Butterflies Found At Country Inn And Cottages

Since Wildseed Farms was suffering the effects of the Texas drought, I was unable to take any pictures of Butterflies feeding on their wildflowers.  That didn’t stop me from looking around Country Inn And Cottages (where Leecy and I went for vacation).

One day while Leecy and I were investigating the property looking for Deer horns (Leecy just corrected me, they’re called antlers.  Obviously I’m not a hunter), Leecy spotted these 2 Pipevine Caterpillars on these dry blades of grass.  This was a little unexpected because we didn’t see any Pipevine plants in the field, but there were lots and lots of Pipevine Butterflies flying around (probably the most prevalent Butterfly we saw).

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars Found At Country Inn And Cottages

On Wednesday I had a little work to do (I know, I’m supposed to be on vacation) so while Leecy went horseback riding (more on that in another post), and I had a little time to kill, I decided to roam the 200 or so acres around the Cottages looking for Butterflies.  Overall the Wildflowers are pretty limited anywhere in the Texas Hill Country, but I did find a little place out in the field that had some yellow Wildflowers growing.  That turned out to be the best place to find a variety of Butterflies.

There were Painted Lady Butterflies,

Painted Lady Butterfly Found At Country Inn And Cottages

Variegated Fritillary Butterflies,

Variegated Fritillary Butterfly Found At Country Inn And Cottages

Queen Butterflies,

Queen Butterfly Found At Country Inn And Cottages

and many other smaller Butterflies that I wasn’t quick (or patient) enough to get pictures of.

One of the most unusual Butterflies (for me) I saw was a Goatweed Leafwing Butterfly.  You may not be able to see this from the web, but if you look on that blade of grass (or Goatweed I guess) towards the bottom, you will see a small Caterpillar.  Obviously I didn’t notice this until I got back to the Cottage to examine the pictures.  This is not a Butterfly I would expect to see in my backyard.

Goatweed Leafwing Butterfly With Caterpillar

We also saw some Monarch Butterflies and I wish I would have brought my Milkweed book as I’m sure there were varieties of Milkweed out in these fields that I’m just not accustomed to seeing.