Sedum and the bees and skippers....

Sedum is always a joy when it blooms in the early Autumn.  It attracts so many bees and little butterflies, especially the skippers.

This large sprawling clump is loaded with bees.  If you click to enlarge, you can see that there are 1-2 on every flower head!  That is just one clump.  I have more on the other side of the walkway.

 The bees are busy all day long in these flowers.

Here is a larger bee getting his share.

 The Silver Spotted Skipper (or the White Elephant Skipper, as we like to call it....if you look at its marking).

 One of the smaller skippers in "fighter plane" position.

 No idea on names of these skippers.

I enjoy the beauty of the Sedum all by itself, but knowing what a magnet it is for bugs and butterflies makes it even nicer.  We had these flowers along the fence of the house where I grew up and I was always taught to call it "Live-Forever".....which it does!  Does anyone reading this call it that?  I didn't know it's proper name until later on.  It is so easy to grow.  You can break off a flower and stick it in a pot and it will root and grow.  One of those nice and easy plants for gardeners like me :-)

The "playground bully".....

OK....in this case it is the "turtle log bully", but this guy really cracked me up as I watched the head of the turtle to his right.

 "Out of the way, get out of the way. This is my log!"

 "Scoot over....I need more room!"

"Did...you...hear...me????"

"I'm talking to you!"

I guess it's pretty nice to have your own "house" to retreat into when the "bully" shows up!
I still haven't managed to identify what type of turtle the one on the left is.

 The one in the middle has an old cracking up shell.

 The big one on the right has no markings on its head.  I sure wish I knew more about turtles, but haven't found a good site on-line yet.

Ahhh.......

Trying a post to see what happens...

Well, I'm still trying here with smaller photos.  These were from my last walk at the wetlands.

My mantis was right in the same area where I had left him a couple days before.  Must be his regular territory.  He doesn't like me watching him :-)  Especially since I kept shooing away any beautiful butterfly that got too close to his hiding place!

 The "monster" lurks in hiding.

 Better look out, little skipper!

I actually saw three that day!  One of them saw me first and bit me!  I was moving a tall flower to try to take a one handed photo of a butterfly and all of the sudden something bit my arm.  I looked down and a mantis was on the stem of the flower I had moved and had taken a peck at me for disturbing him :-)

 A Gray Hairstreak....first I have seen this year!

 A Painted Lady.  I'm so glad to finally be seeing a few butterflies!

And a Red Admiral that was on the trunk of a tree out in the swamp where the turtles were.  There were two of them, but to save space, I will only show one :-)

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Thank you everyone for your helpful comments.  I'm going to keep trying to post with smaller photos.  I've been trying to think up a new name for my blog, if I decide to start a new one :-)  I thought I might be happy to have the old awkward name gone, but for the life of me, I can't come up with an new name that I like. I'm so used to this one, it seems like part of me.  I started my blog on September 20, 2007, so it has been almost 5 years that this has all been a part of me.  I've removed the first year or so of the blog trying to save some space, but in the beginning I did a lot more writing and a lot fewer photos.  The header seems to be the main problem at the moment and someone in an email told me that might be a blogger problem and not me, that they haven't fixed yet.  I used to pay $5 a year for more photo storage and was happy to do it, but the prices that I'm seeing now are MONTHLY prices.  Even though it is only $2.49 a month, that adds up!  They are just making things so confusing and difficult that I am not sure what they mean half the time.  My mind is too old for some of the new technology and I just don't know what is what.  As long as I can keep putting smaller photos on here, I will do it, but eventually I may try to start a new blog...when I think of a name:-) I deleted one whole blog and also some older posts and photos from this blog, but so far have seen no change in my status of space.  Will keep waiting and see what happens. Thanks for all the support!  The thing that I would miss the most about blogging is the very nice people that have become my blogging friends.

Blogger problems...

It seems that I have used up all my photo storage for my blog....again. They raised the price considerably.  I'm trying to decide whether I will just quit blogging or start up under a new name.  Am also trying to test smaller photos....if it will let me post one.  I've tried to change my header photo to a smaller one and they won't even let me do that.  I may not be posting for awhile...if at all while I figure this all out.

test photo
Well, that one posted!  How small do photos have to be to slip under the limit?

Another test....a recent wasp

New Skipper, lots of skippers....

I found a new Skipper when I was at the wetlands Saturday! 

Always an exciting moment, so lots of photos :-)

 This is the Common Checkered Skipper.  According to my Kaufman Butterfly guide it is "the most common and widespread Skipper in the United States".......so why have I never seen one before?????

 What I really loved is that it is a "spreadwing" and sits open making it lovely to photograph.  Here is it joined by a couple of the other skippers that I never know the name of.  I wish they were all easy to identify!

 I included this shot because I didn't realize that a wasp had flown into the shot when I was taking it :-)

The Checkered with a Soldier bug

 I think this is a Least Skipper.....that is a new one for me, too.

 The rest of these I have no idea.  I found several "possible" id's for some of them.....Pecks, Zabulon, Sachem, or Fiery......all found in my area, but they look too much alike to me and I only see this view of them since they don't spread out nicely like that Checkered one.  I do love their "fighter plane" way of perching :-) In general they are Grass Skippers.

 The two behind the Checkered are the ones I thought might be Fiery Skippers, but don't really know.

Definitely the time of year for lots of skippers!