| We love the false eye-spots on our Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars. Such a mean little face! |
Wow, look at all these butterflies puddling next to a creek. Male butterflies exhibit this behavior in order to sip dissolved salts and nutrients from the mud that they will need for reproduction. This photo was taken by Mark Achor at Red River Gorge in Kentucky. |
This is a tropical butterfly called a Glasswing, taken at a butterfly conservatory in Ohio. Click on it to enlarge in a new window and notice the colors on the clear parts of the wings. This species looks almost like a dragonfly. |
Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen? Wayne heard this baby deer crying in the woods behind his house. The mother had walked off a little way to eat. When the baby saw Wayne coming, it dropped to the ground and played dead.....perfect photo opportunity! |
 |
our butterfly release count for 2008 was : 889 |
| We released our very first butterflies of the year on Monday April 21, from our over-wintered chrysalises. We raise a lot of swallowtails, and the ones that are caterpillars during the cool autumn months form their chrysalis and go into diapause (hibernation) and "sleep" through the winter. |
Zebra swallowtail caterpillars eat Paw paw tree leaves. (click on any picture to see a larger image) |
| Egg |
| Caterpillar |
| Chrysalis |
| Zebra Swallowtail |
| April |
Our tulips and daffodils have finished blooming, while our dogwood trees and lilacs are just getting started. We have seen several Tiger Swallowtails flying around our gardens....they lay eggs on tulip poplar, wild cherry, and sweet bay magnolia trees. The Cabbage White butterflies have been laying eggs on "weeds" in the wild mustard family that spring up in our gardens. |
Our first hummingbirds of the year are here....a couple of ruby-throated males staking claim to the sugar feeders. check out this wonderful link to see hummingbird eggs - click here We are already collecting butterfly eggs from our gardens...so far we have pipevine, eastern black and zebra swallowtails. |
| May |
We spotted our first orioles perched high in the trees. Our cone flowers are putting on their first buds and we've seen the first Red Admiral butterfly of the season. Comma butterflies have been eating on our mushy fruit tray. |
We released a giant swallowtail from our batch of hibernating chrysalises. We only get a few of this species each year. We found our first spicebush swallowtail butterfly eggs of the season. |
| We went to one of our local parks and saw a bunch of Pearl Crescent butterflies courting each other in the tall grass. We also saw a newly-emerged dragonfly still clinging next to its empty nymph shell....cool. |
| June |
| Gemmed Satyr |
| Skipper |
| July |
| Look at this wild moth caterpillar. Anytime you see one with hairs like this....look but don't touch, they may sting you. |
Big beetle
Wayne's backyard July 2008 |
| August |
| Egg --> |
| close-up of a butterfly face what big eyes you have ! |
This is a Question Mark butterfly laying her eggs on our hop vines. The close-up below shows the detail on the eggs. |
The butterfly on the right is a tropical butterfly laying her eggs on a plant inside a butterfly conservatory. The tiny caterpillars eat their eggshells as soon as they hatch. > > > > > >> > > > > > > > > > |
| September |
Watch this amazing video of Purple Hairstreak butterflies - Click Here |
Red Admiral butterfly
| Click on this Paw Paw sphinx moth to enlarge it in a new window.....the pattern on its wings makes it look like a small moth is perched on the back of a larger one....but it is actually just a coloration illusion....cool.... |
 |
| All photographs on this site are copyright protected. For permission to use any photo, please contact Judy Burris at admin@butterflynature.com |