Monday, August 13, 2018

Butterflies and Birds

I've seen several more birds since I first posted my list of birds here at Parkwood.  And we've been seeing some interesting butterflies recently.

- there was a small flock of pigeons ('Rock Doves') that flew over when we were out in the garden.
- I've seen a few swallows dipping through the air outside my window (presumably Tree Swallows).
- we were sitting by the raised bed gardens when a Downy Woodpecker landed on a post 4 feet away.
- finally, I'm sure I saw a Purple Finch mingling with the sparrows one day.  It has no dark stripes on its head, unlike the more common House Finch.  And it really should be called the 'Pink Finch' rather than purple.  That's the most unusual bird here so far.

As for butterflies, there have been quite a few Cabbage White and Monarchs around all along.  It's the best year for Monarchs I've seen in some time.  We must have seen 40 or 50  - or half a dozen that fly around a lot!  Lasr year I only saw 1 or 2.

We've also found a big caterpiller of the Black Swallowtail.  It's bright green and black, with yellow dots, very similar to a Monarch caterpiller.  Then the other day I saw a Red-spotted Purple on the Butterfly Bush.  The red spot on each forewing is very inconspicuous, but it has a bright row of blue spots along the back margin of each wing.  And the 'purple' looks almost black to me.  It should be called the 'Blue-spotted'.

I got some shots of a Hummingbird Moth on the same plant, and today there was an Eastern Swallowtail when we went out.  Quite a spate of interesting butterflies in only 4 days.

I know you're asking 'Where are the pictures?' , but you'll have to wait yet.  Once I get home where I can download them, I'll start sharing photos.  I have over 400 so far; they'll keep the blog going for some time!

16 comments:

  1. Wherever you are there's some interesting natural phenomena: weather, animals, plants -- something. For years I've kept a running list of bird species seen on or over our place (now over 120 species) and thought about documenting the fauna residing in the house, from mice to insects (lots more of those than most people think). Since you have a virtually new house, that might be an interesting project to undertake.

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  2. Glad you’re enjoying the outdoors...
    Cheers!
    Linda :o)

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  3. Nice that Nature is finding ways to keep you entertained. Looking forward to the pictures.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  4. You do a darn good job with word pictures. I know some of those birds and could picture them easily from your descriptions. :-)

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  5. It is wonderful to have the monarch's rebounding this year. We have so many here in E.Ontario too. I've had lots of caterpillers on my milkweed.

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  6. That's not a bad outing for birds and butterflies.

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  7. It is good to get out and see different birds. Not many Butterflies here, not many bees either:(

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  8. Glad to see you've been out viewing nature! Have you tried taking cell phone pics and uploading them to Blogger? It's hard to write much from a phone but you can do a couple of pics as a post.

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  9. I've noticed there are more Monarchs this summer as well. Wished I had your mind's recall library of birds, bugs, butterflies and trees. My short term memory retention isn't the best but I can still tell the difference between a Robin and a train locomotive.

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  10. Nothing holds you back! Love to hear your love of nature keeping you active.

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  11. I've also seen many Monarch butterflies up here this summer. Your knowledge of birds, butterflies and even caterpillars is crazy!!! I'm so envious of the ability to recognize and name things in nature. :) glad you are able to be outside and witness it all.

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  12. I am soo glad your back in the saddle as they say and taking photos again it must feel soo good to get back out there with camera in hand and enjoy Capturing nature . Looking forward to seeing those wonderful photos soon . I find being out within nature helps me feel better and heal better if for what ever is ailing me at the time . Glad you are able to be outside enjoying it all again .

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  13. You'll be glad to get those shots downloaded when the time comes.

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  15. I saw a Cedar Waxwing again the other day up at the cabin. It is such a lovely bird. - Margy

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