There was a Checkered White in the yard late this morning. I almost missed it. Chuck and I were listening to “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” when I saw a white butterfly come into the yard. I always pick up the binoculars to check what always turns out to be a Cabbage White, and I thought “another Cabbage White—do I really need to use the binoculars on this one?” But I used them, it wasn’t what I thought, and here it is:
[Butterflies and In bloom updated below] A hummingbird visited the yard and nectared her way through various species, finishing with the single remaining Buttonbush bloom. While I was wandering around the backyard late in the evening (around 7:45) a spreadwing flew in front of me and perched on a Swamp Milkweed leaf of the plant just northeast of the wild plum. Just as the one a few weeks ago did, this one had blue on S9. I tried to get a photo, a stupid thing to do, as it spooked the damselfly when it seemed it was ready to roost for the evening. The usual so far this morning. I’ve put the favored nectar feeder back up, so I expect to see more hummingbirds, or at least to have more frequent visits. The Citrine didn’t let me get a photo of it. It seems to like the low vegetation. One lone, battered Summer Azure was out early. This has been another bad year for yard butterflies. UPDATE: Assorted flies and bees, which I’m not yet up to identifying. It looks as though the Black-tailed Red Sheetweavers [that were in the Golden Alexander on the north side of the plum] were washed away by the rain on July 18. Various tiny orb weavers are scattered throughout the backyard—some are so small they’re nearly invisible. [Updated to include Switchgrass (how could I forget?), Butterfly Weed, 2 Coreopsis sp., Mexican Hat Flower, Joe Pye Weed, Petunia, Russian Sage, Nicotiana sp.] Once again the summer bloomers have gotten out of hand, but it’s too late to do much about it without destroying tiny webs and eggs. There was another hard-to-identify (for me) damsel in the yard yesterday evening. It and a Fragile Forktail seemed to be settling in for the night in the patch of switchgrass in the northeast corner of the backyard. I’m guessing that it was a Familiar Bluet. According to Rosche, Semroc, and Gilbert (Dragonflies and Damselflies of Northeast Ohio, 2nd ed.), The dorsal surface of the female’s abdomen is mostly black. The segment joints at the bases of S3–S8 are nearly ringed with pale coloration. These rings, coupled with the pale areas of the lateral surface, usually give the impression of dark, torpedo-like designs. This damselfly has the pale rings, and on S7 a perfect torpedo is visible (although not so much so in the thumbnail). Because of unwellness and resulting lack of sleep last night, I wasn’t up until 7:30 this morning and missed my usual early prowl around the garden. It was already 82° when I got up and 100° around 30 minutes ago—unpleasant. I’ve begun taking a closer look at various insects that visit the yard and have been paying special attention to the dragonflies and damselflies. There has been a minimum of four species of dragonfly, including the saddlebags that fly overhead, and four of damselfly in the backyard. At least four Fragile Forktails have been flying in the garden the past two days. These tiny beauties are surprisingly easy to see when you’re looking for them. The most exciting visitor so far has been a Citrine Forktail, which I’m told is rare in the Saint Louis area. I haven’t yet uploaded the photo of the female Common Whitetail.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Yard
Morning roundup, 7.22.2010
First, sightings from yesterday morning and evening
Morning
Evening
Birds
Odonates
Butterflies and Moths
Shortly after I complained about the lack of butterflies in the yard a Little Yellow, a skipper (very bright, probably a Fiery), and a dark swallowtail flew in.Others
In bloom
More yard odonates
Yard odonates
Damsels
Dragons
