Buckeye
his is a common buckeye (Junonia coenia), posing for me on a garlic mustard. An uncommonly beautiful butterfly, I think.
Tagged With: Butterflies
Buckeye
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Buckeye, Butterflies, Butterfly, Insect, Insects, Junonia, Junonia coenia, Lepidoptera
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Cupido comyntas (Eastern Tailed-Blue)
Cupido comyntas (Eastern Tailed-Blue)
This little butterfly, an eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas) is a fairly common visitor to our garden and can be seen throughout the region. It’s not the easiest butterfly to photograph, partly because of it’s diminutive size (it’s small) and partly because it’s a fairly shy critter and doesn’t like being approached. But this one let me get close enough for a pretty good shot. It was late enough in the day that the light wasn’t as good as I’d have liked and this was taken with the aid of the camera’s on-board flash. It isn’t the best lighting for small subjects but in this case it worked out reasonably well.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Blues, Butterflies, Cupido, Insects
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Duskywing
Duskywing
This little, dark butterfly was flitting about the black-eyed Susans this afternoon. It’s been quite warm and today was especially so, but the hot sun seems to be exactly what the little flying critters love. The mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum), the black-eyed Susans, (Rudbekia species), the tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis), the butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), and what’s left of the coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) were all thick with bees, wasps, flies, skippers, and butterflies. It was nice just to be there with them, hearing the faint buzz and seeing all the movement. This little fellow, one of the spread-wing skippers, took a little stalking to get pictures, but I think it was worth the effort. UPDATE: This has been identified as a wild indigo duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae).
Monarch of the Glenns
Monarch on Zinnia
We had a short visit from Dorothy this weekend. She flew down to Richmond late Thursday evening and came up here this morning for a less-than-24-hour visit. We went out to the Glenn’s farm (properly known as Rocklands Farm) and while we were there I got some pictures of a monarch (Danaus plexippus) on Anna’s flowers. We enjoyed being outdoors although truth be told, it was a bit warmer than is my preference. Still, a beautiful day.
Another Monarch
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
IN general I try not to post pictures of the same thing close together and especially not two days in a row. However, needs must. I only took a few pictures today and the only pictures worth sharing from today are of a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in our back yard. This one doesn’t have the orange flower complimenting the butterfly but it’s still pretty nice, I think. These are here in pretty good numbers right now, and I’m really enjoying them on the Buddleia and (like this one) the Verbena bonariensis.
Vanessa cardui (Painted Lady)
Vanessa cardui (Painted Lady)
The buddleia in the back and side yards is going to be done blooming soon but while there are still flowers on it, the butterflies are making the most of the time they have left. There were dozens of painted ladies (Vanessa cardui) in the yard today, as well as a handful of monarchs (Danaus plexippus). I got a few pictures of both together but since I’ve posted monarch pictures recently and it’s been a few years since I featured a painted lady, I decided to go with this one, which I think shows it off pretty well.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Buddleia, Butterflies, Butterfly, Insect, Insects, Painted Lady, Vanessa, Vanessa cardui
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Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
I got a few nice arthropod photos today, one spider (a Basilica Orbweaver (Mecynogea lemniscata) and a few bees. My post for today came down to a choice between this monarch and a photo of a Philanthus gibbosus, one of the thirty-some species of beewolves in our area. It’s a pretty little bee with pitted chitin and a distinctive pattern of yellow and black. I photographed it on a black-eyed Susan, which went well with its coloration. Nevertheless, I’ve decided to go with this rather nice photo of a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Oddly, most people who dislike insects don’t really mind butterflies. It’s true that they are pretty harmless to humans but then, so are a lot of other, more easily despised insects. Maybe it’s because they are so colorful and pretty, but frankly, I think wasps are pretty, so there.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Butterflies, Butterfly, Danaus, Danaus plexippus, Insect, Insects, Lepidoptera, Monarch, Orange
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Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)
I stopped at the commuter parking lot on Georgia Avenue where it crosses the Intercounty Connector today and took some pictures of insects on wildflowers growing on the hillside above the parking lot. I had originally stopped because there were beautiful clouds to the northwest but by the time I got there the sky was pretty much a uniform grey. There were goldenrod soldier beetles (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus) all over the goldenrod (which makes a lot of sense) and there were quite a few types of bees. I followed this little butterfly around a while until I was able to get close enough for a few decent photographs. The one taken after this is considerably closer but not as sharp, unfortunately. The dwindling light from the heavy overcast was makign it hard. But I enjoyed being out in the wind and with insects all around.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Butterflies, Butterfly, Insect, Insects, Lepidoptera, Orange, Orange and Black, Pearl Crescent, Phyciodes, Phyciodes tharos
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Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
I took pictures in the yard this evening. I started with pictures of this butterfly, a painted lady (Vanessa cardui) on the buddleia just into our back yard. It was moving about, skipping from one flower cluster to another but I was able to get a few nice shots from the side (head-on photos of butterflies aren’t very satisfying). I took some pictures of an eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), also on the buddleia. I took pictures of two different purslanes growing in a hanging basket by the back patio.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Butterflies, Butterfly, Insect, Insects, Painted Lady, Vanessa, Vanessa cardui
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Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
I had a short break in the usual busyness at work today so was able to get out to take a few pictures. I got a few of a great blue heron (Ardea herodias) and a belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). I was able to get photos of both of them in flight but they were both pretty far away and they pictures aren’t all that great.
Before I came back inside I walked past some buddleia growing in a flower bed in the front of my building. There were a few monarch butterflies ((Danaus plexippus) flitting around on them. Although the garden was in the shade of the building, there was enough light to get some pretty reasonable photos.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Butterflies, Butterfly, Danaus, Danaus plexippus, Insect, Insects, Lepidoptera, Monarch
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Monarch and Bumblebee
Monarch and Bumblebee
I know I posted a photo of a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) recently but I sort of like this photo of a monarch sharing a coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) with an eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens), so here you are. This was taken in the same garden as the former and like that one it was in the afternoon when the shade of the building was on it, so it isn’t as well lit as I would like.
I walked around the small pond next to my building and saw lots of raccoon footprints in the fresh mud. I took some pictures of those and also of some skippers, a cabbage white (Pieris rapae) and a pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharos).
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Bee, Bombus, Bombus impatiens, Bumblebee, Butterflies, Butterfly, Danaus, Danaus plexippus, Hymenoptera, Insect, Insects, Lepidoptera, Monarch, Polinators
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Butterflies
Butterflies
One of the things in my in-laws house that we didn’t get rid of was this butterfly collection. It’s a box about 15 by 20 inches that opens up like a book to twice that size. Each side has butterflies mounted between cotton backing and a glass plate. They are quite lovely and varied. Not shown here is a very large butterfly that is bright blue on its underside (which is the visible side in the collection). The other side, the upper sides of the wings are brown. In this way, it blends in with the the earth from above and with the sky from below.
Azure (Celastrina sp.)
Azure (Celastrina sp.)
I saw my first butterfly of the year today. I know there are generally some out even earlier than this, but this is the first I’ve spotted. I’m pretty sure it’s an azure (Celastrina sp.) but the various species are difficult to tell apart and I’m not even going to try to figure out which it is. It’s a pretty, little thing, with a wingspan of only a little over an inch. This is a small butterfly and it took a bit of patience to get close enough to get this photo. Still, it was nice to see and the harbinger of things to come. As you know, if you’ve followed my work for any length of time, flowers and insects are two of my favorite subjects for photography and we’re coming into the best time for both.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Azure, Butterflies, Butterfly, Celastrina, Insects, Lepidoptera, Spring
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Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)
Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)
This is a dark-morph (and thus a female) eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on the buddleia outside our kitchen door. The tiger swallowtails are the most numerous, large butterflies in our garden, followed by monarchs (Danaus plexippus). Otherwise, we only have occasional visitors. There are a lot of smaller butterflies and skippers, particularly small skippers. But the large, gaudy swallowtails are fun to watch and among my favorites.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Buddleia, Butterflies, Butterfly, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Insect, Insects, Lepidoptera, Papilio glaucus, Swallowtail
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Polygonia interrogationis (Question Mark)
Polygonia interrogationis (Question Mark)
I stopped at Lake Needwood this afternoon to see what I could see. It’s gotten quite hot, with the forecast for hotter still by the end of the week. The butterflies and dragonflies like that sort of weather, and they were out in pretty good numbers. I happened to spot this question mark (Polygonia interrogationis), so called because of a roughly question mark shaped mark on the underside of their hindwings. I got one photo of the butterfly on a shrub and then if flew and landed on my thigh, thus the blue denim of my jeans. I was able to get a few pretty good photos, including this one. I also got one showing the question mark, but I think this is prettier.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Butterflies, Butterfly, Insect, Insects, Lepidoptera, Polygonia, Polygonia interrogationis, Question Mark
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Insects
Danaus plexippus (Monarch) Caterpillar
Murgantia histrionica (Harlequin Bug)
Papilio polyxenes asterius (Black Swallowtail)
Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)
Allograpta obliqua (Common Oblique Syrphid)
Diabrotica undecimpunctata (Spotted Cucumber Beetle)
I went on a short outing this afternoon to the Agricultural Farm Park today and spent a little time wandering around the Master Gardener’s display garden. Mostly I photographed insects (and a few flowers). It was a pretty productive outing as far as insect photos go.
- Danaus plexippus (Monarch) Caterpillar
- Murgantia histrionica (Harlequin Bug)
- Papilio polyxenes asterius (Black Swallowtail)
- Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)
- Allograpta obliqua (Common Oblique Syrphid)
- Diabrotica undecimpunctata (Spotted Cucumber Beetle)
I’m particularly happy with the oblique syrphid fly, as that’s the first one I’ve photographed. The black swallowtail is one we don’t see nearly as often as the eastern tiger swallowtail. I’ve seen harlequin bugs on occasion but not all that often. The same is true of the cucumber beetle.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Allograpta, Allograpta obliqua, Beetle, Black Swallowtail, Butterflies, Butterfly, Caterpillar, Coleoptera, Common Oblique Syrphid, Cucumber Beetle, Danaus, Danaus plexippus, Diabrotica, Diabrotica undecimpunctata, Diptera, Euptoieta, Euptoieta claudia, Fly, Fritillary, Harlequin Bug, Hymenoptera, Insect, Insecta, Insects, Lepidoptera, Monarch, Murgantia, Murgantia histrionica, Oblique Syrphid, Papilio, Papilio polyxenes, Papilio polyxenes asterius, Spotted Cucumber Beetle, Stink Bug, Swallowtail, Syrphid, True Bugs, Variegated Fritillary
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