A little activity

15 years ago

It's down to high to mid 70's now but with still warm enough nights for my shirt/shorts thing, no wind and beautiful blue sky sunshine. Like being in Hawaii without the trade winds and short daily rain showers this time of year. So with the change in weather and a short rain sprinkle a few days ago I have been seeing a little activity around here. Have had several very fresh Vanessa carye (anabella) and one Vanessa cardui visit my Lantana along with a couple of Hesperiidae and a lonesome Brephidium exilis. While no more Apis mellifera have been seen, quite a few sphecid wasps (two species) have been hunting my Leucophyllum langmaniae that are quite entertaining. The differences in hunting techniques between the two species has been noteworthy.

Pictures of the activity has been another matter though as they have all been very unaccommodating in that department. Probably a mix of their drive to get the last of the seasons harvest, and my slow mobility. I keep my camera in my pocket and keep trying though.

Anyway, it's been nice to finally see that at least something arthropodic is alive out there with the almost total lack of activity this year.

Larry

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Comments (4)

ladobe
Original Author
15 years ago
All that came around for Halloween.

{{gwi:547128}}
butterflymomok
15 years ago
It's the right colors! Wish I could see the ventral wing so I could ID it.
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ladobe
Original Author
15 years ago
Sandy,

Maybe after 47 years of mostly ignoring Hesperiidae (except for a few noteworthy exceptions) I may have to start paying attention to them. They are about the only thing that has visited here in any kind of numbers the last couple of years. Maybe I'll go to storage and dig out my dot maps so I know exactly which species are recorded from this county by next year. Might help with IDing them.

As for pictures, I get what I can. Most are not very cooperative with only plants that most lepidoptera consider borderline nectar plants. The open landscaping and lack of mobility doesn't help much either as I can't sneak up on them. Few let me get closer than 5-10', some not even that close. Have three species of sphecid wasps coming here right now... and none let me get within picture range.

L.
MissSherry
15 years ago
Cute skipper, Larry, whatever type it is!

There's still plenty of activity around here, gulf frits, cloudless sulphurs, sleepy oranges, little yellows, buckeyes, various skippers plus jillions of checkered skippers. I haven't seen any swallowtails, unfortunately. When I pass by the Brazilian buttons, which are still in full bloom, clouds of little checkered skippers (and others) fly off, then land back on them. Brazilian button has been my best new nectar plant.
There are still gulf frit cats on the remains of the passionvines, plus some GF chrysalides in my cage with the buckeye chrysalides.
I've been working outside today, the weather is beautiful, but very dry.
Sherry