Green-breasted Mangos Feeding
Here is a photo depicting, as RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser describes it, how crowded it can get around the watering hole, so to speak. With so many Green-breasted Mangos near his research station in Costa Rica it can be a little competitive for feeding sources, especially when you have juvenile males battling it out with adult males with females in the area.
Read MoreMonarch Butterfly
This is obviously a bit of a throwback to earlier this summer and yet another gorgeous Monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterfly enjoying some nectar in a garden. Have you seen any more Monarchs hurrying their way south in November? Considering how warm it has been in some areas there is still a chance to spot one or two here or there after having emerged recently, trying to elude the snow. Most of the Monarch butterfly population has already made their way to the wintering grounds in Mexico. Some of the species does overwinter in California, and counts will be conducted once again at many of...
Read MoreStill Not Spring
It is not spring even though many Clouded and Orange Sulphur butterflies continue flying and feeding on nectar sources like this dandelion. Something that gives away the relative date of this photo is the low sun angle adding light from the side as we are less than two months from the winter solstice. You can also see a little bee mimic fly venturing into the flower, too.
Read MoreSwarthy Skipper (Nastra lherminier)
Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for the butterfly walk at Stratford Point today! Thankfully the Swarthy Skipper (Nastra lherminier) made an appearance several times with several individuals around. Plenty of Monarchs and the uncommon Cloudless Sulphurs plus Gray Hairstreaks and much more delighted over 45 attendees. With such a large group it was hard to all follow the discussion or every butterfly but we hope everyone enjoyed some of the great sightings. Come back soon! You never know what you might find, like the rare Long-tailed Skipper I enjoyed a couple days ago for a brief few...
Read MoreSnowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis)
There are still clearwing moths on the wing, and in the last couple of weeks I have actually seen a number of Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis) like this one. When there are so many individual flowers to feed on they are all the more difficult to photograph with fast movement back and forth…here, there and everywhere! I thought the reflection of the sun being visible here in those rapidly beating wings was especially cool. Sightings like this underline the importance of having pollinator plants that are blooming and full of nectar during all parts of the warm season. Spring,...
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