Let me preface this post by saying I’m a bit tired tonight and my humor (or lack thereof) may be a little off. I also may be seeing things that no sane person would be able to see. If that’s the case, just humor me and pretend that if you tried really hard you too…
Butterfly And Wildlife Gardening And Photography
Butterfly and Wildlife Gardening And Photography In Houston Texas
Monthly Archives: June 2009Our “collection” (not really a collection as we always release them) of Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars is really growing. Right now we have somewhere close to 50-60 Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars in several enclosures. I knew the eggs were all laid together (not one at a time like the Monarch) but I didn’t realize that these guys… Here’s a picture of a Monarch on a Purple Coneflower. Previous to this Monarch gathering up some nectar, it was flying in and out of the water produced by the sprinkler. That lead me to think of an interesting observation. While I have no idea if this just because of the lack of rain and… We had a birth today. A Gulf Fritillary. Actually we had one yesterday as well but I had forgotten about that one. There are about another 4 more Chrysalises that still need to hatch. Once this one hatched, we placed him outside on the Butterfly Bush.  I didn’t take these shots, Leecy did, so she gets the credit. Meet “Nippy” (notice the nip on his left ear). This crazy Squirrel must have had some terrible itch! He was itching his stomach for several minutes before another Squirrel came along and chased him off. He’s still itching Maybe he’s not really itching… Yet more wildlife, but nothing about Butterfly Gardening, what gives? Truth is, we’re experiencing a little lull right now in terms of Butterflies flying around. So hopefully you don’t mind if I share thoughts and pictures of other backyard inhabitants. Today it’s about the Purple Martins. It seems the babies have all learned to fly… This is crazy. I found another damn Broad Banded Water Snake in the pond today. It wasn’t the same one as two days ago as this one was a little bit smaller, but had a much bigger attitude! Once again I was cleaning leaves from the pond and suddenly noticed this head poking out of…  This guy is huge! He’s been around for a couple of years now. Every time I try and take him over to the pond (where the other frogs like to hang out) he always comes back to the pool. He normally sits in the pool skimmer at night. Today we noticed him sitting in the… Let’s review the essential tools for Butterfly Gardening: Butterfly Net – Check Long Tweezers (for squishing bad bugs) – Check Digital Camera – Check Snake Tongs – Huh??? That’s right snake tongs. I see a few snakes in the backyard from time to time and since they scare me and I don’t particularly want to… So I just so happened to get my new “toy” today. It’s a snake tong. First some history. I don’t particularly care for snakes. Sure, I can look at them and say “what a beauty” (to quote Steve Irwin), but they scare me. Since I have a pond, lots of vegetation, tons of frogs, and… I haven’t talked about Monarchs for a few days simply because I haven’t seen as many as I had before and the caterpillars are getting eaten by wasps before I can get to them. However, On average we still see about 1-3 Monarchs per day either getting some nectar or laying a few eggs. Here… Our Martin house is really getting noisey. The babies are squawking for food every few seconds and the adults are become a bit more aggressive towards the dogs by divebombing them. I think their behavior is because the baby Martin’s are getting pretty darn close to experiencing the first joys of flight. Whereas we never… You’ve heard me mention about our Butterfly Nursery, but I don’t think I’ve ever shown you any pictures to illustrate was is actually being done until now. Since most Monarchs are off migrating, the majority of the Butterflies we have are the Swallowtails. Their eggs are really tiny, and they tend to be born in… I’ve got a couple of shots of the Eastern Black Swallowtail drinking some nectar from a nearby Butterfly Bush I would like to invite feedback from those who read this blog. I find myself struggling on not putting enough factual, scientific content in my posts versus just adding my own observations and experiences and leaving out the factual or scientific data. Please share with me what you would most like to see and what… |
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