Big Ant On Passionvine

It’s some type of Ant (obviously), but I’m not sure what kind.  He was just sitting on one of the Passionvine stems, like waiting to ambush something that would happen to come by.

Notice the little hairs on it’s head?

Mystery Eggs On Republic Of Texas Orange

I can’t think of a Butterfly that lays eggs like this, but I’m really not sure what they are.

Does anyone have any idea what type of eggs these 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

These are Leaffooted Bugs.  We tend to find most of them on our Tomato plant and Giant Sunflower plant.  Interestingly enough, this big cluster was on our Sago Palm.

I know the adults fly, and fortunately this group couldn’t fly.

So I pulled out my primary insect “extinguisher.”  My Extinguisher consisted of a net, and the bottom of my shoe.

Cluster Of Leaffooted Bugs

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