Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Wildlife Wednesday December 2016

Wildlife Wednesday, hosted by Tina at "My Gardener says..." the first Wednesday of each month, provides an opportunity to post photos of garden visitors from the past month.  Here's what I've seen the last few weeks.

Butterflies were still here throughout November.  Tattered Queen butterfly enjoying the last of the Gregg's Mistflower.  While these are year-round residents, they will be scarce the next few months due to a freeze predicted this week.


Monarchs were still passing through


I think this is a Pearl Crescent but I couldn't get a good look at the wings closed.


The distinctive crescent on the forewing should show white on the underside but I didn't get a good enough photo.


Southern Dogface butterfly with a pointed forewing and distinct spot making the difference between it and a Clouded Sulphur.


Probably Cloudless Sulphur


Very bright in the sunlight.



Here with a smaller friend I'm guessing is a Clouded Sulphur.



Edge banding on the open wings of the small one.  The large one didn't open its wings enough for a positive ID.

 



I'd like to get better at butterfly ID, a very time consuming process due to subtle variations.

Zebra Longwing, easy peasy.  The photo wasn't easy as they are very skittish.


I kept noticing a large dark shadow across my kitchen window one morning and found this Zebra Longwing admiring its reflection.  "You look "mahvelous"!"


Carpenter Bee


I was fascinated by the purpleish tint on the web of this Common Garden Spider.


I mostly see their webs in the fall and it's always a treat.


Southern Yellow Jacket (I think), not my favorite pollinator.  Unlike many stinging pollinators, these wasps can live to sting again.   They are very aggressive and nest in the ground.  I was attacked by a nest of these while watering a rose bush some years ago and it was scary to say the least.


This may be a leaf-footed bug but the legs look too thin.  Could be the angle.  Always a challenge.


A magnificent 10-point whitetail buck browsing a yard in my neighborhood.  



This month's video of a buck damaging our gate is enough to make me consider options.  At first you'll see him moving nervously back and forth looking for a way out and then bashing the gate.  As he runs for the neighbor's yard it's easy to see how much damage they can do to the garden even without eating plants.


Neal was able to fix the gate so it looks good now.  We do have several dents in the top of the fence where they've jumped over in the past.

That's all for December's Wildlife Wednesday and check out more garden blogger's wildlife posts at "My Gardener Says...."

7 comments:

  1. Oh crap! About the gate. We've just started getting deer venturing into our neighborhood, and I'm not happy about it. I loved seeing all your butterfly pictures, though. Thanks for that lovely treat.

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  2. Great post, Shirley. I love your zebra wing! I rarely see them, though they're common here, or so I keep reading. That lavender thread of the spider web is lovely--I don't know that I've ever seen that before. Thanks for joining in!

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  3. The photo of the Queen butterfly with the tattered wing is quite a poetic end-of-season image. The video of the buck working at your gate is incredible. It's a great reminder that I should be happy that I just have the raccoons to deal with.

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  4. I was amazed by the colours in that spider web Shirley, how awesome! And some very beautiful butterflies there too, I especially like the zebra longwing. And my goodness, that buck, I never imagined one could do damage like that!

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  5. I had to watch the video several times because I was so surprised that the buck even tried to get through the gate. So amazing how strong he was to bend the gate like that! Your blog is always interesting and educational Shirley.

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  6. What a fantastic couple of shots of the buck, but scary how destructive they can be, without even trying it seems. I love your zebra wing too. I wonder whether it was male? Fascinating overlocking on the spider web, including purple tints. Do you know it's purpose?

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  7. Your butterflies are so beautiful. We won't see butterflies again until summer. Amazing how much damage that buck was able to do!

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