Butterfly and Wildlife Gardening And Photography In Houston Texas
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Category Archives: Plants I saw a pair of Baltimore Orioles today! The last time I saw a Baltimore Oriole in the backyard was back in September of 2011. I’ll apologize up front by saying these aren’t the best pictures, especially of the female, but I’m still culling through all of the pictures I took this evening trying to…  I bought a yet another new fruit tree last year, a Pakistan Mulberry. It’s a wonderful berry tree, with long, dark red fruit. Mine produces fruit twice a year. That doesn’t mean I get to harvest much fruit twice a year as the birds tend to go after the fruit as soon as it has…  The Monarch Butterflies have all left Mexico and sightings across Texas are becoming common. It may sound like the “same ol” “same ol” but it’s not. In my yard I have seen perhaps only 3 Monarch Butterflies. Journey North and other Monarch Butterfly watchers reported that the population of Butterflies in Mexico this year was…  Took a couple of pictures of the male and female Eastern Bluebird as they came down to feed on mealworms. The male traditionally eats first, but leaves plenty for the female Finally I took a walk around the yard to see what else I could find. I was surprised that I have about 10…  I’ve got lots of news to share (especially since it’s been so long since I have posted), but only 1 picture. Let me start with what all is occurring in the backyard. The Monarch Butterflies have arrived, but unfortunately I’ve only seen 1-2. The Ruby Throated Hummingbirds just arrived today (March 19). There is one…  2011 was such a devastating year for the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly, at least in my backyard. The drought was so bad I think it affected many Butterflies, but in terms of normal abundance, this species was hit pretty hard. Fast forward to 2012, and now January 2013 and these Butterflies have really made a comeback. …  Gardening in Winter is a non-event for many people, but for me, it means it’s the time of year when I get to harvest many of the fruits from my fruit trees. One of the fruit trees I have is a Republic of Texas Orange tree. I started picking some oranges in early January, and…  Here’s something you don’t see every day in Houston. A Zebra Longwing Butterfly. According to the wonderful Butterflies of Houston and Southeast Texas book, “The beautiful and unmistakable zebra butterfly is unfortunately a rare visitor to Houston from Mexico and the lower Rio Grande Valley.” It was early this morning and I was letting the…  The Monarch Butterflies are definitely migrating through Texas on their way to Mexico. I’ve been seeing 2-3 butterflies per day. All of them are feeding on the nectar plants. Strangely enough, I haven’t seen any male Monarchs, strictly females.  I like the following Gulf Fritillary Butterfly picture because of my accidental glowing background. The butterfly is on a peach Zinnia, and behind that there was a pink Zinnia, and the blue background was the accidental part which is actually part of a pool float.  A couple of weeks ago I noticed a female Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly laying eggs on the Fennel. Well, apparently those eggs have now hatched to decent sized caterpillars. There are four caterpillars just on this one stalk, but there were several others on different areas of the Fennel.  i saw my first confirmed sighting of a migrating Monarch Butterfly today. It was well worn color-wise, and had a few tears on the wings. I didn’t have time to try and tag the Butterfly, but I’m hopeful it will be around tomorrow. The experts are predicting another dire year for the Monarchs because of…  I went outside this morning because the temperature was so nice. I was surprised to see so many Butterflies flying around. There was an Female Eastern Black Swallowtail laying tons of eggs on the Fennel, lots of Gulf Fritillaries getting nectar from the nectar plants (Zinnia and Lantana), and a male Queen Butterfly on the…  This poor Eastern Black Swallowtail is really torn up. I think she’s on her last legs. I watched her feed on the Lantana for a while, then head over to the Fennel to lay eggs.  I actually thought I posted this pictures last night, but I guess I just uploaded them and forgot to create a blog post. It’s a little early for the Monarch Butterflies to have already made it down to Houston as part of their migration, so I have to assume these are local Monarchs. There is… |
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