It seems strange to post pictures of a bright sunny day while I listen to the lovely sounds of raindrops falling outside. But at least I’m dry.
Over the past couple of days, the garden was a green version of Grand Central Station. Butterflies, wasps, moths, flies, and other creatures all came to feast, rest, and feast some more. It was high noon when I took these, unfortunately, but beggars can’t be choosers when there are masses of creatures about all at the same time! You just get the shots when you can.
At last, Painted Lady butterflies have come to visit.
I love the hidden peacock feathers you see in their hindwings.
Variegated Fritillaries have arrived, too.
A Snout Butterfly rested on Big Muhly.
And Queens went back and forth between the Gregg’s Mistflower…
and the Milkweed.
I have so many kinds of skippers I can’t name them all.
I think this is a Fiery Skipper…
and this a White-Checkered Skipper.
The Gulf Fritillary was a challenge to photograph — it cared not for sitting still.
And Sulphurs — some big, some small. Is this a Southern Dogface Sulphur or a Cloudless Sulphur?
Tiny yellow butterflies fluttered about — they didn’t sit still for long. Hmmm… Little Yellow or Mimosa?
The big butterfly attractors have been the milkweed, zinnias, and Gregg’s Mistflower, but a few days ago I set out a banana for the butterflies. They do love a rotting banana, but the last time I did that, the banana just rotted all by its little lonesome. This time, I walked out to discover a Goatweed Leaf Butterfly enjoying a snack with a Snout Butterfly (and a fly).
So I decided to set out a fresher banana, as well, and — whoa — incoming. Suddenly my new banana became an experiment and a wildlife study. The first visitors were wasps and flies. I’m not even going to attempt to identify any of these, but there’s quite the variety!
The wasps didn’t always get along. The big red hornet-like one was the bully you’d expect him to be — not that the other wasps were friendly and gentle-like, mind you…
While the wasps were distracted with their quarreling, the flies zoomed in for some banana. I like how they naturally spread themselves out.
Do you see the beautiful metallic turquoise insect in the lower left corner? That’s a Cuckoo Wasp — the only one I can identify other than “fly” or “wasp.”
Here’s another pic.
I didn’t mind all the visiting wasps. It kept them distracted from my Queen caterpillars on the milkweed.
And the flies and wasps weren’t the only visitors to the bananas. Snouts began to venture over to the fresher banana, and today I found my first Red Admiral. What a beauty!
See this “pretty” yellow, green, and black bug? Bad bug. Spotted cucumber beetle. You can mourn it if you like — it and four of its friends. At least I found them on the banana and not in my veggie garden. That water in the pic is from today’s rain.
The only butterfly picture I didn’t capture that first picture day was the lone Monarch I saw flying around. Have they started to move on? I’m keeping my eye out for caterpillars — I did see a female Monarch laying eggs on the milkweed several days ago.
Elsewhere in the garden today, I discovered what I think is an assassin bug nymph. My last one was red, though, so I don’t know.
And off in the former pumpkin patch, where a few pumpkins and vines await me doing something about them, I found an icky green guy having a feast.
Enjoy it while you can, buddy.
We did take our company to a few local outdoor favorites, so I’ll check the camera for any photo gems worthy of a post tomorrow. In the meantime, I’m ready for more butterflies!
One morning, and a fine one at that.
