Wildlife Wednesday :: God's Creation

In August, when I could manage it, I retreated to the garden with my camera. Spending time outdoors, observing God's amazing creation, always lifts my spirit and reminds me that I do not have to worry about tomorrow...not ever. *

Here are the photos I took of the wildlife that visited my garden last month:

BIRDS

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the evening light.

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird showing off her elegant neck.

A Blue Jay selects a peanut from the feeder.

SQUIRREL

Zipping along the fence after raiding the bird feeder.

BEES

Bumblebee working the salvia.

Leafcutter Bee, another fan of salvia. 

DRAGONFLIES

Posing nicely in the garden.

Making a meal out of a Green Lacewing.

BUTTERFLY 

Tiny Skipper Butterfly, wings spread, basking in the sun.

MOTH

Huge Polyphemus Moth, freshly emerged.

CATERPILLAR

Sphinx Moth Caterpillar on the spent tomato plants.

*Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. ~ Matthew 6:34 (ESV)

I hope you enjoyed my contribution to Wildlife Wednesday—a meme, hosted by Tina at My Gardener Says..., that celebrates wildlife in the garden on the first Wednesday of every month.

Wildlife Wednesday :: Happy Camper Butterfly Garden

Last Saturday I spent the morning sitting out by our little butterfly garden at the travel trailer on the banks of the Colorado River in Matagorda, Texas, snapping photos of the garden wildlife that came my way.

A Sickle-winged Skipper was the first to arrive.

Soon there were two flitting from flower to flower.

Every garden needs a spider...or two. 

The milkweed is full of aphids and a bit ragged looking, but that didn't stop this Queen from laying her eggs. Hopefully the new leaves at the base of the plants will grow quickly and be enough to feed the hungry caterpillars that will be hatching soon.

Deep within the milkweed jungle, I came across a grasshopper. He was just hanging out, but I imagine he'll probably snack on some of our plants. I don't expect he'll do too much damage all by himself.

A cute little Dun Skipper stopped by for a sip of Gomphrena nectar. It must be quite tasty considering how popular it is in the garden right now.

Our RV park management has neglected to mow the grass for a few weeks. And though I'm not thrilled about that, it's probably a lucky thing for this newly emerged Queen butterfly. 

I didn't find her empty chrysalis, but I suspect it's attached to a blade of grass nearby, since this is where she stayed for most of the morning before flying away.

And just when I had decided it was too hot to stay out any longer, a Checkered White showed up. It made the rounds from lantana...

to zinnia and other flowers in between. 

On the zinnia are ants and some unidentified bugs under the petals (mites? yikes!)—just another bit of wildlife in our pesticide-free butterfly garden.

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Today's post is my contribution to Wildlife Wednesday—a meme, hosted by Tina at My Gardener Says..., that celebrates wildlife in the garden on the first Wednesday of every month.

Monarch Memory

Earlier this year John made an insect hotel and hung it on the garden fence.

We've been waiting for our bee guests to arrive, but not a single room has been rented out yet.

However, a Monarch caterpillar thought the underside looked like the perfect place to form a chrysalis. 

One morning last week John noticed the butterfly was close to emerging, so he moved the hotel to the back porch and took this photo while I was waiting for my camera lens to defog.

Even with the chrysalis right where we could check it frequently, we still missed its emergence. This photo was taken very soon after. 

The butterfly's wings are still in the process of unfolding.

It took about an hour for it to reach the point where it was ready to fly.

During that time I was able to snap a shot

from every angle

imaginable.

When the time was right we brought Myles out to hold his very first Monarch butterfly.

He probably won't remember this.

But, we'll never forget it. 

Celebrating Pollinators

Strike up the band.

Toss the confetti.

It's National Pollinator Week! 

Let's hear it for the beautiful butterflies!

Three cheers for the hardworking honeybees!

Hip, hip, hooray for bees of all kinds!

Let's sing the praises of the little hummingbirds!

And plant flowers for them all!

After all, we're the ones who reap the benefits of all they do.

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Click here to read more about pollinators and National Pollinator Week.

Also, thanks to Tina at My Gardener Says... for her very informative post on Pollinator Week.

Queen Butterfly and Tropical Milkweed

The Tropical milkweed in Happy Camper Butterfly Garden is doing what it does best—attracting butterflies.

In this case it's a Queen butterfly.

Her mission is to lay eggs on the milkweed, which is flowering and producing seed at the same time.

The milkweed pods are bursting open and revealing the many seeds stacked inside.

Milkweed seeds dance in the breeze for a time and then let go to fly to places both near and far.

I'm sure to find new milkweed plants sprouting in our garden soon and I hope to find little Queen caterpillars, too.

Butterflies and Host Plants

A newly planted butterfly garden at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge was aflutter with butterflies last Saturday.

Common Buckeye on Indian Blanket

A Common Buckeye posed nicely for me on an Indian Blanket flower, which happens to be one of its host plants. 

Host plants are important in attracting butterflies to your garden. Each variety of butterfly has specific types of plants that it will lay its eggs on. That plant then become food for the caterpillars when the eggs hatch.

Palamedes Swallowtail on Cowpen Daisy

The Cowpen Daisy, also known as Golden Crownbeard, was the most popular flower in this garden. It was attracting dozens of Palamedes Swallowtails as well as other butterflies and pollinators. Based on what I saw, this is a flower that I should add to my own garden.

Palamedes Swallowtail

I'd love to attract the Palamedes Swallowtail to our garden, though I've never seen any in our area. Perhaps we are out of its range, however it wouldn't hurt to try by planting one of its hosts, Sweet Bay, which is also a host plant of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail which we see frequently.

Duskywing on Cowpen Daisy

Also attracted to Cowpen Daisy for its nectar was a small butterfly which I think is called Horace's Duskywing. Oaks are its host plants. 

This butterfly was a little bit faded and missing the tip of one of its forewings, but it was still going strong. I've observed butterflies far more tattered than this one maneuvering in flight like they were newly emerged from the chrysalis. I've learned that butterflies are tougher than they look.

Bordered Patch Caterpillars on Cowpen Daisy

Soon we began to notice clusters of caterpillars on the Cowpen Daisies. A plant that is a great source of nectar and a caterpillar host is a bonus in any butterfly garden. I'm definitely planting this flower as soon as I can locate a source.

We later identified the caterpillars as the larva of the Bordered Patch butterfly. I wish I would have been able to get a picture of one. There were probably some around, judging from all the caterpillars we saw.

The butterfly garden at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge was just planted this year in April, but it's off to a great start.

The Garden of My Dreams :: Little Wings

One visit to Matagorda County Birding Nature Center was all it took for me to fall in love with the place.

The park is 34 acres of natural beauty situated on the Colorado River in Bay City, Texas. Within its boundaries are wetlands, native prairies, and woodlands which provide habitat for a large variety of birds and wildlife.

Standing in the fruit orchard searching the woods and sky for birds.

Armed with a brand new zoom lens and inspired by the beautiful scenery, I found something to photograph at every turn.

A post of nails for hanging orange halves for the birds, especially Orioles, conveniently located near the orange tree.

For the most part, John and I had the place to ourselves and I began to think of it as our own private garden—the garden of my dreams! If I owned 34 acres, I would want it to be just like this.

The peaches are almost ripe.

It would include a small fruit orchard, a wildflower meadow, and flower gardens planted specifically for hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators.

There were several cooperative little wings, as I'm calling them, that posed nicely for the camera as we explored the grounds and gardens.

Tawny Emperor Butterfly

Dusky Wing Butterfly

Pearl Crescent Butterfly

Honeybee

Dragonfly

Not only did we see little wings, but feathered wings, and other things, too. I hope you'll join me next time for more photos of our nature hike.