Tag Archives: butterflies

multiply…

19 Wednesday Jul 2023

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strange happenings with the milkweed…

I am very happy as they continue to multiply…

not too many caterpillars, and they seem to nest on the plants closer to a wall rather than the ones nearest to the pond… maybe there is more protection from predators there… too bad for me, as pictures are easier beside the pond, lol…

the odd thing is that the plants along the edge of the pond, all with the same origin, have produced two different coloured flowers…

the usual pink/purple flowers…

and these white ones which are turning yellow…

will be interesting to see what they do next year, lol…

elusive…

19 Sunday Mar 2023

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had a fun time in the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden at The Leaf on Thursday… it wasn’t too cold outside and bright so there was lots of activity…

a fair number of people were in the space and there were many butterflies…

apparently I was enamoured with the orange ones, lol…

this little one sat and offered different poses;-)…

and, of course, I tried to catch the elusive Blue Morpho… there were quite a few of them, but what makes it elusive is that you need to catch it in flight to capture the blue colour, lol… but I did get a partial shot;-)…

at least you can see some of the blue…

spending time in this space sure does make me happy;-)…

Morpho…

29 Sunday Jan 2023

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lots of butterflies in the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden… also many people…

the sun was shining so they were flitting about the whole space…

the blue Morpho butterfly is very sneaky and would not let me catch a single photo of it with the gorgeous blue when the wings are open…

next time I will take a video and then a still from that, lol…

the butterflies arrive as chrysalis from Costa Rica on a regular basis and are released into the space once they emerge…

so, each time you are in the Garden, there will likely be different varieties…

it is such fun to search for them in amongst the foliage…

luck…

04 Thursday Aug 2022

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besides being my support group, my friends bring me good luck…

I’ve only spotted swallowtail butterflies two or three times so far this summer and two of those were when they were over…

a few days ago I caught this long shot of one on the deck…

and then I found eggs on both of my parsley plants… which I only buy for the butterflies;-)…

maybe, just maybe, there will be caterpillars…

then I spotted this one… they sure move quickly, lol…

woohoo…

bated…

17 Saturday Jul 2021

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I’ve been watching the monarchs fly around the garden for the last while…

I sit with bated breath, hoping they will find the rather puny milkweed supply… and occasionally they do find it…

I’ve moved the planter, with the milkweed, and a very fast growing morning glory in it, so I can watch from my favourite spot by the pond…

now there are a few eggs on it to watch;-)…

they have even found the butterfly bush…

I have had so many opportunities to remember how blessed I am as I sit and enjoy the nature around me…

youngest…

27 Monday Jul 2020

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my youngest grandson and I spent a few days together… it was lovely as we don’t get to spend the amount of one-on-one time that I have with the other boys…

we did a few chores around the garden and spent a great amount of time with the monarch butterflies…

we planned meals, watched the fish, birds and squirrels, and talked about life… he was even happy to take a selfie with me;-)…

we made stuffing muffins (chicken stuffing put into muffin pans), one of his favourites, lol… we had chicken and mashed potatoes for our supper to go along with the muffins… we made twice stuffed potatoes for our second supper and he reminded me to put in green onions as he likes the flavour they add to food now…

we watched the space station fly over from the hot tub…

we slept out on the decks… he thought it was a very funny thing to do, but got right into it, bringing out his comforter, a blanket and pillows;-)… I slept in the gravity chair, which wasn’t as comfortable as the lounger I normally use…

he played games with his friends on his phone and watched tv shows when it was too hot (and maybe boring) for him outside…

how wonderful it was for me to have these special moments with this young man;-)…

obsessed…

05 Sunday Jul 2020

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maybe, just maybe, I am obsessed with the Monarchs… I can’t even think of how many times I have gone by the milkweed to check on the caterpillars, lol…

saw more butterflies landing in the plant and maybe leaving eggs;-)…

there are small caterpillars, medium sized caterpillars and large caterpillars…

such fun to see where they are on the plant and how much they have munched through…

both of the biggest caterpillars vanished this morning… I was worried they had fallen off the milkweed because they were in leaves that were bent way over…

wasn’t sure if they were getting ready for the next step, but then found both of them in the lily of the valley… so I put them back on the milkweed…

now that I’ve done some research maybe they were moving on… apparently they can travel up to ten metres away from the milkweed to move to the chrysalish stage…

if they move again I will just search to see where they end up…

plug…

04 Thursday Jun 2020

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had the most wonderful morning in the garden…

when I went out for a hot tub first thing I realized the pump had stopped in the pond…

before I went in, I pulled the plug and then spotted a dragonfly sitting on a rock in the pond…

took my breakfast outside and sat and watched it for quite some time… wondering if it had come up from the water and was drying its wings…

it was windy and I watched two butterflies flit past… an orange one, maybe a monarch although it wasn’t close enough to confirm… and a black one… it had some yellow along the outside of the wings…

went into the house for a cup of tea and when I came back, noticed the dragonfly in the pond and thought it might be dead, but then its wings fluttered… I found a stick and pulled it out and set it down in the sun… after about half an hour it flew away;-)…

a short while later I saw my buddy the frog jump in and swim across the pond… and finally the fish came out from under the bridge…

eventful…

29 Sunday Dec 2019

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what an eventful day yesterday was…

in the morning my daughter and I headed to Bulk Barn for bird seed and then on to Mer Bleue where it was way too slippery for a walk but we spent a lovely time feeding the birds from our hands… such fun;-)…

chickadees came and went from the surrounding trees… we saw blue jays, two types of woodpeckers, a nuthatch and maybe a partridge…

it was great fun… my daughter took the picture of the chickadee looking at me, lol…

then we picked up my son-in-law and his mom and went to the Canadian Museum of Nature where we saw exhibits about the arctic, the earth and Canadian birds… and we spent some quality time in the butterfly exhibit…

here are a few of my favourite photos…

birds AND butterflies…

finished the day off with a BeaverTail;-)…

those were for sharing, I only had half of one;-)…

patiently…

04 Sunday Aug 2019

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had a fun time in the garden this morning…

when I walked out I frightened the baby bunny, but it came back a bit later for a snack…

and then the squirrels started running around… one was digging in the hibiscus pot… not sure what was going on, but went over and encouraged it to leave, lol…

a gray squirrel and a little red squirrel chased one another all around the garden to decide who got to be at the feeder… the red squirrel won that particular round…

the sparrows were in and out of the pond as they had drinks and baths…

and I spent the longest time waiting patiently for a black swallowtail butterfly, that was flitting around the garden, to land so that I could take a photo… eventually I got a few good shots…

two or three cabbage butterflies fly through the garden on a regular basis, but I’ve yet to catch one sitting still long enough to get a picture…