Butterfly and Wildlife Gardening And Photography In Houston Texas
Monthly Archives: November 2009 The Monarch and Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars are really prevalent right now in our backyard. I found one Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar beginning to move into the Chrysalis stage. It was hanging from our rock waterfall on our pool. We also have lots of Monarch Caterpillars feeding on the Milkweed. Look how fat this Caterpillar is!  This is a first for us. We’ve had this Cloudless Sulphur Chrsyalis for a few weeks now. On Thursday (Thanksgiving) I noticed that the Chrsyalis had turned a bright yellow, and you could see the stripes of the soon to emerge Butterfly. What I didn’t expect is that the Butterfly would emerge in the late…  Despite my car mishap yesterday, I really did enjoy going to the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. I would have spent at least a few more hours there if it wasn’t for my car. Anyway, if you are looking for an amazing variety of birds, you can’t go wrong visiting this place. One of the first… I’m in the process of downloading the pictures, but let me give a verbal introduction first. This place is way out in the middle of nowhere. Also, that 509 Washington Avenue that’s listed on many websites, that’s not actually the refuge, it’s just where the main building is. That building is in the town of… I plan on waking up very early tomorrow morning (Wednesday) and heading off to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. While I’m out taking pictures, Leecy will be taking Coco back to the vet to make sure her bacterial infection hasn’t returned. Hopefully Coco doesn’t tear off one of Leecy’s fingers. This will be Leecy’s first time…  After I took the shots of the large and small Monarch Caterpillar I started looking for different Caterpillars to take pictures of. I then found these two guys who were really fighting. Actually, I’ve never seen Monarch Caterpillars fight like this. One Caterpillar would raise up off of the leaf and then swing its head…  I’m referring to these two Monarch Caterpillars. My original intention was just to show the different sizes between these two Monarch Caterpillars. It wasn’t until I downloaded the picture that I saw that the smaller Caterpillar was actually pooping (green blob at the end of the smaller Caterpillar) as the larger Caterpillar inched closer. Leecy asked me a couple of weeks ago what Bird books I recommend for identifying Birds of Houston and the Gulf Coast. There are two books that I think are really good for “finding” birds in Houston and the Gulf Coast. Finding Birds On The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail (Ted Lee Eubanks, Jr.) –…  After my interaction with the Deer, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Once they just ran off, I just stood in this field of grass listening for anything else that might be close by. I kept hearing a knocking sound so I started scanning the trees. I figured it was some kind of Woodpecker, I…  First day of vacation I decided to head to Kingwood, specifically East End Park. To be a little adventurous, I decided to shlep through these tall grasses. Suddenly, right in front of me a family of Deer appeared. As tall as this grass was, I’m sure they were laying down until they heard me walking… I’m taking some vacation time this week (Thanksgiving Week). Of course, I’m not actually going anywhere, but I do plan on taking some field trips so I can take lots of pictures. One place that I am definitely going to visit is Brazos Bend State Park. It will take me close to two hours to…  After the dreary, rainy day we had yesterday, it was a welcome sight to have nothing but sunshine and blue skies today. The beautiful weather also brought out all the Butterflies. It also brought out the “territorialness” in all the male Butterflies. Probably the most aggressive was this male Monarch pictured below. He would rest…  We have quite a few Monarch Caterpillars right now. We counted at least 20 of them today feeding on the Milkweed. Fortunately, our Milkweed is looking pretty healthy and has lots of leaves so we should be able to feed them without any problems. The picture below was one of the larger Caterpillars we have…  It’s hard to image Maggie is 8 years old now. She still acts like a 6 month old puppy when it comes to getting attention from me. If I am on the couch, she likes to jump up, turn upside down, and just lay there for hours. Of course I have to constantly pet her,…  I took a new picture of Coco today. She is still plucking, although not as bad as before. She seems to pluck more when I am around (not at work). I’m sure there’s a reason for this, I’m just not quite sure what it is. When I am home, I try and take her out… |
|