Ragged Beauty (Black Swallowtail)

Life isn’t perfect and we can’t all be perfect.  I saw this butterfly and ran out to take it’s picture.  When I got closer I realized much of its wings are missing. But….it really didn’t matter…I still thought it beautiful.

 

 

On my way back inside I couldn’t resist snapping a shot of this little fellow. He comes to the backyard with 4 of his friends each morning for a few kernels of corn. My little dog, Raisin, loves to watch them. They are great “puppy” sitters. She won’t move from her cushion until they leave…and watches them intently.

Antlion (Doodlebug)

I was opening the door to the shed and this flew from the door to the side of the building.

It blends in so well, I’m not surprised I haven't noticed them before.

I didn’t realize until it landed on the flag….but the wings are transparent like a dragonfly’s. When in flight it looks like the “helicopters” that we see in the evening.

I’ve been through some bug websites but didn’t find out what it was…so ..if you know…please let me know.

Cuckoo Wasp?

I spotted this beautifully colored little flying insect.....

The closest thing I could find is a Cuckoo Wasp.....Am I right?

It was trying to get inside of these little wind chimes, but I think Mud Dabbers might have gotten there first.

Monarch Butterfly

My friend, Debbie, has a nice patch of Milkweed and a couple of Monarchs that fly in an out.  She found one caterpillar and put it in a container….fed it fresh milkweed everyday…until it made it’s cocoon.

This is what it looked like yesterday…around 2pm.  If you look closely…you can see a faint outline of the wings.

This was taken early this morning. It has turned very dark and is getting a lot more transparent. You can see some of the color.

We had a great waffle breakfast at their house this morning and watch….and watched….and watched….

We all had other things to do ..so we brought the container home with us …..I wanted to get a video of it coming out….

we watched…..and watched….

I left the room for awhile and Jim watched….no change other than getting a bit clearer…..Jim left the room for a few minutes…..and you know what happened…before I got out there it had opened and was drying it’s wings. 

I took the container and rode my bike to Debbie’s and put it on one of their milkweed plants.

It sat there for about an hour …then we started seeing some spreading of wings every few minutes.

A few minutes later it climbed up to the flowers…perhaps grabbed a snack and then flew away. I hope it remains in the area and lays an egg and we can have better luck next time. 

We have an idea of what to watch for…but perhaps it saw us as predators and waited for us to leave.