Nature Appreciation

[done_got_old]

Yikes....they are hatching.....I have nine hungry catepillars to feed and all the stores are out of dill and fennel. It seems that my sitiation is not all that uncommon....

I remember the butterfly dome I had for my classes years ago...... how they loved them!

 

[shell seeker2]

I love to watch lightning over the LI Sound when I go to visit. I miss everything about being 5 minutes away from water in any direction. My favorite thing to do is grab a cup of coffee and watch the sun come up. It's just so refreshing!

 

[John Roberts]

I love to watch lightning over the LI Sound when I go to visit. I miss everything about being 5 minutes away from water in any direction. My favorite thing to do is grab a cup of coffee and watch the sun come up. It's just so refreshing!

Hello shell seeker2 and welcome.
I love watching lightning too.......Watching the sun come up and light up the world is wonderful.......if I lived on the west coast I would be watching a lot of sunsets over the water.

 

[John Roberts]

Been having some interesting birds in the yard this week....here are a couple of photos.....

The first a Prairie Warbler

 

[John Roberts]

The second a female Baltimore Oriole.....there are two males hanging around but they are too shy to offer a photo opportunity...too bad they are very colorful

 

[John Roberts]

Here is a male Baltimore Oriole looking wistfully at the shefflara's berries.....saying ..."hey you get outta here so I can eat!"

 

[John Roberts]

Another Prairie Warbler shot.

 

[John Roberts]

Here is a Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly from our butterfly garden....what used to be our butterfly garden.

 

[Cathleen]

John, beautiful pictures. With all that you have been dealing with there I am thrilled you are seeing the beauty of nature.

Keep them coming my friend.

 

[John Roberts]

John, beautiful pictures. With all that you have been dealing with there I am thrilled you are seeing the beauty of nature.

Keep them coming my friend.

Thank you Cate, I love these birds....here are more shots from this morning....the first of which is my best Prairie Warbler shot to date.

 

[done_got_old]

Thank you Cate, I love these birds....here are more shots from this morning....the first of which is my best Prairie Warbler shot to date.

Great pictures.

 

[John Roberts]

Great pictures.

Thank you done_got_old.........and here is another of the same bird. Munching on fruit

 

[Cathleen]

Thank you Cate, I love these birds....here are more shots from this morning....the first of which is my best Prairie Warbler shot to date.

John! That is a beautiful photo!! Wow.....

 

[John Roberts]

John! That is a beautiful photo!! Wow.....

I think the reason it is my favorite is that is shows how colorful they are in real life.....that photo captures it best.....
a lot of the warblers have vivid colors or markings....it is what got me hooked on bird watching.....being in the middle of a bunch of Prairie Warblers, American Redstarts and Black & White Warblers........I was stoked..... All those bright colors fliting around me in the trees.

 

[John Roberts]

The birds were not cooperating today....flying behind me and such.......rats......

Here is an Alamanda flower

 

[John Roberts]

Here are some "Cats Whiskers", in Thailand it is used for treatment of diabetes.......
From the butterfly garden.

 

[done_got_old]

The birds were not cooperating today....flying behind me and such.......rats......

Here is an Alamanda flower

You didn't need the birds......this is beautiful.

 

[John Roberts]

You didn't need the birds......this is beautiful.

Thank you done_got_old You are sweet.

Here are a couple of Hummingbird favorites......the first Firespike.

 

[John Roberts]

The second is Turks Cap, this flower never opens but is irresistable to Hummingbirds......one can pluck the flower and suck sweet nectar from the base......Learned to do this when I was a kid...

 

[TamedTiger]

These photos are wonderful. Thanks for sharing. I live in NY, so I don't get to see as much nature as I would like.

But, I used to live in Australia, and my favorite thing was to drive along empty roads in the outback, especially in late afternoon. The sun made the rocks, and the ground burn gold. I also enjoyed watching the lizards sunning themselves on various rocks. They had so many wonderful colors!

My other favorite aspect of nature is the ocean. Also in late afternoon. It has incredible colors, and I love wind. I also love to sail, though I have not been in years. Sailing holds some of my fondest memories of nature (and some of my best photographs).

 

[John Roberts]

A visitor to the garden, not many other butterflies since the two Hurricanes passed through here. The Long-tailed Skippers such as the one here are the most common.

 

[John Roberts]

These photos are wonderful. Thanks for sharing. I live in NY, so I don't get to see as much nature as I would like.

But, I used to live in Australia, and my favorite thing was to drive along empty roads in the outback, especially in late afternoon. The sun made the rocks, and the ground burn gold. I also enjoyed watching the lizards sunning themselves on various rocks. They had so many wonderful colors!

My other favorite aspect of nature is the ocean. Also in late afternoon. It has incredible colors, and I love wind. I also love to sail, though I have not been in years. Sailing holds some of my fondest memories of nature (and some of my best photographs).

You are welcome TamedTiger, I am envious Australia is a fascinating place with such diversity in life........ If I can locate another optical lens for my camera the photos will get better....right now i have to get too close to the critters...they get jumpy.

And sailing! I wish I had been a photographer when i was younger.....My father was fond of sailing and allowed me to participate in some sailing trips.........Wonderful stuff!.......

 

[John Roberts]

A resident in the garden, Cuban Anole. These guys dine on my butterfly catepillars, the Black Racer Snakes dine on them...
The native anole can turn colors, green to brown....the Cuban anoles only shades of brown........We natives refer to the Cuban anoles as land plankton as their numbers get so dense in the warm months of the year.

 

[TamedTiger]

Australia is a fascinating place with such diversity in life........

It truly is. I fell in love with it while living there, and now that I'm in NY miss it rather desperately.

I like the new photo of the lizard. I use to try and make friends with the ones that would sun on the rocks in Australia ... but most of them were much to skittish. But, there was this one, that I swear came to meet me almost everyday. He/she (?) used to climb to the nape of my neck, and sit as close to my scalp as possible ... guess it was warm there. Sounds kind of unpleasant if you don't like lizards ... but I didn't mind it. We enjoyed many quite afternoons together, soaking in the beauty of the outback.

 

[John Roberts]

The last for this evening is a close up of a "Spanish Needles" Flower. This is a native plant used by many butterflies and insects for nectar and is the host plant(the catepillar host plant) for the Dainty Sulphur Butterfly.