Thursday, August 09, 2007

Butterflies in my garden today

It's been a tough year for butterflies. I was excited to spot this lovely yelllow swallowtail this morning as I was deadheading my butterfly bushes, and saddened to see he has a tail missing and a tear in his right wing.

The other day I saw a blue and black swallowtail with a big portion of one wing missing. He batted his wings excessively and I coudn't get a clear picture. I guessed he had to do that to fly.


The monarch was on the zinnias this afternoon, along with a dozen bees. Monarchs are common, but their beauty is still admirable.

4 comments:

  1. The monarchs are making their annual flight across my backyard! They are gorgeous to watch!

    Sadly, I have had few hummingbirds come to my feeder this summer. Hopefully, I'll see them on their way back south!

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  2. Haven't seen too many butterflies lately. And not many bumblebees or wasps, either. I've heard there has been some virus or something that has been killing them. And that means there isn't as much berries in forests and gardens as there should be. But fortunately there were some bumble bees when there were flowers in our black and red currants. Mom is making juice from currants and after she has boiled the juice out of them she always throws the berries behind the cow shed for the butterflies. Usually, there are plenty of butterflies eating the sugar and juice that is still left in the berries, but now I haven't seen a one single butterfly having a currant juice meal.

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  3. Oh, but here is some fun news from Finland. Evidently, even squirrels like chocolate:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL0145707520070801

    http://www3.keskisuomalainen.net/servlet/page?_pageid=67&_dad=portal30&_schema=PORTAL30&file=sahkeuutiset/5268140.html

    http://www3.keskisuomalainen.net/servlet/page?_pageid=67&_dad=portal30&_schema=PORTAL30&file=sahkeuutiset/5291440.html

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  4. My son was taking photos like this last week. Yours are just beautiful!

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