳

Two 2nd instar tiger OR pale swallowtail caterpillars just casually living their best stealth life.

🌿 Here’s the wild part:
They don’t just chill anywhere—
They build a tiny silk saddle in the center of the leaf (basically a built-in seatbelt 🛏️) to anchor themselves from wind + predators.

They’ll:

➡️ Venture out to munch on the leaf edges 🍽️
➡️ Then return to their exact “home base” in the middle
➡️ And if that saddle gets destroyed? Total confusion mode 😵‍💫

Nature really said: location + structure = survival

And spotting them? Basically expert-level difficulty.
Tiger swallowtails use tall host trees like this Catalina cherry, usually way above eye level—so finding them at a nursery, at eye height??

Took me 3 YEARS to finally come across this moment.

Not rare because they don’t exist—
Rare because they’re absolute ninjas 🥷
Today felt like unlocking a hidden level in real life 🎮✨

Have you seen a tiger swallowtail caterpillar lately??

#TigerSwallowtail #CatalinaCherry #PrunusIlicifolia #CaliforniaNativePlants #HiddenNature CaterpillarLife ButterflyGarden UrbanWildlife NatureFinds BugLife taken in Armstrong Garden Centers by @socal.butterfly.pb

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4 months ago

Who's done guerrilla gardening?

This downtown Santa Ana sidewalk planter used to be a dumping ground… now it’s home to 10+ tropical milkweed seedlings 🌱 thanks to a generous butterfly enthusiast sharing from her own yard.

Right off street meter parking, the street-side edge is high traffic and easily trampled. But even here, life finds a way.

It wasn’t until I tried digging with a spoon (yes… a spoon 😅) that I realized the soil is basically packed, bone-dry dirt—tough for roots to even get started.

So for the past 4 days (and 5 more to go), I’ve been hauling gallon jugs and even ice cubes to keep them alive through this 90+ heatwave ☀️💧

We’ve lost 2 seedlings already to the harsh sun… but the rest are holding on.

Milkweed = life. It’s the ONLY host plant for monarch caterpillars—turning even the toughest urban patch into a nursery for the next generation.

A little guerrilla gardening can reclaim a space—from trash to thriving habitat 💚

Guerrilla gardening - the act of cultivating plants—flowers, food, or shrubs in public neglected, abandoned, or "ugly" urban spaces.

#GuerrillaGardening #MonarchButterfly #MilkweedMatters #UrbanConservation #SantaAna PollinatorPower HeatwaveSurvival FromTrashToTreasure taken in Downtown Santa Ana by @socal.butterfly.pb

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4 months ago