Time for another Wildlife Wednesday. April is a wonderful time for it. The first shots are from my weekend visit to Mason, Texas..
Painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) among Huisache daisies
Dung beetles (Phanaus adonis?) hard at work rolling their treasure down the road. The bottom one is partially hidden by the grass. On first look I thought they had white polka dot markings, but looking closer I think they were carrying baby beetles on their back.
Sulfur butterflies (Colias eurytheme) in constant motion and everywhere!
Another painted lady and bluebonnet.
Busy bee on helmetflower (Scutellaria integrifolia). As I hiked through the hills covered in Huisache daisies and other natives I could hear a low constant buzz as the bees flew from bloom to bloom. Talk about vibrating with life..
Painted ladies everywhere! This view of one shows the "eyes" on the outside of its wings.
Back at home:
Eight spotted forester moth (Alypia octomaculata) poking around my newly seeded Thunderturf lawn (buffalograss, curly mesquite and blue grama). I think she found a broadleaf weed for me :)
Katydid in my Gay Hill rose
A Question mark caterpillar (Polygonia interrogatis) under the elm trees (a host plant). He seemed as curious about me as I was about him!
A Monarch butterfly caterpillar tucked under the tropical milkweed.
Easter tiger swallowtail butterfly larvae just starting on my fennel (I plant it for the butterflies).
A week or so later- it has orange dots in contrast to the Monarch's yellow stripes.
Two weeks earlier I spotted a Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) enjoying the verbena.
My resident cardinal enjoying the feeder. Harder to see on the bottom picture are the house sparrows perched next to it on the same cable. When my feeder is full at least 6 try to get on it at a time!
It's satisfying to have turned what was mostly lawn into a native habitat that is buzzing, crawling and fluttering with spring time excitement. Thanks to Tina at http://mygardenersays.com/ for creating Wildlife Wednesday!
Lots of wild things happening--so great! I've never seen a question mark cat, though I've had the butterflies in my gardens and that spotted forester moth is a real eye-catcher. I saw one on my Burford Holly earlier in March and couldn't get a photo of it; I'll enjoy yours. The Eastern Black swallowtail on the verbena is stunning! Thanks so much for joining in this month!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting! I was proud to actually catch the swallowtail in action- that never happens. I hope to be able to see (and identify!) the question mark butterflies if they come by as well later :)
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