Back to the "butterfly road"......

We had such great success on that road last week, so we went back to see if there was anything new. I've searched my entire wildflower book, photo by photo and still don't know what this flower is...but I like it!
Now this isn't as pretty, but it was laying in the middle of the road sunning itself right as we got to the gravel road section. Rather lumpy. Mike thinks it is a Black Snake?

....lumpy all the way down....is that normal???

Hey....something larger than a butterfly! An Eastern Phoebe is my guess. There were several flitting back and forth across the road. I imagine with all the bugs and butterflies that there must be lots of good stuff to eat on this road for birds.

My very best photo of that American Snout butterfly. I could stand there all day and never get it with the wings open. It sits like this the whole time.

A little glimpse of the inside of the wings here. I can tell it has orange on it! I kept hoping that I'd find a dead one that had been hit by a car so I could look at it closer. No luck.

A Question Mark.....that is its name! Notice the little white design on the wing that is suppose to look like a "question mark". I always think butterflies look rather "haughty" with their noses stuck in the air. They sure love the gravel road.....minerals?

The inside of the Question Mark.

I believe this is a Hackberry Butterfly. That would fit with the fact that both it and the Snout like Hackberry trees. Must be a lot of them in this forest area.

The side view of it is very pretty, but he was hiding down in the rocks.

Another of those Eastern Tailed Blues, I think......this one was willing to open his wings part way!

The side view of that one.

If this is the Red Spotted Purple Admiral, I can't see the red spots on this one. However, it was very accommodating for a change and laid its wings wide open for me.

Another shot. That makes 5 different kinds in one trip....not bad! I saw a Tiger Swallowtail, but it would not stop and pose, but went on its way.

Mike knew that there was a barbecue place in the area that he wanted to go to for lunch. Chasing butterflies is hungry work! So off to Peak's Barbecue we went.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that their decorating scheme included quilts on the ceiling. Not sure I approve of putting perfectly good quilts on a ceiling to get filled with all sort of smoke and grease, but they are not my quilts.

This was my favorite.

This one looks old. Lovely.

In case you are wondering the barbecue was "so-so" in my opinion. Too much vinegar. Every region has their own way with barbecue, so I will not get into any arguments on the best type :-) The chocolate pie was good!

Little flying blue things........mostly

I really enjoyed the meadow at Oaklyn Library and will have to go back there soon.

I finally found a blue butterfly! I never realized they would be such teeny, tiny little things! There were 2-3 of them flitting around among the flowers. I believe this is an Eastern Tailed Blue.
It gets two photos since I have never seen one before.....wish it would have opened its wings more!

Then I spotted several blue damselflies. I do not know the names and I do not want to look them up. Dragonflies are hard enough....damselflies are beyond me. However, I could tell that this one with a blue body and blue tail tip is different than .....
..........This one. Now when I zoomed in on the computer on this ones head.....

.....does it have something in its mouth, or is that my imagination????

This one seemed similar, but a more greenish color....not so blue.

And a brown one just to round things off.

OK....this flies, but it is not "blue" like my title says....however, if it stung me, I know that I would be blue!

Always some bees that I can't resist photos of.

Hanging in there!
I need to find some nice big birds for a change. I've been seeing too many bugs and bees and little flying critters.

My World Tuesday....

Oaklyn Library is one of the newest branch libraries in Evansville.
While it looks very normal as you drive up to the front......

......the building is actually located underground! That part of the building you see in this photo is the large skylight that looks down into the library. The entire roof of the library is a huge meadow with lots of lovely flowers.

Another shot of the skylight while standing in the meadow.

A trail has been mowed in the meadow so you can walk around and look at the flowers and all the "critters" that they attract. Here are some of my photos.

A bee visiting.....he almost looks entangled here :-)

Sulphur butterfly on the Butterfly Weed.

I don't know what this plant is, but the bees liked it....you can see one flying in to the right of the flower.

Another very popular flower with the bees.

Lovely yellows

I like these.

Another view of the mix of flowers.

It is a very nice library inside also, but walking around the meadow was great!

I have more "critters" from there for tomorrow.....several damselflies that I don't know.

For more My World posts, click on the icon on my sidebar.

Thanks to the My World team for their hard work.

Some new and interesting critters!....

My friend, Fran, told me about a gravel road where she sees butterflies among the rocks. So of course I immediately headed to check it out! What a bonanza.....but not the very best shots. This was a totally new critter for me! A butterfly with a "snout"! I thought it was a trick of the shadow in the photo at first. I looked them up in that little butterfly book I have and it calls it a "Tropical Snout" but Google says an "American Snout".....I won't argue with either. What a strange critter! Not very big and flitted around constantly making photos difficult. If I had realized how strange it was, I would have tried harder for a better shot. Will have to go back here!
Another photo of it. Have any of you seen these before???

This gravel road runs between tall trees and the shadows were difficult. Even with lightening the photos up on the computer, they are still dark. A Tiger Swallowtail.

Very pretty, but kept moving constantly.

Is this the Spicebush Swallowtail again? I wasn't sure since the photo isn't the best. (NOTE: Eve says it is a Red Spotted Purple Admiral...a new one for me.)

It flew up to this leaf giving me the side view.

This one would not open up to show off and I was shooting from the car window. It took off before I could get out and try harder. However.....

....while trying to find it, I saw this Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly! Cool! I've never seen one of these before. What a startling green body and those wonderful black wings!

This very large grasshopper had perfect camouflage! Even his eye is "rock" colored.

Another wildflower I don't know. Very pretty!

I liked this Queen Anne's lace "ball" almost as much as the beautiful flowers themselves.

This area is near the Slough where we saw all the geese migrating last fall, so we drove by that area, too. At one of the overlook platforms there was a dead tree sticking up that seemed to be a favorite for dragonflies and other critters.

This little cricket was first under.....

....and then on top! I love his long antenae :-)

There were a couple of dragonflies on the same branch. I thought this was a different angle than what I usually shoot. Actually, he wouldn't turn around and the light was such that I wasn't even sure which dragonfly it is....one of the blue ones, I think (either Blue Dasher or Eastern Pondhawk)

Again....just an odd angle :-)

Now I will be checking gravel roads for more of those odd snout butterflies and others. Will go back to this place next week sometime.