Butterfly life list

Looking at my list you notice it's not very long but I have 2 stipulations, 1. I must have a photo to prove it and 2. the photo must be taken by me! But I did get to add 2 more to my list this summer and that makes me happy :)

Butterfly Life List:

1. Monarch

2. Pipevine Swallowtail

3. Silver Spotted Fritillary

4. Tiger Swallowtail

5. Black Swallowtail
6. Appalachian Azure

7. Silver Spotted Skipper

8. Variegated Frittillary

9. female Sachem Skipper butterfly

10. Viceroy

female Sachem Skipper butterfly

Viceroy

Butterflies and grasshoppers, oh my!

I love walking out into my garden and I always need to remember to bring my camera with me, sometimes to just capture a tiny grasshopper sunning himself on a spent daylily flower.

Or to chase around a Variegated Frittillary so that I can add him to my butterfly list. I'm buying milkweed seeds to add to my wildflower garden in the hopes of attracting more butterflies for the years to come. I'm glad I let wild violets grow in my woodland garden as that is one of the caterpillar hosts for them along with May Apple (one that I am wanting to add to the garden), Portulaca, stonecrop (Sedum), and moonseed. 

Variegated Frittillary - Euptoieta claudia

If I can get the proper butterfly ecosystem set up then I will need to start learning to identify caterpillars too!

Butterfly Life List:

1. Monarch

2. Pipevine Swallowtail

3. Silver Spotted Fritillary

4. Tiger Swallowtail

5. Black Swallowtail
6. Appalachian Azure

7. Silver Spotted Skipper

8. Variegated Frittillary

Silver Spotted Skipper

This is a common little guy around here, I see him a lot. BUT, darn, he is hard to get a picture of since he is a nervous flitter..lol I did, however, manage to get a snapshot of him on some salvia. I'm glad to finally know his name.

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)

 "Silver-spotted Skipper is one of our most common and familiar butterflies, particularly abundant in the mountains. They are somewhat misnamed since the spot is white, not silver."

Butterfly Life List:

1. Monarch

2. Pipevine Swallowtail

3. Silver Spotted Fritillary

4. Tiger Swallowtail

5. Black Swallowtail
6.Appalachian Azure

7. Silver Spotted Skipper

Appalachian Azure

So today marks the 30th day in a row (out of a 90 challenge) that I have blogged. (Actually, it's day 31 but when I wrote this post it was the 30th day, lol ) I know some of my friends have struggled to complete a full 30 days, but it isn't their fault. They have either husbands and or children, maybe working a regular 9-5 job. Heck, I doubt I could make the time to blog if I had those responsibilities. Plus I am on 6 design teams so blogging and taking pictures is almost part of my daily routine for me. I think they are all doing a fabulous job so if you have a chance, pop on over to their blog, say hello and "follow" them. It would make their day!

Sharon Estes 

Yvonne Armitage Gebauer 

Tamiko McCurry

Sandy Beach

Donna Lueders

Butterfly Life List:

1. Monarch

2. Pipevine Swallowtail

3. Silver Spotted Fritillary

4. Tiger Swallowtail

5. Black Swallowtail

And not a new one, but new pictures anyway :) Spent a couple hours down by the creek today, I just love how much cooler it is down there. I am still surprised that I find butterflies down there too, today it was the Appalachian Azure's that were fluttering all over the place. One even climbed all over my camera and investigated my keys that were laying beside me.

6. Appalachian Azure on Perewinkle

female, ignoring the males...lol

The Appalachian azure is found throughout the central and southern Appalachian mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia and has a few isolated records from Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio.^[3] It lives in moist deciduous woodlands with plenty of shade and streamsides near these forests. Males often gather in groups near mud puddles by these streamsides.

Males "puddling"...I don't even want to think about what they were on either!

You may not want to know this about the guys....

Butterflies dirty little secret

"Butterflies and moths regularly congregate around mud, dung and even blood, tears or decaying flesh! Little is known about this behaviour, but there are a couple of interesting observations that may help explain the icky phenomenon. For starters, the majority of specimens found near mud are males and quite often, while the butterfly blokes are drinking from the mud, fluids are pumped out of their abdomens. The male Gluphisia septentrionis moth even goes so far as to shoot the fluids in forced anal jets ... charming."

That's food for thought the next time you see a butterfly, huh?

Birds and Butterflies

I love my little creek that is behind my garden, especially since my neighbor moved in down below me. She is fairly quiet but when her kids come over...well, I am spoiled, I've had peace and quiet for 4 years. I guess I better just be thankful I had it for that long. I'm adjusting by taking my chair and camera down by the creek and chilling. So I did manage to get a picture of a Common Grackle down along the creek bed which I thought was unusual since I've not seen him out in the open areas.

Birding Life List:

1. Crow

2. Eastern Bluebird
3. Common Grackle

Butterfly Life List:

1. Monarch

2. Pipevine Swallowtail

3. Silver Spotted Fritillary

4. Tiger Swallowtail

5. Black Swallowtail

I had to start including my butterflies too since I am adding a new one! I was walking up and down the creek...don't ask....and there he was, so I had to quickly, but silently slosh my way back to my chair and grab my camera to get a picture of him. I was so excited...seriously, I do need to get a life....lol When I got back inside, I had to enlist the help of a group to identify him...
6. Red Spotted Purple!
( who names these things? There is no red, and no purple!! )