Thursday, August 22, 2013

Garden Goings On...

 Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar, first instar.

Just working in the gardens...or pretending to work while The Doodles is watching. Then I whip out my trusty (rusty?) camera and shoot some of the creatures that call our home home.

 Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar, all grown up. 
Doodles found him when he was about a half inch long living in the fennel.
At this point, he's eaten quite a bit of fennel and has more than doubled in size.
She called him "BS."
As in "Black Swallowtail."
Original.

This is what BS will become within the next month.
We have high hopes anyway.

 Surprise!
The Doodles managed to spot a second  Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar in another fennel plant!
"Jr." has since grown and disappeared.
I found BS crawling towards a small tree that died and I was cutting down.
No worries, I saved him and placed him in another tree where he immediately disappeared.

 Another late arrival.
The Robins have been...uh...busy, and we now have another little one wandering around the garden.

 This is what an American Robin looks like after it has been too busy...
and interrupted during bath time.
 
 Yes, we have PLENTY of bunnies eating anything they can reach.
I once tried to eliminate our lawn and planted clover.
It didn't work as planned.
I now have nice clover...but the grass came back.
Oh well.
 
 New yard bug!
This is a Fork-tailed Bush Katydid that was in a bush and I startled it when I was trimming.
It's now a Fork-tailed Pine Katydid...chirp chirp.

  Our Large Milkweed Bugs have been "busy" as well!...

Aren't they the cutest things?
The Doodles has yet to name them all.
Good luck...
 
 Oh boy!
The Mink is back and The Doodles managed to get of photo.
He likes to play submarine in our little pond.
I seem to be missing a few frogs now.
Hmmm...ya know...most of the chipmunks seem to be missing as well.
Who's a happy mink?
 
Stay tuned for
"Flowers From Behind"...the blog...

5 comments:

  1. You've got a great yard with all these critters in it. Great photos and story to go along with these critters. They do grow awfully fast.

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  2. Great post - really enjoyed your photos!

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  3. Really enjoying your great photos!

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