Like Birds In The Wilderness

My contribution to Eileeninmd's Saturday's Critters #89. I saw quite a few Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) in Virginia this week.



A Common Blue Damselfly:

I think this is a pair of Little Glassy Wing skippers:

This is a pair of Red-spotted Purples:

Here's Amelia!

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Here We Sit

Like birds in the wilderness, birds in the wilderness,


This is my contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #75.

P.S. How about a butterfly?

Or maybe some wolfhounds?

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Shopping, Butterflies

Carmi's Thematic Photographic 347 is Grocery store finds. I sometimes take pictures in the store when I want to check something out, like these little LED lightbulbs.

Pretty expensive...maybe these are the ones we need?

So I ended up just taking pictures and going back home for further research. Meanwhile, Theda waited outside.

It's still peak butterfly season. This is my contribution to Michelle's Nature Notes (#326).


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Tiger Swallowtail and friends

My contribution to Eileeninmd's Saturday Critters #88. Here's a couple of critters from West Virginia:


And some from D.C.:



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Spider Town Fence

My contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #74. Here's a bird enthusiast's fence. I approve!

Theda surveys Spider Town:

I got a rock...

How about a couple of flutterbyes?


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Lake and Mountain

Carmi's Thematic Photographic 346 is Where You Work. I'm going with "Where You Take Pictures."

The Lake:

The Mountain:

Here's my butterfly weed experiment. Will there be enough sun in front of the house? Will some critter just eat it? Did I dig deep enough to get enough taproot?

Here's some butterfly weed in action:

I'm also linking to Michelle's Nature Notes (#325). Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.
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Underwing Moth and Crotalus Horridus

My contribution to Eileeninmd's Saturday's Critters #87. Here's a member of genus Catocala (underwing moths).

Explanation of Names

Generic epithet Catocala is Greek meaning "beautiful below." (1)

Common name Underwings refers to the posture where the forewings are normally held together over the back at rest, hiding the hindwings beneath. Hence, the hindwings are the (bold and beautiful) underwings that this genus is known for.

The common names of many species are translations of the species epithets; Linnaeus chose a female/marriage theme when naming a few of the earlier-described species, and the practice was continued by later authors (hence we have The Bride, The Girlfriend, Old Wife, The Widow, Once-married Underwing, The Newlywed, The Darling, etc.)

These fanciful names help collectors and moth enthusiasts remember the various species but have no particular significance in themselves. A few species are named after a person or the larval food plant (example: Meske's Underwing, Hawthorn Underwing).

This is a timber rattlesnake my brother saw in the road on the way to my sister's place in W.V. He moved it off the road with a long stick (snake hissed and rattled, but otherwise stayed curled up and acted like a shuffleboard puck). I went back with him later that afternoon to see if I could get some better pics with my camera but the snake had moved on.

Here's looking at you kid Silver-spotted skipper.

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Hummingbird is the Word

Linking to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #73 and Carmi's Thematic Photographic 345 - Retro.

Does my sister's hummingbird feeder qualify as retro? I'm going with it:


I was a little delayed on posting this week, so late to all the parties. Also linking to Michelle's Nature Notes (#324).

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Birds, Butterflies, and Dragonflies

My contribution to Eileeninmd's Saturday's Critters #86. I hiked up to the top of Cacapon Mountain. The turkey vultures love hanging out on the power line poles up there, they can see down the clear cuts on each side of the mountain.

There are many different dragonflies zipping around Lake Siri lately, but most are not ready for their closeup. This little Halloween Pennant was willing to pose.


Butterflies love thistles!

And the Downy Woodpeckers appreciate someone putting out the suet feeder in the morning and taking it in at night so the raccoon doesn't get it.

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Fences, Foot, Mushroom

My contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #72.

Here's one from D.C. in early July:

And another from Columbus a couple weeks later:

Would you believe Theda's right back foot and a mushroom?

How about a butterfly?

Update: I'm going to use that pic for my Weekend Butterfly #09 contribution. I have some more that might go into critters tomorrow, but none are quite as sharp.

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Sharing

Carmi's Thematic Photographic 344 is Spontaneous. Here we have a Black Swallowtail and a Great Spangled Frittilary sharing the blossoms.

Also linking to Michelle's Nature Notes (#323).

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Luna Moth

My contribution to eileeninmd's Saturday's Critters #85. I've been hoping to get pictures of a Luna Moth for many years.


So those were from Wednesday. This morning, I look out the basement sliding glass door and something with a familiar lime-green color is flopping around in the leaves.

What do you know, a slightly smaller Luna.

Another Imperial Moth showed up last night. Therefore: MOTHRA FACE OFF!

That last is my contribution to Weekend Butterfly #08 at Andyslens. Speaking of Imperial Moths, thanks to reallysmallfish for this:

Last but not least (although smallest), here's an Eastern Tailed-blue:

UPDATE: Mothra Song

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