Here's a look at wildlife visitors in my garden during October.
Monarch butterflies continue to migrate through my garden on their way to wintering in Mexico. Their journey of over a thousand miles one way is an amazing story. This year I've been encouraged to see a few more Monarchs in the garden indicating their numbers are increasing.
Gregg's Mistflower continues to be the best butterfly magnet. Queen Butterflies are all over it.
Queen up close.
A whitetail buck scavenging the compost pile just outside our back gate.
Deer often arrive as soon as I put the clippings out. A little uneasy to have been caught out in the open.
He's a symmetrical eight-point with antlers all polished and ready for mating season.
Moving for cover nearer the trees. As hunting season approaches antlered bucks instinctively understand their best camouflage is among tree branches.
Hunting is obviously not allowed within our city limits but he's still not safe since poaching from wooded undeveloped areas nearby is a problem.
For more Wildlife Wednesday photos check out the links in the comment section of "My gardener says". Each month she finds an amazing array of wildlife to share from her garden.
I need some mistflowers! My own garden is full of cloudless sulphur butterflies since the Senna bicapsularis, a host plant, bloomed, but I can't capture them on camera to save my life.
ReplyDeleteI've seen plenty of sulphurs this year but you don't see them in my post for the same reason. Too hard to catch on camera. I have to get out the long lens and it's a tedious process.
DeleteYou have so many Queens! I've only seen one or two this year, not sure why. The Monarch migration was good this autumn;glad you had some too. That buck won't have any problems finding a gal--he's a handsome one!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful captures of the deer, Shirley, they certainly have a right to be nervous. And the queen butterfly is a beauty!
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful buck! And the Queen on the Mistflower is gorgeous, too. The other Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) is a butterfly magnet, too. I have that one in my garden. The flowers look very much alike, but the foliage is totally different. The Monarchs were so plentiful here in Wisconsin from June through early September this year! Like they were when I was a kid--you felt like you had to dodge them with the car. We had quite a few in October, too. As always, you have presented a wonderful wildlife post. :)
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