Butterfly and Wildlife Gardening And Photography In Houston Texas
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Category Archives: Zinnia I like the following Gulf Fritillary Butterfly picture because of my accidental glowing background. The butterfly is on a peach Zinnia, and behind that there was a pink Zinnia, and the blue background was the accidental part which is actually part of a pool float.  I went outside this morning because the temperature was so nice. I was surprised to see so many Butterflies flying around. There was an Female Eastern Black Swallowtail laying tons of eggs on the Fennel, lots of Gulf Fritillaries getting nectar from the nectar plants (Zinnia and Lantana), and a male Queen Butterfly on the…  We’ve had lots of butterflies roaming around the yard but I have posted many pictures of them. We are seeing a good supply of Gulf Fritillary, Monarch Butterflies, Skippers, and Giant Swallowtail Butterflies. Last year during the drought, these common butterflies made very rare appearances. The Zinnias have so much nectar that the Giant Swallowtail…  We still have lots of Monarch Butterflies flying around the yard and even more Monarch Caterpillars. Most of the Butterflies look very clean, not like they have been migrating for several hundred miles so I’m assuming these are new releases. What I’ve also noticed is that these Butterflies are mating, and in the case of…  We’ve had around 7-8 “new” Monarch Butterflies arrive withing the last two days, but they definitely weren’t new. These poor Butterflies were as torn and worn as I’ve ever seen in Monarchs. Take a look at the male Monarch in the picture below. He has that torn upper wing and had difficulty flying from flower…  The Monarch Butterfly tagging and release continues. Beautiful sunshine today although a little chilly in the morning. We had our last (at the moment) indoor Monarch Chrysalis eclose today (it was a female). Actually she eclosed yesterday but it was very windy and cold yesterday so we decided to release her today. In addition…  The Fall 2011 Migration of Monarch Butterflies was much slower today than the last two days. I only saw 1 untagged Monarch who didn’t appear until late in the afternoon. It was a good day for photography and Monarchs. We had 1 Monarch (a female) who eclosed today from the outdoor Butterfly enclosure. Here’s the…  Another great day for the Fall 2011 Migration of Monarch Butterflies through Houston. I saw a total of 7 today, and tagged 5 of them. There were roughly the same amount of males and females. I mentioned this on the Journey South site, but what I’m noticing this year compared to previous years is how…  Wouldn’t you know it? We get a nice cold front blowing through yesterday, and today (while I’m at work) Leecy witnesses one of the largest group of Migrating Monarchs we have seen in our backyard. Leecy took both the picture and video with her camera, so I’ll let her do the narration. Hi! Well, yes…  The Common Green Darner Dragonfly that I placed on the Zinnia yesterday evening was still here this morning. He was covered in a light dew and the light was just starting to fall on our second Zinnia garden.  I hope folks don’t mind more pictures of Painted Lady Butterflies. These Butterflies are so drawn to the Zinnas I can’t resist taking advantage of the photographic opportunity.  Zinnias must be full of nectar. It’s become the most popular plant in our backyard. It also appears to be the preferred location for the Painted Lady Butterflies. I did see another Monarch today and the Painted Lady chased it away.  Here’s something you don’t see every day. We were cleaning our Butterfly enclosures this evening when this large Dragonfly flew right in there. I don’t know if he was old, confused, tired, or what, but he just stayed right there so I went and picked him up. After he stayed in the palm of my…  We’re finally cooling down here in Houston (thank goodness). I think our plants like it as well, especially the Zinnias. They are really blooming right now, and it turn that has attracted Butterflies. I saw a few Painted Lady Butterflies today, and they were all focusing on the Zinnias. These Butterflies are not easy to…  Houston, we have a problem! I found 5 Monarch Caterpillars today. The problem with that is that I’ve been on vacation all week and I’ve never seen any Monarch Butterflies. Leecy gets home well before dark, and she hasn’t seen any Monarch Butterflies either. So where did they come from? Were they Monarchs migrating from… |
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