Nope, haven’t disappeared, just taking a small break. I’ve also been getting home later than normal during the week, and working hard on maintaining the yard on the weekends.

Here’s what new or changed as of July 27, 2010.

The Purple Martins have all fled the nest. They come by and sing in the mornings, but they no longer stay over night.
Lots of the young Cardinals and starting to get in their colored feathers, so they look a little ratty right now.
The Aphids and Milkweed bugs are really making their presence known on all the Milkweed. I’m spraying them off all the time.
We occasionally see a Giant Swallowtail laying eggs by the fruit trees.
We also have just barely seen any Gulf Fritilliaries.
A few Skipper Butterflies stop briefly on the nectar flowers from time to time.
Doves, Cardinals, and Bluejay’s spend the most time at the feeders.
Starting to see a few Frogs, but not as much as I would expect with all this rain. No sign of Michael Jane, the big Bullfrog in many months.
Lots of Dragonflies, all day and evening. Some are getting huge.
Hummingbirds. We have 3, two female and 1 male
Last, but not least Mosquitoes. They are all over the place with these rains and moist ground we’ve been having

I really need to get out somewhere and go shoot for a day. Everything seems to be non-stop lately. Perhaps I’ll revisit Houston Arboretum, or the park in Kingwood, or some place entirely new. Just need to get out somewhere with the camera and some time.

How about some of you reading the blog. Seeing lots of butterflies where you are?

Gulf Fritillary On Coneflower And Bee Flying

Here’s another shot with the Gulf Fritillary on a Marigold.

Gulf Fritillary On Marigold

This last shot I really like as well.  We have lots of Purple Coneflower right now, all growing because Leecy saved the seeds from last year.

I like how the eye is drawn to the foreground Coneflower and Butterfly, but it appears as a nice pleasing background with all the other Coneflowers slightly blurred.

Gulf Fritillary On Field Of Purple Coneflowers

This particular Spicebush appeared to be younger than the one I saw last week who had the tattered wings.  It was really enjoying getting nectar from the Penta.

Spicebush Feeding On Penta

The shot below was done using a different technique than I normally use, but I like the result.  I like how I was able to blur the foreground Penta and focus on the Butterfly and Penta towards the back.

Spicebush Feeding On Multiple Pentas

It was hopping all around the Purple Coneflowers getting nectar.  This is not an easy Butterfly to get pictures of, especially with their wings open!

Pearl Crescent Wings Open

Here’s a picture with the wings closed.  It was resting on the Spicebush plant.

Pearl Crescent Wings Closed

For some reason, this large Spicebush Caterpillar was feeding on the Spicebush in the middle of the afternoon.  It was really chewing on the leaves.  Once the female Spicebush Butterfly came around, it quickly crawled back inside the protection of a leaf.

On another but similar note, I have yet to find any Spicebush Chrysalises, although we had several large Caterpillars a couple of weeks ago.

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Feeding

When she finally quit flying around and “pretending” she was laying eggs, she stopped to rest on the Spicebush plant.  It was then that I saw she was pretty old, based on how faded her wings were, and the missing parts of her wing.

Old Female Spicebush Swallowtail Resting

It’s flight pattern is very erratic, darting from one area to the next.  I took this picture (at dusk) when it was resting on our Maple tree.

Question Mark Butterfly On Maple Tree

It’s called a Little Sulphur Butterfly.  Cute little thing.

Little Sulphur Butterfly

These guys have not been easy for me to photograph.  They tend to come out from under the Spicebush leaves during the early evening hours, and I haven’t been getting home in time for decent light.

Today was a different day.  Actually Leecy called me while I was still at work and said if I can get home at a decent hour, there would be some opportunities to take pictures of the Caterpillars and how much they’ve grown.

Below is a fairly decent sized Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar extending its “Osmeterium” (those yellow horns).  It apparently thought Leecy’s thumb was getting a little too close.

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Extending Osmeterium

Here’s another Caterpillar about the same size as the one above.

Medium Sized Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar

The next couple of pictures are some of the larger Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars.  I’m not sure these are my favorite Butterfly Caterpillars, but they certainly rank towards to the top.

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Growing

Another Large Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar

We have lots of Caterpillars feeding on both the Spicebush and Sassafras plants.  I have yet to see any actual Spicebush Swallowtail Butterflies, but they’re coming from somewhere.

This is the most Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars we’ve ever had.  I’ve always wanted to see a full size Spicebush Caterpillar up close, but we’ve never had them before.

Spicebush Swallowtail Eating Spicebush

Spicebush Swallowtail Eating

In addition to the Caterpillars that are the size in the pictures, we also have several really small Spicebush.  I had the wrong lens to take quality pictures of them, but I’ll try and get some later this week.