| Positive | kennedyh | On Oct 17, 2006, kennedyh from Churchill, Victoria
(Australia)
(Zone 10a) wrote:This lovely butterfly is an uncommon visitor to our garden in the South East of Victoria in Australia. They are widespread in the drier, hotter parts of the country where they feed their caterpillars exclusively on Caper bushes. There are several Caper species antive to Australia. No capers grow in our area at all, but in some years there are mass migrations of caper whites. In 1996, we saw them in large numbers. It is said that in such an irruption year, Caper Whites have reared their caterpillars on Caper plants in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens.
It is too early yet to say if there is a major irruption this year, but I saw 2 or 3 in Morwell National Park 2 days ago, and today one visited our garden and I was able to photograph it feeding on Pelargonium flowers. |
