Today I saw two Monarch Butterflies that were feeding on the wildflowers and the Family Jewels Milkweed.

Those two black insects at the top of the photo are affectionately called “Love Bugs” and they are a big pain (just because they fly right into you, not that they cause any real damage).  I’m sure the insect predators love them.

Monarch Feeding On Family Jewels Milkweed

The picture below is from my wildflower garden.  I’ve essentially just let it grow wild this year and it has done fantastic.  The Butterflies love it, the Hummingbird loves it, and I’m sure some of the birds love it as well

Gulf Fritillary On Yellow Flower

How about other folks out there in Texas, are you seeing the Ruby Throats yet?  If so, how many are you seeing?

When I see these Monarchs from Mexico I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand, I always enjoy seeing them, and happy to know that they have survived for so long.  The sad part is I know these Butterflies are nearing the end of their life after an incredible journey.

First Female Monarch From Mexico 2012

Female Monarch From Mexico Laying Eggs On Family Jewels Milkweed

Cedar Waxwings, for me, are not that uncommon around my backyard as I often hear their shrill.  Getting a picture of them, or actually having them visit a plant in my backyard, now that’s rare!

Flock Of Cedar Waxwings In Maple Tree

For the first time this year, I saw an Eastern Black Swallowtail and she was laying eggs on the Fennel.  We never cook with Fennel, we just let it grow however it wants in our garden.  The result is that we have 2 huge stalks (is that the correct word?) of Fennel, which I guess if you are an Eastern Black Swallowtail, looks like a perfect place to lay a few hundred eggs.

First Eastern Black Swallowtail Of 2012 Laying Eggs

Sure enough, the male and female Bluebird flew down to eat some mealworms.

Shortly thereafter, the male Bluebird flew up to the Maple Tree, and I noticed an American Goldfinch sitting almost on the same branch.

I dash back inside to grab my camera, thinking surely one of them would fly off before I had my camera ready.

Luckily for me, neither one of the birds flew off.

It wasn’t until tonight when I was downloading the pictures, that I noticed there were actually 2 American Goldfinches along with the male Eastern Bluebird.  Since it was a cloudy, cold day, I guess they were all trying to conserve energy, and probably wait for me to put out more food!

Male Eastern Bluebird And Two American Goldfinches Sharing Tree Branches

Here’s a second picture.  Obviously these pictures won’t win any awards, but it was pretty neat to some 2 very pretty birds sitting almost side by side.

Male Eastern Bluebird And Two American Goldfinches Sharing Tree Limbs

Fortunately the Hummingbird did appear and Greg and I captured several pictures.  Greg felt 95% sure this was a female Rufous Hummingbird.  The even better news is that I now see the Hummingbird every day.  If she hangs around long enough for the Ruby Throatted Hummingbirds to appear, that could become very interesting.  She is very possessive of the Coral Honeysuckle and will not go to any of the Hummingbird Feeders.

Rufous Hummingbird Feeding

Rufous Hummingbird Feeding On Coral Honeysuckle

My first thought was it’s too early for the Ruby Throated Hummers to arrive so she’s seeing things, then I saw it as well.  It’s not a Ruby Throated Hummingbird.  In fact, I don’t know what kind of Hummingbird it is.  I sent a picture to one of my colleagues and he suggested it was an immature Buff Bellied Hummingbird.  I’m looking through all of my bird books, and I don’t see it, at least not yet.

The pictures are not that great, but I wanted to at least get some documentation of this visitor in case I never see it again.

It’s the tail throwing me off.  White tip, black, then brown.  It’s got a black bill, not red like a mature Buff Bellied.

Can anyone help my conclusively identify this Hummingbird?  Is it common for the Houston area?

Hopefully I can get some better pictures of it tomorrow if it hangs around.  I’ll update this post once this bird is conclusively identified.

Mystery Hummingbird Feeding On Coral Honeysuckle Showing Tail Feathers

Mystery Hummingbird Feeding On Coral Honeysuckle

I had forgotten how our Maple Tree is a source of nectar for Butterflies and Honeybees until I saw this Monarch feeding from one of the new blooms.  I say new blooms, but at the same time the Maple Tree is still shedding leaves for the Winter.  Only in Texas….:-).

Monarch Butterfly Getting Nectar From Maple Tree 2012

So on to this post.  I’m guessing that most folks don’t think about Butterflies two days before Christmas, but I wanted to share our Monarch Butterfly story.

While we didn’t see many Monarch Butterflies during the migration, we saw several after the expected migration, and we had quite a bit of Milkweed.  The result?

Lots of Monarch Butterfly Chrysalises!

Carrier Full Of Monarch Chrysalises

We’ve only had a couple of really cold days in Houston (we moved the Milkweed to the garage during that time) with the majority of the Winter being quite nice.  Apparently the Monarch Caterpillars like it as well as it’s given them some time to stock up on eating Milkweed.  Since we knew it was supposed to get a little cold and rainy (just 38 degrees or so), we decided to bring the Chrysalises indoors.  The result is what you see above.  Those black dots next to a couple of the Chrysalises are the skin of the Caterpillars.

We don’t just leave them in this little carrier, Leecy glues them to these cardboard things we have.  I’ll try and post a picture or video of that within the next couple of days so you can see how we do that.  Once the Butterfly emerges we release them as long as it’s reasonably sunny and above 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pretty neat huh?

I’m assuming this one is a male since it made no attempt to visit the Passion Vine and instead spent its time eating nectar from Lantana and Zinnia.

Gulf Fritillary Feeding On Purple Flower

Gulf Fritillary Feeding On Orange Zinnia

What I’ve also noticed is that these Butterflies are mating, and in the case of other males, chasing each other.

Monarch With With Wings Spread Wide In Early Morning Sun

Clean Monarch Butterfly Feeding On Red Zinnia

We’ve also located several (around 15 at last count) Monarch Caterpillars on the Milkweed.  The two guys are the picture below were so tiny I almost didn’t see them.  It’s been like this for several days; we check the Milkweed for Caterpillars, see none, and assume there are none.  Two days later, we see little Caterpillars like these.

Two Tiny Monarch Caterpillars Feeding Off Same Leaf

There are also several large Caterpillars on the Milkweed.  I brought them inside for one day since it was a little chilly, then took them back outside the next day since the weather has been really nice.

Large Monarch Caterpillar Upside Down In Between Two Milkweed Stems

Take a look at the male Monarch in the picture below.  He has that torn upper wing and had difficulty flying from flower to flower.

Male Monarch With Torn Wing On Pink Zinnia

Then the next day he was back flying over the Zinnias and battling other males.  I can’t imagine this guy would ever make it to Mexico, but what do I know.

Male Monarch With Torn Wing On Orange Zinnia

The male in the pictures above wasn’t the most damaged Monarch that came to visit.  Check out this one on the pink Zinnia.  It’s missing a whole bunch of different parts of both wings, but that’s not the worst.

Tattered Monarch On Pink Zinnia

Have a look at this poor thing when it has its wings spread.  Look the male in the previous photographs, I can’t imagine this Monarch making it all the way to Mexico in this condition.

Very Tattered Monarch With Wings Spread On Pink Zinnia

It’s not all bad news.  We did have some “newer” looking Monarchs appear as well.  This male appeared later in the afternoon.  He was drawn to this red Zinnia that has a little bit of Maggie’s (our Golden Retriever) hair in the middle.  We also counted 15 Monarch caterpillars on the different Milkweed plants throughout the backyard.  We’re letting them stay outdoors since the weather has been so nice.

Monarch On Red Zinnia With Dog Hair In Middle

One last thing and I’d like to hear thoughts from others that tag Monarchs.  The last few days I’ve decided not to tag Monarchs.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  One, some of these Monarchs are so torn up I didn’t want to even attempt to try and attach a sticker to their wing.  The second reason (and this is the part I’m curious on what others have to say) is that it seems tagging these Monarchs causes them a little stress.  We’ve noticed that in many of the Monarchs we tag don’t come back to the yard after we tag them.  The ones we don’t tag frequent the yard for a few days.  I’m thinking that as much as these Monarchs need nectar for their flight to Mexico (especially this year), I don’t want to stress them out and have them struggle to find other nectar sources when I have so much in my yard.

What do you think?  Have you observed Monarchs being stressed from tagging?  How do you think it affects them?