Blue Butterfly in KY

 

Sorry I havn’t been keeping up with the blogs lately. We have been on the St Johns River, FL for the past two weeks. So check out the blog….  www.alwayslingerawhile.blogspot.com    We had a great time…saw many Manatees and other wildlife. 

On our trip to KY, earlier this year, I spotted this pretty blue butterfly. I am not sure what kind it is.

At first, I thought it might be a Swallowtail but on closer inspection I dont see the “tail”. 

It cooperated very nicely for the photos. Willingly sat on the sidewalk for them.

Skipper on my Bougainville

There are two nice Bougainville bushes just outside my computer room window. The Skippers really seem to like it.

They really haven't had as much activity as I thought they would,  being so close to the Bottlebrush…I guess they are not as popular, but the Bottlebrush has gone past it’s bloom for another week or two, so everything is heading to the Bougainville.

These two Skippers were very busy. A bit skittish…so I had to stand and wait for them to get used to me being there and coming back. Here he has his “sipper” all rolled up and ready to go.

This is my favorite.

Spicebush Swallowtail

Here’s another black swallowtail that makes you take a second look.

It has a lot of light blue on the wings, and 2 small orange dots.

The Spicebush flies low and in the shadows. The green of all the plants that are shading it give the blue a greenish tinge. 

I wasn’t able to get a picture of the underside of the wing.

Painted Buntings…

I have been seeing the Painted Buntings for a few weeks but  had no luck with pictures.

Here’s one of the males…

 

I’ve noticed that the Cardinals are more than willing to share the feeders with the Buntings…while they chase other Cardinals away. I know the Buntings prefer the white millet and the Cardinals like the Sunflower seeds..perhaps they also like the red millet, so they don’t see the Buntings as a threat to a food source…

The green buntings or “Greenies” can be either a female or a young male.

So far, I have seen 2 Greenies and 2 males…

Last year I had 4 males and at least as many greens spend the winter here. I also had 7 male Indigo Buntings…but have not seen any yet.

Baby Raccoons, another Mother

I have been watching a Momma Raccoon and her 2 little ones come out each morning to see if the Rabbits and Turkey have left anything. I was surprised to see a new set of babies. Both are much smaller than the pair I have been watching.

One is a bit darker than the other and she watched them very closely. It’s the first time I’ve seen these two. This mother has a very distinct mask whereas the other one had a lot more white.

They sure are cute at this age…

Tiny Butterfly?

I spend time walking around the yard to see what is moving in or out. I did not know what this was until I downloaded it to the computer.

This flower (weed) is only an inch across.  So the butterfly  would be less than half an inch. I thought a piece of lint was drifting by, until it landed.  It looks like it has pom-poms on the end of it’s body.

Have not had any luck finding out what it’s name is. It’s body doesn’t resemble any of the Skippers I’ve seen.

Hogs in the backyard

I get up just before daylight and take a short hike around the yard with a cup of corn. I have 4 rabbits living out there and toss a bit to them…near each patch of  “wildlife habitat” (brush piles), the rest goes down by the turkey feeder for the turkey, rabbits, squirrels and raccoons…if any is left by the time they come in.

After  my walk a few mornings ago… I took my coffee ….climbed the ladder to the boat and sat down to enjoy the sunrise and to see if I could hear the Eastern Phoebe I had seen a few days before.

While I enjoyed my coffee I spotted a big black critter come strolling out of the woods. My heart jumped…it was still dark and at first I thought we had a nice black bear stopping by….bummer…it wasn’t!!  It was a nice big black hog, though. Unfortunately, I had no camera that morning….but today I got lucky….

I was able to get a short video…but it was too dark for snapshots. Don’t know why…but my camera can do video when it’s somewhat dark, but not pictures.

She looks as if she’s had a litter of piglets…a bit thin…I was sorry I scared her off.  

A few minutes later my husband said she was back…but it wasn’t her…it was a different one.

I didn’t want to scare him before I got a photo…so  I went out the front door and snuck around back. He didn’t hear me because the central heat was on. I managed to get two fairly good pictures before he spotted me and ran off.

This must be the one I saw a few days ago…it’s much fatter.

Those plants in the background, with the yellow flowers, are very invasive and hard to get rid of. I had a momma hog and 6 young ones coming in a few years ago and I put them to work. I would toss corn into  all the big patches of weeds at night, and by morning they would be rolled up into big balls. Unfortunately my yard was a mess when they got done. But it has taken a few years for the weed to start taking over again. So …maybe I’ll put Momma to work once they quit blooming. There isn’t much for the bees and butterflies to feed on at the moment.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (female)

It took me a few days, but I did spot a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. I don’t see these big yellow butterflies very often and usually only one at a time. 

The butterflies and hummingbirds love this plant, but I cant remember it’s name.

 

I managed to get one picture of it’s face…

but she kept turning her back to me…guess she wanted to show me how beautiful she is.

 

You can see why she is easier to photograph than some of the other large butterflies.

Is this a Rusty Blackbird?

While checking the updates on the blogs that I follow, I saw a picture of a bird that looked familiar.  www.askthebirds.org had a photo of a Rusty Blackbird.

I had a bird come to my feeders last winter and spring, that I could not identify.

After looking at the Rusty Blackbird, I am hoping I have found it.

It came in with all the Indigo and Painted Buntings, the Cardinals, Catbirds etc. But it was the only one like it.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (male)

Here is another very large Swallowtail with a wingspan of about 5 inches.

I had been watching it on the bottlebrush for several minutes and was surprised when it was still there after getting the camera and heading out. Unlike most of the other large Swallowtails…it was content to spend several minutes with it’s wings spread. I was even able to get a picture of the underside.

I am always surprised at how fuzzy their bodies are.

Maybe tomorrow I will find a female.