butterflies – Page 5 – Nature Along the El Camino Real

Purple Rules the Day for Bees

June 6, 2023June 5, 2023 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Carolyn Henderson

The El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist Wildscape is awash in purple blooms on flowers, bushes and trees. And all types of bees are all over them. Honeybees, Mason bees and Carpenter bees covered most of the blooms.

The favorite for the bees was Wild Bergamot growing in cultivation in the Wildscape.

Its sister plant the Lemon Bee Balm growing in the wild in the surrounding pasture was a very close second.

Gene Rek, owner of Bird and Bee Farm where the wildscape is located, said the wild Lemon Bee Balm provided the most nectar for his bee farm. They had found the Wild Bergamot, too.

Close in line was a Lilac Chaste Tree, Mealy Blue Sage and Purple Passionflower. Plenty of other plants also are in bloom. Many of those are new to the Wildscape.

The Mason Bees were also filling up the new bee houses put up by some Eagle Scouts.

If you’d like to grow native Texas plants, this is an excellent place to see many of them in bloom. Members of the El Camino Real chapter Texas Master Naturalist will be there on June 17, from 10 to 12. Catherine Johnson, member in charge of the Wildscape, always gives away free starters to anyone interested. It’s located on Fm 334.

The Butterfly Nursery

May 13, 2023 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

By Sue Ann Kendall

Today on my lunchtime walk, I was looking for butterflies. I walked along County Road 140 keeping my eyes open. Here are some that I found.

Funereal duskywing (I chased these the whole time but they’re hard to grab)

I also saw lots of uncooperative tiger swallowtails and black swallowtails, along with buzzy little fiery skippers, tiny dainty sulphurs, and two gorgeous question marks. They were too busy to photograph. It’s a great time of year for butterflies.

A question mark I saw recently at another part of our ranch.

Hmm, why do I have so many butterflies?

I’ll tell you why we have so many! We let the wildflowers grow! You won’t see so many on fields that have been sprayed to remove broadleaf plants. Luckily, I let the milkweed and it’s buddies grow away. I also encourage the Texas prairie parsley.

Today I was looking for butterflies on this plant, Polytaenia texana. I didn’t see any at first. But that’s when I realized there were at least a dozen caterpillars in this one plant.

Well, apparently the black swallowtails that were everywhere in March and April have reproduced.

It is so much fun watching the caterpillars munching away. And I’m looking forward to seeing them as beautiful adults later!

The Windy Day and Butterflies in the Garden

May 3, 2023May 2, 2023 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Donna Lewis

Well, we all have felt the strong winds that have been here in Central Texas lately.

Strong doesn’t even begin to describe them. Limbs and trees down, flowers bent over and lots of pollen blowing right into your nose! That’s the things that bother humans.

So, we think we have problems with it, try being a beautiful butterfly that doesn’t even weigh an ounce. I watched them all day on Saturday (April 29) trying to land on any flower that wasn’t being blown in every direction. It looked like a tiny helicopter trying to land on a small pad. The poor things. I tried to get photos, but 9 out of 10 pictures were too blurry to use.

Other friends of mine were having trouble also. The Purple Martins were flying in place trying to land on their gourds. No doubt it’s a good way to lose weight and get in shape, if you can do it.

So, when the weather is harsh, we need to remember that we are not the only ones feeling it.

I also wanted to show you where my garden is right now. I am still waiting for all the seeds I planted weeks ago. Seeds are a great way to save money and get a nice variety of native plants. The last photo I took showed something I have never seen in my garden before.

See if you can identify it?

Remember who you are gardening for…

Cucumbers, Dill, and Surprise Butterflies

March 24, 2023March 23, 2023 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Dorothy Mayer

Last year I had quite a few Eastern Black Swallowtails eating most of my dill. I was okay with that, as almost all of my cucumbers were too bitter to can. The weather got too hot too fast for my cucumbers. So, I was disappointed not to be able to can any pickles last year.

The dill was fine, though, and the beautiful butterflies loved it and laid lots of eggs underneath the leaves. When the caterpillars got big enough, I put them in my butterfly house along with a bunch of dill and watched until they all got into a chrysalis. A few did come out & looked healthy. They flew good so I assumed they were healthy.

However, I had three chrysalis that didn’t look right but, I just left them alone. I figured after numerous freezes that they were all dead in there. (I had my butterfly incubator on the back porch where it’s not heated nor cooled.)

Nope. One by one those butterflies managed to come out, and we got to watch them fly away, which was just super fun and amazing. I plan to plant a ton of extra dill this year and try that again. I think it’s a great activity for a learning experience for children and adults alike.

So please, don’t put chemicals on your plants, because you will kill “good bugs” with the “bad bugs.” Poison doesn’t discriminate. It kills ALL bugs and possibly birds, too, as birds eat the insects and feed them to their babies.

Happy Spring Everyone.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

March 6, 2023 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Donna Lewis

This little beauty was traveling fast across our back pasture. It took me about 45 minutes to catch up with him to get a photo. I am not fast anymore.

This is a male Tiger Swallowtail. All the males in this species are yellow. The females can be yellow or black. his second color form is called dimorphic coloration.

These guys are fast. If you sneak up behind them while they are on a flower you can get a photo.

Right now, there is nothing flowering in my garden. He was on a Hen-bit in the pasture. Not much nectar anywhere right now. One of the flowers they like that is easy to grow are Coneflowers. I think the ones in my garden are still underground. I hope this guy can survive until more flowers are up.

The Swallowtail is known to gather at mud puddles sipping the salts and minerals they need for reproduction. When the caterpillar first appears, it looks like bird droppings. Icky, but helpful in evading predators. We will probably not see their chrysalis because they lay their eggs in treetops. I am just not tall enough…

This butterfly is so beautiful as it flows across the pasture.

Right now, the butterflies of all kinds are waking up, so keep an eye out for them.

Just when the caterpillar thought its world was over…it became a butterfly.