But the most exciting and unexpected visitor was a female Sleepy Orange who laid eggs—many eggs—on our Senna plant! She returned many times to deposit more eggs; apparently she couldn't find any other suitable host plants in the neighborhood. We were astounded to see a Sleepy this early in the year, and in the built-up 'burbs; the eggs were definitely the icing on the cake. Although there has been a scarcity of adult butterflies in our yard so far this season, this is our second new breeding species for the year, so we can't complain. We are definitely looking forward to raising—and photographing—some of these orange beauties.
Of the Sleepy Orange eggs laid on our Senna June 5, our success has been much greater. All the caterpillars that survived have now pupated (but not before scattering all over the cage)! An exact count has not been performed, but there are probably between 8 - 10 chrysalides. We are excited about the opportunity to see freshly emerged Sleepy Oranges.