Butterfly and Wildlife Gardening And Photography In Houston Texas
Category Archives: Nectar Plants 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… Here’s a picture of a Monarch on a Purple Coneflower. Previous to this Monarch gathering up some nectar, it was flying in and out of the water produced by the sprinkler. That lead me to think of an interesting observation. While I have no idea if this just because of the lack of rain and… We had a birth today. A Gulf Fritillary. Actually we had one yesterday as well but I had forgotten about that one. There are about another 4 more Chrysalises that still need to hatch. Once this one hatched, we placed him outside on the Butterfly Bush. I’ve got a couple of shots of the Eastern Black Swallowtail drinking some nectar from a nearby Butterfly Bush I figured out, quite by accident, that the Butterflies like the early morning (and occasional late afternoon when it’s cool) temperatures. The backyard was really full of life this morning, especially the Butterflies. There were at least 4 Gulf Fritillaries flying around, a few Monarchs, and even the Polydamas Swallowtail (the rare one I photographed… I haven’t seen too many Painted Lady Butterflies in our backyard, but that is starting to change. The last two days there have been American Painted Lady Butterflies landing on our Coneflowers. This particular Butterfly is an American Painted Lady Butterfly. They are NOT easy to photograph. Compared to the casual flying Monarch, these suckers… We’ve had a “fruitful” Memorial holiday weekend when it comes to Monarch Butterflies hatching. We had 1 Monarch Butterfly hatch on Friday, 3 on Saturday, 4 on Sunday, and 10 today (Monday). For those that are mathematically challenged, that’s 18 Butterflies. Of the 18, ten of those were males and eight were females. Tomorrow should… So while Brutus is out stretching his wings on the Butterfly Bush, Betty Sue was born. Not wanting to have Brutus feel like he was an only child, we took Betty Sue out to meet her brother once her wings dried. You can also really get a good idea of the difference between a male…  Remember Alvin, the first of Timothia’s offspring who hatched yesterday (May 22)? Today he had a brother who was born, and whereas Alvin couldn’t seem to care less about another Butterfly, his brother, Brutus, is an all out Pimp! First came this Painted Lady Butterfly trying to impress Brutus Shortly after the Painted Lady Butterfly…  Remember Alvin, the first of Timothia’s offspring who hatched yesterday (May 22)? I had mentioned that I brought him inside last night because he just sat on the Butterfly Bush and didn’t even flinch when another female Monarch came fluttering by. So today I took Alvin back outside to release him. He calmly stretched his…  This is also a picture from last year, but since we currently have 11 Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars that are just a day or so away from forming Chrysalis, I thought I would post this picture. This is a picture of an Eastern Black Swallowtail. They have only laid their eggs on our Fennel. What’s… Honestly, I just thought this was a nice picture. Obviously, it’s a Sunflower. We didn’t plant it, it’s from the mess the birds make when they eat from one of our two bird feeders. Some birds, like the Cardinals and Woodpeckers, seem to like eating directly from the bird feeder. The doves, on the other… |
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