Daily Archives: July 6, 2013

Fountain Splash

Fountain Splash

Fountain Splash

For those who don’t like pictures of the creepy crawlies, here’s a non-insect, non-spider photograph. It’s interesting that people who are given the willies by spiders or most insects often don’t have any problem with butterflies. They are pretty, to be sure, but they are still basically just bugs with big wings.

In any case, this is a picture I took in the evening after dinner. We went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream and then sat watching the fountain. There were no children playing in the fountain, as there so often are, but Cathy and Dorothy at least put their feet in the spray.

This picture is of a spout of water against the darkening evening sky. It’s a photograph that makes me strangely happy.

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Eumenes fraternus (Potter Wasps)

Eumenes fraternus (Potter Wasps)

Eumenes fraternus (Potter Wasps)

This is becoming one of my favorite wasps. I’m not sure why, but it is. I think I like the simplicity, along with the distinctiveness of the markings. It’s also such a fragile little thing. I say little, but it’s not all that tiny, measuring a good 15 to 20 mm in length. I suspect it’s also got a sting that I don’t want to experience.

Now that the mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) is starting to bloom in earnest, it’s starting to attract the usual suspects. So far, in addition to bumble bees and this potter wasp, I’ve seen a one four-toothed mason wasp (Monobia quadridens) and a few great black wasps (Sphex pensylvanicus).

On a somewhat irrelevant note, the Latin name for this genus of wasp always reminds me of the third play in the Oresteia, by Aeschylus, called The Eumenides. The Eumenides are “The Kindly Ones.” That’s irrelevant, however, as the genus in this case is a different, although similar word. They are apparently named for a Greek general and scholar, Eumenes of Cardia (ca. 362 BC—316 BC).

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The Butterflies Are Back

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus, female)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus, female)

With the reliability of summer following spring, the tiger swallowtails have returned just as the buddleia (butterfly bush) started to bloom. There are flowers open on two bushes so far with a promise of many more to come. We’ve had the little cabbage whites for a while now but today was the first day I’ve seen a swallowtail in our yard. This is a female. The males don’t have the band of blue spots on their hind wings. Getting a picture that is “just right” is hard. they move about a bit, but this one, with the wings lit from the other side, is pretty good, although the colors in the wing are a bit washed out.

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