Mike's butterfly photos.....

You may get tired of the butterfly photos, but right now there are so many around, it is hard to stop taking pictures! We went back to Hartman Arboretum and today I am showing Mike's photos. He had some really great shots and some things that I didn't see. Always nice to have two cameras chasing the butterflies :-) This is the Tiger Swallowtail male....no blue on the wings.
The Tiger Swallowtail female.....blue showing on hindwings. If you want butterflies, plant this flower.....every single butterfly was swarming around it.
The Spicebush Swallowtail.

Mike saw these and didn't even point them out to me! These fuzzy little caterpillars are for the Milkweed Tussock Moth or the Milkweed Tiger Moth. I had to look that up. Found them by searching for "mop-like caterpillar" ! LOL

A whole branch full of them!

The American Snout was being very friendly with me....so obviously Mike had to take these photos! I thought this would show its size.....very small!

It liked my pocket, too and hung on me while I took photos. I would not normally let Mike take photos of me from this angle, but since I could crop it....OK :-)

The Monarch was more cooperative for him, than for me and opened up.

A closed side shot.

He got not one, but TWO, of the Hummingbird moths in the same shot! I'm jealous!

A Cabbage White

The dark Tiger Swallowtail is always female.

A bee....lots of bees among the butterflies.

Bee and Hummingbird moth in same shot.....

......again! This one shows the wings better.

A yellowish Skipper, but I have no idea which one.

Tomorrow I will post some shots that I got that Mike didn't :-)

We saw a total of 10 different kinds of butterflies, 3 kinds of skippers, plus the hummingbird moths and 2 kinds of caterpillars! This is definitely a busy time of year in the Hartman gardens! I'm thankful that Grant shares this place with the public!

More Blue Grass.......

The scenery at Blue Grass is always pretty with its cluster of small lakes surrounded by grassland and meadow and small areas of trees. Lots of habitat for lots of critters. No one was fishing this lake and the sky over it was blue and serene.
The main flower around at the moment are Thistles. Where you find thistles you will also find....

..... Goldfinches! This one was really intent on picking the fluff out of the flowers for the seeds at the end.

Sitting on a nearby plant. The males are so bright at this time of year. My Goldfinches at home are starting to pick at my Black-eyed Susans, so I will have to try to get where I can photograph them. Such pretty little birds, they are some of the last to nest and produce young each year.

Gold and purple

The wind was blowing and it was hard to catch him when a Thistle wasn't right in front of him.

I loved how this tree looked standing against the blue sky and clouds. There is a bird out on the far left which I was going to zoom in on, but by the time I zoomed in, all I got were wings as it flew away. Lesson learned: shoot the bird first ....the tree isn't going anywhere!

Dickcissel sitting at the top singing. We can count on seeing at least one everytime we go here and hear several more. This grassland is perfect for their habitat.

Heron sitting at the edge of a lake. This was the same parking lot with the Killdeers and I was surprised he didn't fly away while I was shooting Killdeer photos. He must have really wanted to stay where he was.

Another bird in the same parking lot.....a young Horned Lark?

Robin on the cemetery post. Its head looks really small because it is fluffed up.

Teasel shot from the car window.

I chased this Monarch all around one parking lot, but this was the best photo I could get. Never did get an open wing shot.

I don't know the name of this plant, but like the little purple flowers.

Killdeer baby.....

We went to Blue Grass stripper pit area today and I finally got to see a baby Killdeer! It was just as cute as I thought it might be :-) It seemed to be all by itself, which surprised me. I figured there should be a parent nearby.
For comparison....an adult Killdeer.
This adult was at the opposite end of this large parking lot and didn't seem to be connected in any way to the baby.

The little one obviously couldn't fly yet and just scurried around from spot to spot.

"Do you know where my mother is?"

It really was adorable.....just a puff of feathers on long legs....with stripes :-)

He was scurrying around and through the puddles.

It didn't seem to like going in the grass. I sure hope it knows how to feed itself!

Kingbirds....

I drove by Mouteau Park looking for birds.....I immediately spotted a couple of Kingbirds sitting on the low wire fence and making short flights for bugs.
There seemed to be a lot of them around....I saw 6 or more. I think some are young ones. This one appeared to be young and has the dark area on the sides of the chest that my Sibley field guide shows. It mostly just sat there and did some preening while I watched it.

I thought this was a funny pose! I guess this is the bird equivalent of "shrugging your shoulders".

This one looked bigger. They really like these wires, but I had trouble making my camera focus on them instead of the grass beyond them.

The back view.

It seems like all the bug catching birds are very active right now. I hope they are seriously reducing the mosquito and fly populations!

Hartman Arboretum, always a butterfly paradise....

If it hadn't been so hot...with the sweat dripping in my eyes....I might have never left the arboretum today! There were butterflies everywhere and I never did get a good shot of a couple....the Monarch in particular. This bluish butterfly was very colorful on the pink flowers....is this a Hairstreak? It was bigger than the little blues I normally see. It looked like it was rubbing its wings back and forth while sitting there.

Cabbage White.....they never seem to hold still!

There were dozens of these Silver Spotted Skippers and they love these tall spiky flowers!

Actually, they love all the flowers! I tried to take a video of them on these purple spikes....there were so many flying around.

.....even on the non-spiky flowers :-)

Sulphur.....they always seem to like the yellow flowers that they "match".

Several Tiger Swallowtails were flitting around

I like when the light shines through them :-)

I don't know how this one still flies, it was so tattered. Such a contrast for that beautiful orange flower it was on.

Black female Tiger Swallowtail

I've always been confused when I see black colored swallowtails as to whether they are the black colored Tigers or a different kind. Today I saw both and have finally figured out the differences once I get the photos on the computer. They move so much, that they all just look like "black butterflies".

1. The black Tigers have the faint "stripes" showing on them.

2. The body is solid colored.

3. There is only one row of orange dots on the hind wings.

Another black Tiger Swallowtail in different light.

This is a Spicebush Swallowtail. Note the differences:

1.No stripes.

2. Polka dotted body.

3. Two rows of orange spots on hind wings.

Another Spicebush

A pair of Spicebush....female on top, male on bottom.
They are suppose to look more "greenish", but I can only really tell that on the male.

A Zebra Swallowtail with its lovely long tails.

I spent most of the morning chasing this Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. I love these things and there were 2 of them flying around.

Catching up with them is the hard part! They just never hold still.

They are so fascinating to watch.

This shot is distant, but shows the clear wings better.

They like all the flowers! I had more unfocused shots than good ones, but it was worth the chase!

Except for the heat...a great butterfly day! I also saw a Buckeye, a Monarch, and a Pearl Crescent....but no photos. And at least one other skipper.