Butterfly and Wildlife Gardening And Photography In Houston Texas
Category Archives: Plants I saw one of the most unusual Butterfly events today. In this “Bubba” Desert Willow tree was a swarm of Queen Butterflies. There must have been around 50 Queen Butterflies flying around this tree. Personally, I’ve never heard of a “Bubba” Desert Willow and I have no idea if they are good at attracting Butterflies,…  Today was the first Queen Butterfly we’ve seen for 2010. She was laying eggs on the Milkweed. I never could manage to get a decent picture of her as she was constantly flying about. You may also notice all the Aphids on the Milkweed. I’ve tried spraying them and wiping them off by hand. I’m…  It’s been a while since I have posted any Ruby Throated Hummingbird pictures. Also, I’m not really used to seeing Hummingbirds in the Summer, but for some reason we have 3 hanging around. This first photo is a mistake, or at least I thought it was until Leecy said she thought it looked like a…  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…  Finally! A Butterfly! Seems like a rare occurrence lately, although it’s probably just because I haven’t been getting home at a decent hour to see them. This is a Gulf Fritillary that was on my multi-colored Butterfly Bush.  This guy looks pretty threatening to me. It’s some type of Ant (obviously), but I’m not sure what kind. He was just sitting on one of the Passionvine stems, like waiting to ambush something that would happen to come by. Notice the little hairs on it’s head?  Yesterday when I was strolling around my yard with my Macro lens, I found these interesting things. I can’t think of a Butterfly that lays eggs like this, but I’m really not sure what they are. Does anyone have any idea what type of eggs these are?  I really got lucky, but I love this next shot! It’s a Gulf Fritillary on a Purple Coneflower, with a blurred Black Eyed Susan in the background, and a Bee (not sure what kind). Here’s another shot with the Gulf Fritillary on a Marigold. This last shot I really like as well. We have lots…  At first I never saw the Spicebush Swallowtail other than the Caterpillars, and now it looks like I have the opportunity to see them regularly. This particular Spicebush appeared to be younger than the one I saw last week who had the tattered wings. It was really enjoying getting nectar from the Penta. The shot…  I found a new Butterfly that we’ve never seen in the backyard before. It’s a Pearl Crescent. It was hopping all around the Purple Coneflowers getting nectar. This is not an easy Butterfly to get pictures of, especially with their wings open! Here’s a picture with the wings closed. It was resting on the Spicebush…  I thought most Spicebush Caterpillars only feed in the early morning or late evening, not in the middle of the day. For some reason, this large Spicebush Caterpillar was feeding on the Spicebush in the middle of the afternoon. It was really chewing on the leaves. Once the female Spicebush Butterfly came around, it quickly…  I finally saw a mature Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly over by the Spicebush. This female was going through all the egg laying maneuvers, but when I checked under each leaf where it looked like she had laid eggs, there was nothing to be found. When she finally quit flying around and “pretending” she was laying eggs,…  Picture these bugs crawling through your bed at night:-). These are Leaffooted Bugs. We tend to find most of them on our Tomato plant and Giant Sunflower plant. Interestingly enough, this big cluster was on our Sago Palm. I know the adults fly, and fortunately this group couldn’t fly. So I pulled out my primary…  I’ve never seen this Butterfly before. It was hanging on the Milkweed. It’s called a Little Sulphur Butterfly. Cute little thing.  These Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars are really growing! It seemed like just a few days ago they were tiny little things. These guys have not been easy for me to photograph. They tend to come out from under the Spicebush leaves during the early evening hours, and I haven’t been getting home in time for decent… |
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