It’s near the end of June. Below (and above) are photos of some of the creatures I’ve seen during the month. They’re arranged in no particular order. The top photo is of one of the milkweeds, butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). It attracts many insects to it’s flowers, leaves, and seed pods throughout the summer season. Here, you can see new flower buds on the left and older flowers to the right. Some insects go out of their way to attractRead more
Posts tagged: #leps
The Ladies
Painted lady butterflies (above) are southwestern in origin. They apparently move northward each year and may do so in large numbers in some years. They are irruptive migrants and it’s thought their migrations are weather related, e.g., El Nino. I’ve seen several in the past week. Painted ladies (Vanessa cardui) may be confused with a more local butterfly within the same genus, American lady (Vanessa virginiensis). American ladies show a white spot in a larger orange rectangular spot on their forewingsRead more
Red Admiral
On December 23rd a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) was seen flying about the Mahonia near the entrance to the Dinosaur Trail. The butterfly didn’t stand still for long, but when it did finally settle, it did so twenty some feet up on the trunk of a Loblolly Pine. It was a stretch, but I managed to get one shot of the butterfly. Red Admirals are just one of a handful of butterflies that can be seen in winter. Question Mark,Read more