I’ve got a couple of shots of the Eastern Black Swallowtail drinking some nectar from a nearby Butterfly Bush
Butterfly And Wildlife Gardening And Photography
Butterfly and Wildlife Gardening And Photography In Houston Texas
Category Archives: PlantsI 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…  Another early morning visitor. This was a very small lizard hunting for food on the Parsley. There was an equally small lizard close by this one but he scampered away before I could get a picture. We finally got some Ladybugs (3000) yesterday to hopefully reduce this Aphid infestation we have. Last night and early this morning they were really feasting on the Aphids. Towards the afternoon when we started to hit a heat index of probably 100 degrees, they started to fly off. Hopefully they will come back tomorrow because…  Yesterday I posted the pictures of the PipeVine Swallowtail eggs. Well today they hatched. Just on two separate clusters there were 18 of them. I’m sure there are more out there but it was getting dark. I’ll continue my hunt tomorrow to bring them inside to safety Or at least that’s what the head of this Long Tailed Skipper looks like to me. Last year, not knowing what kind of caterpillar these were, I admit to, uh, removing them from my Bean plants. This year, I allow them to munch on as many Bean leaves as they wish. However, I can also…  It’s so damn hot and humid in Houston right now I think even the Butterflies are laying low. Unfortunately, the pests that inhabit a Butterfly Garden are all over the place, at least all over my place. Aphids. Normally I don’t stress too much about these little pokemon looking critters, but some of my Milkweed… We haven’t seen a whole lot of Pipevine Swallowtail flying around, but they must be around somewhere as our Pipevine is starting to get filled up with eggs. One thing you may notice between these eggs and say a Monarch or Eastern Black Swallowtail is that this Butterfly lays its eggs in clusters. I didn’t… Looks like we found the answer to one of the mystery Butterflies. It’s a Polydamas Swallowtail, also called the Gold Rim Swallowtail. As mentioned in my previous post, this is a “tailess” Swallowtail and is a Mexican/South Texas (further south than Houston) native. They feed on Pipevine. According to Joshua, from Joshua’s Native Plants, these…  If you’ve been reading, you know I have lots of books on Butterflies but sometimes books don’t provide all the answers. Look at the next three pictures and see if you can identify what type of Butterfly these might be as I have no idea. First up, some type of Butterfly on our Fennel. Here’s… 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… Actually the title has nothing to do with this post, I was just trying to think of something witty. I’ve never posted a picture of this next Butterfly because they are pretty hard to photograph. They bounce from leaf to leaf constantly. This little guy is known as a Long Tailed Skipper or Bean Leaf… 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… |
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