The Other Critters from Last Week

My chives are blooming again.  Maybe it's because I cut them back earlier than usual, before seeds had formed.  Well, can you see who was glad they are blooming again?  I saw this last Saturday, after I'd already posted for Camera Critters.

I don't remember if I've seen a buckeye butterfly here before.  I was so excited, I almost did another CC post that day.  This is why I decided to go ahead and post the rest of the photos I had exported for yesterday's Camera Critters and didn't use.

I haven't seen this beauty since Saturday, so maybe it was just passing through.

I am continuing to see monarchs and bees every day. 

I am also seeing wasps, cabbage whites, a blue of some kind, and a few skippers.  A book I have says the different species of skippers are challenging to identify.  The club area of a skipper's antenna is bent, which is different from other butterflies.

I tried to find this in my book, but couldn't tell.  Last year, someone on the butterfly forum at ivilliage had a couple suggestions to what kind of skipper it could be, but my memory is not so great.

I still want to see if this is a male or female of the black wasps that love to feed on my blooms.

This was identified here, I think, last year.  I'll have to look and see.  It sure is colorful.

Here's more sharing going on.

The Virginia mountain mint that I divided and only replanted a small clump of is blooming, and the wasps, who were the reason I only kept a small clump, have found it.

This is either a third kind, or male or female of one of the others.  I did briefly try to find these wasps online, but didn't see them that I could tell.

A whole lot of flies were hanging out on the Autumn Joy sedum.

This grackle, may be giving me a "don't take my picture look" but I did anyway.  (When we cleaned out the garage a week or so ago, we came across some sunflower seeds, and Larry put them in different feeders in the yard.  The critters have been very active around them.)

There were a bunch of sparrows all around at this time.  Can you see the ones on the sidewalk?

While I was out taking photos, I heard a thump, looked up, and saw this squirrel, lying on its side, next to the small branch/stick, which apparently, gave way with the weight of the squirrel.  It sure looked dazed.  After a couple minutes, it slowly walked off.

More sharing:

Look what happened to the katydid!  My daylilies must be very nourishing!

Can you see what I call a hummingbird moth?  I think it's a white-lined sphinx moth.  It was almost dark, and I couldn't get a good photo of it.

These were taken the 14th.

I'm not sure why this goofy squirrel was lying flat, but I'm thinking it was eating sunflower seeds.

I've been chasing rabbits out of the garden areas almost every day.  I'm sure they come right back, but it somehow makes me think I am defending my poor plants from them.  This one stopped next door, and tried to look innocent.

I was surprised to catch Heidi trying to catch a fly, or whatever it was.  It's not a dignified photo, so don't tell her I posted it.

Wherever you are, I hope the critters are good ones, and you are able to get outside some.

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Critters

It's been a busy week.  I spent a couple mornings going to the Special Olympics National Games, since they were in our city.  I don't think they got any national news coverage, though.  It seems like the networks cover fewer and fewer stories, and run some they have into the ground.  CNN was blaming the news people "on the right" and the Department of Agriculture for not getting all the facts before airing or making a judgement, but CNN was reporting Ms. Sherrod's comments out of context before they found out they were.  They are just as guilty as anyone for the problems that ensued for her.  (I don't think I've ever vented on this kind of thing, so please bear with me.  I could go on about some complaints I have about the news networks, but won't.  Yet, I do watch some news every day.)

Anyway, I took my camera the second day of the Special Olympics, but remembered the batteries were low, so left it in the car.  When I returned, I saw a butterfly on some bushes, and remembered my camera.  There was enough power left to take a few photos of what I believe is a question mark butterfly.  I think it was Iowa Gardening Woman who showed one last week.  I'm not sure what kinds of bushes these are, but there are a lot of them around the parking lot.

I found some more photos from the week for Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  The link is in the sidebar.

I don't often get photos of monarchs with their wings open.  It took lots of tries to get this one.

When I opened the front door to check the mail a few days ago, this squirrel was eating perched on the hook.  I took a few photos from the closed screen door, then opened it and took some.

The squirrel wasn't aware of my presence yet, here.  I'll write a little commentary of what the squirrel may have been thinking.  I wonder what it really was thinking.

"Oh, it's you again!"

"OK, I'll look cute for you while I get another bite."

"OK, you've taken a bunch of photos, don't you have anything else to do?"

"Oh, good here comes another squirrel for you to pester."

"Have you noticed I've been eating across the street more, and not in your garden?"  (Yeah, well I don't trust that you'll stay away for long.)

The grackles have been singing from high places.  This one was there for awhile calling out with a loud voice.

I had the previous photos loaded and waiting for me to write about, but went outside to do a little gardening before the arrival of our grandson.  Well, look what caught my eye, and sent me in to get my camera!  It was so big, I thought it might be a giant swallowtail, but after referring to a book, those are darker colored.  This appears to be a male Eastern swallowtail.  I got lots of poses of it.

I found a different kind of wasp on the short toothed mountain mint.  I can't remember if I've seen this kind or not, but this is the first one I've seen this year.

This isn't the clearest photo of the other black wasp we have, but I like to show more than one insect near each other on plants.  Is that a lightning bug?

I took lots of photos because the wasps were moving around a lot.  I kind of like this one, even though it was a total accident that I captured this angle.

As I was taking the above photos, I heard neighbor dogs barking and looked up.  Heidi is such a good girl most of the time.  She was very calm, but looking at something in the street.  Can you guess what it was?

Look at that silly squirrel!  It seemed like it wanted her to chase it.

It ran into the yard across the street, and looked to see if Heidi was looking at it, and then, looked to see if I was.  Do squirrels crave attention?

Heidi must have decided she's not as interested in squirrels as she used to be.  She stayed in her spot and continued to watch the world.

As we were about to go in, I saw a grackle getting a drink in the bird bath.  I took a quick photo as the water was going down, then it turned and flew away.

I hope your weekend is going well, and your encounters with critters are good ones.

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East of the House, and Some Critters

I haven't posted updates on the flower beds as often as usual.  Today, I took photos of the area just to the east of the house and the critters that were there.

This butterfly bush is between the front yard bed and the side yard.  This was taken facing north.

I planted 4 or so small bridal veil plants in this pot this spring.  It filled in quickly, and has looked great all season.

The snail vine will not be blooming much longer, because the nights are going to be getting colder, and this plant does not like it when the temps are lower than the 50s.

The fall blooms have joined the annuals that have been blooming all summer and a few perennials that still have some color.

The salvia, 'Black and Blue' is looking great still.  The comfrey on the left did not mind being transplanted to this spot in the spring.

The Short Toothed Mountain Mint keeps looking like it's going to spread in the spring, but by picking up the fallen stems before the roots have a chance to go far, and pulling a few strays, I've been able to keep it in check.  The goldenrod, 'Fireworks' may need to be kept in check, too. 

Here's a closer view of goldenrod, 'Wichita Mountains', which is on the right in the above photo.

The blue on the bottom left in the above photo is a spiderwort I thought had finished blooming for the season.

Here's another moth of some kind on the 'Wichita Mountains'.

I can't remember what this daddy long legs is on.  It looks like amsonia leaves to me.

I can't remember what kind of asters these are, but there are a few volunteers here and there in the bed, and I'm glad they are in good spots. 

Here, there are 2 moths, and the black insect I posted photos of last fall, and don't remember if they were identified for me.  I'll have to check when I get a chance.

 Here's a closer view of the black insect.

I think this is a bellflower of some kind.  It has a long bloom time that starts in the spring.  I though it was finished for the season, but discovered these while taking photos for this post.  :o)

The yellow helenium next to the rudbeckia, 'Herbstonne' is still blooming well.  The Russian sage is flopping over.  I can't remember if I trimmed it back or not this summer, but will be sure to next year.

Do you know what the plant that is trailing from the upper left corner is?  It reminds me of the beauty berry bushes that are in the front yard, but I haven't gone back and forth to see if they are the same thing.

This bee is enjoying the cat mint blooms.

The liatris is finished blooming, but I still like to keep the dried flower stalks around.  The amsonia 'Hubrichtii' is starting to turn its fall color.  The smaller comfrey that has blue flowers was also moved to the bed this spring.  It's on the left in the front of the bed.  I wonder if the coreopsis, 'Moonbeam' in the front will bloom again.

I had trouble getting a clear shot of the spider in the amsonia that is different from my others, in that I have to keep it from spreading too far.  The others just stay in their own clumps.  The leaves are shaped a little different, too.

 I like this coreopsis I got the spring of 2009.  I plan to move some of it in the spring because I want to plant something taller in the corner that may take up the space.

Here's a view facing the south more.

Misty Dawn, I hope you don't mind I put a post on my flower bed up for Camera Critters.  It does show the habitat I have provided for them, and a few in action.  Folks, click on the link for Camera Critters in my sidebar to see more critter posts.

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