Butterfly and Wildlife Gardening And Photography In Houston Texas
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Category Archives: Cigar Plant For folks outside of Texas, this post might seem a little crazy (since the weather is so cold in other parts of the U.S.), but it is getting close to the time that the Ruby Throated and Rufous Hummingbirds (we’ve never seen Rufous Hummingbirds in our backyard) begin their migration North. Last year we didn’t…  We still had quite a few Butterflies today, but a few less Monarchs than yesterday. The Butterflies that were really abundant today were the Gulf Fritillaries. The Mexican Milkweed appeared to be a popular gathering place for both the Monarchs and the Fritillaries. Sometimes the Fritillaries and Monarchs would share the Milkweed, other times they…  The Ruby Throated Hummingbirds are starting to appear. I’m guessing we have about 6 or so right now. Strangely enough, I don’t know if we’ve gone a month this summer when we didn’t have them, but then it was only 1-2. One thing I learned from taking pictures of them tonight, is that I am…  This is the “Lizard King”, so named because he guards this area with a vengeance. He’s on this pole more days than not, and each time I first see him he always does that red expanded throat thing. Notice how long his tail is? There’s not another Lizard (I know it’s an Anole) in our… I thought I might try something different (Leecy gave me the idea). I recorded a short video (just a hair over 1 minute) of the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds in our backyard. For the majority of the video, you see them sipping sugar water from 2 of the feeders. At the end of the video, you’ll… This picture was massively underexposed, but I was able to brighten up a bit. It still looks a little grainy to me. It’s a Ruby Throated Hummingbird sipping nectar from the Cigar Bush.  These guys are all over the place. I’m not sure what situation(s) (weather, plants, nest) has contributed to these being so prevalent, but there are a ton of them flying around the backyard the last couple of weeks. From what I read, they build their nests in dead wood, bamboo, or “wood dwellings” (i.e., houses). … I don’t see many Honeybees lately, but we do have quite a few of these Bumble Bees for some reason. One plant they apparently love is the Cigar Bush (Cuphea ignea), along with Hummingbirds and Swallowtails. If you don’t have this plant, it would sure be a good one to get just for the amount… |
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