Random pictures. - Let's try to have a random picture thread.

[rmwarren]

Michael great timing and photos. Nature is amazing.

RMW

 

[Cheese]

That's nice stuff Michael... [big grin]  Good for you for looking for the pupa stage. Those are usually well hidden.

During the covid years I found 5-6 Monarch caterpillars and introduced them into the garden. They immediately found their way to the parsley patch and absolutely devastated it. I was initially pissed off but then I thought what the hell, we'll just purchase parsley from the grocery store instead. I never did find those pupa but I hope for the best.

One of our neighbors is teaching her 3 young girls how to identify Monarch caterpillars, bring them home, feed them, raise them and then let them go...pretty cool.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Sadly we have seen fewer butterflies and birds in the years since.
We have a substantial patch of milkweed but I’ve only seen one monarch this year.

I wonder if the increased heat is causing the birds to settle at higher latitudes?

Good luck to your neighbor.

 

[Cheese]

Sadly we have seen fewer butterflies and birds in the years since.
We have a substantial patch of milkweed but I’ve only seen one monarch this year.

We planted Liatris Cylindracea for the sole purpose of attracting Monarchs. It worked pretty well for about 3-4 years...until it didn't.  [sad]

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[rmwarren]

Every fall we get the monarch migration stopping over on their way to central Mexico. We'll be walking along the beach and they flutter past kinda zigzaging in the breeze, 2 flaps forward one flap sideways, at maybe 3 MPH.

I imagine them huffing and puffing and muttering "Only (puff) 3,000 (puff) miles left"...

Nature is amazing.

RMW

 

[Ron B]

Every fall we get the monarch migration stopping over on their way to central Mexico. We'll be walking along the beach and they flutter past kinda zigzaging in the breeze, 2 flaps forward one flap sideways, at maybe 3 MPH.

I imagine them huffing and puffing and muttering "Only (puff) 3,000 (puff) miles left"...

Nature is amazing.

RMW

Ever wonder how a butterfly's brain must be wired to make that zigzag pattern seem normal??

 

[woodbutcherbower]

Ever wonder how a butterfly's brain must be wired to make that zigzag pattern seem normal??

Fact of the day = butterflies and moths are STUPID. They come out at night, and spend their time fluttering around lightbulbs because they're attracted to the light. Why don't they come out during the day? There's light everywhere.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Moths do that, I don't know about Butterflies? I don't thing I ever saw one at night?

The cool thing I have seen in the morning, for the last few days, is a bat. He is out there fluttering around the street light, having his fill of the dummies. 

 

[six-point socket II]

Echinacea. iPhone 11, automatically ‘enhanced’ by Apple’s photos app.

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Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[leakyroof]

Five years ago I was lucky enough to witness the metamorphosis of a black swallowtail caterpillar into a butterfly.

The caterpillars like to eat dill.
After feeding enough it went looking for a safe place to roost.
It took a couple days for me to find the roost.

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  Haven't had them in our herbs, but once we had two caterpillar eating in our Tomato plants- they were chewing so noisily that I actually heard them in the backyard, standing near the Tomato plants before I saw them..... [eek] [eek]  Never had any again in all the years since, but I've never forgotten that sight, and sound, of those 2 plant marauders.... [wink] [wink]

 

[Packard]

We used to see lightning bugs almost every hot night in June, July and August.  I have not seen any this year.  I suspect that car exhaust fumes are to blame.

USA Today partially agrees:
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/g...ghtning-bug-extinction-explained/70257108007/

Worldwide, there are more than 2,000 types – many that have been around for millions of years.

But some species [of fireflies] are threatened with extinction.

Habitat loss, overuse of pesticides, climate change and increased light pollution threaten some fireflies. Yet, these hazards have varying effects on species depending on their genetics and environments.

 

[Sparktrician]

We used to see lightning bugs almost every hot night in June, July and August.  I have not seen any this year.  I suspect that car exhaust fumes are to blame.

USA Today partially agrees:
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/g...ghtning-bug-extinction-explained/70257108007/

Worldwide, there are more than 2,000 types – many that have been around for millions of years.

But some species [of fireflies] are threatened with extinction.

Habitat loss, overuse of pesticides, climate change and increased light pollution threaten some fireflies. Yet, these hazards have varying effects on species depending on their genetics and environments.

 

We have plenty of lightning bugs here in Virginia.  When I take my critter out for her last walk, if it's after dark, the parkland behind my house is lit up with them.  If I look out the window in the middle of the night, they're EVERYWHERE.  [smile]

 

[rmwarren]

We normally get greenheads, a vicious breed of horse fly, along the bays and beach from late June into September. They take a chunk out when biting, leaving a bleeding wound. In past years the greenies would swarm while out on the bay and I'd return looking like I stepped in front of a shotgun blast.

Yesterday while out for a half day date we were commenting how they are almost totally MIA this year. It's also been unusually cool, unlike most of the country, which I attribute partly to the ocean temps moderating air temp.

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I speculate that the lower temps reduce the hatch, but it's just a hunch. I do miss fireflies, and cicadas too boot, we don't have them around here.

RMW

 

[Packard]

When I lived on Long Island I used to get invited out on my friend’s boat fairly frequently.  I found out that it was because when I was on board, I was the only one to get mosquito bitten.   

Apparently I am very attractive to certain types of mosquitos.  No amount of spray kept me bite-free. 

 

[Packard]

We used to see lightning bugs almost every hot night in June, July and August.  I have not seen any this year.  I suspect that car exhaust fumes are to blame.

USA Today partially agrees:
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/g...ghtning-bug-extinction-explained/70257108007/

Worldwide, there are more than 2,000 types – many that have been around for millions of years.

But some species [of fireflies] are threatened with extinction.

Habitat loss, overuse of pesticides, climate change and increased light pollution threaten some fireflies. Yet, these hazards have varying effects on species depending on their genetics and environments.

 

We have plenty of lightning bugs here in Virginia.  When I take my critter out for her last walk, if it's after dark, the parkland behind my house is lit up with them.  If I look out the window in the middle of the night, they're EVERYWHERE.  [smile]

The article said that there were 2,000 species of fireflies and that some were facing extinction. 

It appears that your small glowing friends are among the lucky species.

 

[Sparktrician]

Here is an interesting article on fireflies.

 

[six-point socket II]

The new “normal”. Either it is warm and rains - everything overgrows. Or it is hot as hell. Picture from Tuesday around 2 PM.

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Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Sparktrician]

I got into evening sky photography several years ago.  This one is of a tree along the Skyline Drive south of Front Royal. 

 

[PaulMarcel]

The new “normal”. Either it is warm and rains - everything overgrows. Or it is hot as heck. Picture from Tuesday around 2 PM.
Kind regards,
Oliver

Your thermometer would be useless here in Arizona... we spend 3+ months over 40º

 

[six-point socket II]

That would make me leave/move. And the thermometer is from a time when hot meant maybe edging on 30 to 33 degrees Celsius. But then again, there are more places where this model wouldn’t make any sense.

Kind regards,
Oliver