Odds and Ends

Even though so many of my flowers were destroyed by the hail storms of 4/27/2011 I do still have a few visiting butterflies. I also got a quick glance of the Clearwing Moth (so commonly called Hummingbird Moth, although there are 2 different Clearwing Moths)

The most unusual place I have ever seen a bird lay it's egg.
Guess it was because of the color on the right of way post.
No, I do not know what happened, because I forgot about it for a few days.
When I went back to check there was no sign of it.

Pale Swallowtail Butterfly

This first photograph was taken August 2008. Notice just a little blue showing. The rest of these photographs were taken this afternoon in my zinnia flowerbed,
which the butterflies all absolutely love.
Notice the blue on this one.
I apologize for all the photographs, and they are not all clear.

I was trying to capture every angle that I could.

Because I don't think I have ever seen one with this much blue on it,
and it looked much more bright yellow instead of pale while I was photographing it.

After looking at all these photographs I think it is a Tiger just like the one from 2 years ago.

Maybe it is in it's first days and the blue fades.

Just a thought, but I don't really know.

Hoping Hap will stop by and clarify for me.

Think this is why I don't photograph as much as I used to. When I get to the computer I grab all my reference books and spend way too many hours pouring over them trying to see the subtle differences in the butterflies and birds.

And then there is Etsy....on the Etsy site there is something called Treasury List. People that list on Etsy make these list of items they like, I made one here of things that flutter. Just click here and see the listing. I actually don't see what it benefits me to pick and build a Treasury List because if you follow the rules (which I did) you can't include one of your own listings. But you all know how well I like things that flutter and I do think I picked some very pretty items. The beaded butterfly pillow is gorgeous.

Dark Swallowtail Butterflies

I have had a lot of butterflies in what I call my butterfly garden. It is actually a very small part of my flower beds. All zinnias. The butterflies love them. This year I didn't plant any zinnia seeds, but the seeds from last year have given me as many flowers as I have had in previous years. Last week I photographed butterflies on several different days. Notice the top photograph the dark swallowtail only has one row of orange spots. This tells me this is a dark Tiger Swallowtail. The Tiger can be up to 5 1/2 inches. These two photographs of the wings open are what really tells me it is a dark Tiger Swallowtail. Notice the blue highlights around the white dots, these are not present on the Spicebush Swallowtail.

Next we have a Spicebush Swallowtail, it has 2 rows of the orange spots.
The Spicebush is only up to 4 1/2 inches.

Notice the white dots on the upper wings, no second row of blue highlights.

The last photograph is a better photograph of the Spicebush.

Until I loaded the photos in the computer I did not even know I had two different types of swallowtails. The dark Tiger was photographed on 7/19. The Spicebush were photographed on 7/23 and 7/24. There were 2 Spicebush here at the same time.

Then there is the Pipevine Swallowtail, which only gets to 3 3/8 inches. When seen in the field it appears different right off, at least to me. I don't think I have ever seen a Pipevine in my own yard. The first time I photographed one was at Cataloochee Cove in the Smoky Mtns National Park. Still hope to see one this summer.

And I did see a Red Spotted Purple this summer at Rockwood, but could not get my camera quick enough for a photo. They are more rare in this area, and I have very few photographs of a Red Spotted Purple.

Tiger Swallowtail in Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

Only saw this one Tiger Swallowtail, and he did not want his picture taken. So this was the best I got.

Pale Tiger Swallowtail at zinnia

This Swallowtail were a pleasant surprise.I went outside with camera in hand hoping to catch the Goldfinch on the Sunflowers.
I am beginning to think I will not get the Goldfinch on the sunflowers. But I will settle for these, might as well.

Tiger Swallowtail on Flaming Azalea

The flaming azaleas in Virginia were gorgeous. I was so fortunate to catch this Tiger Swallowtail at the azaleas.

Tiger Swallowtail - Yellow

Another photo of the yellow Tiger Swallowtail from the side of the road taken the other day. Another one of God's beautiful creations.

Tiger Swallowtail on thistle

This yellow Tiger Swallowtail was on the side of the road. If you stop and take the time to find the beauty around you it is everywhere. I pulled over for another 'photo opportunity', and this is what I found.