My Heart's a Flutter!

Sometimes a fairly brief encounter in nature is enough to excite me, make me smile, and keep me smiling for awhile afterward.  Such was the case today.  Mac and I went for a walk... and we saw a MONARCH! It went quickly fluttering away, but it did make my heart flutter with happiness.  (see my post here about watching for monarchs on milkweed).

I didn't have my camera with me because it's been raining off and on today - and if I had taken it I'm sure I wouldn't have had time to get it out of a plastic bag and take a photo because this butterfly took off out of some milkweed plants and flew away pretty quickly.  But in my mind I can still see it and I'm happy!  It's the first Monarch I've seen this year.  

Obviously not from today, because I didn't have my camera but this is Mac on our previous walk.

Now, I do have a bunch of photos of other butterflies I've seen this year and I've been saving them up to share with you.  I am a novice at "butterflying".  I never even had a field guide until last Christmas (unless you count 'A Golden Guide' published in 1987, which actually has my daughter's name in the front).  But it's always fun to learn new things, so I've been taking photos and then trying to identify what I have seen.  

Here's the first one of the season, from April 6th, in our woods -- a Mourning Cloak:

Exciting mainly because it was my first butterfly sighting after a long, cold winter!

Next was this one, which I saw in the nearby Gamelands.  I only got one photo so it's a little hard to be sure but I think it's a Black Swallowtail.

I saw another Black Swallowtail in my flower garden on August 1st:

A relative of it, an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, appeared on my chive flowers on June 7th:

and here's one I saw at Grey Towers on August 2nd.

Out in the hayfields early in the summer, there were lots of Common Wood Nymphs flitting around.  

Actually there have been a lot of smaller butterflies flitting around the fields this summer but they are quite hard to photograph, I've discovered!  The small yellow ones, and similar white ones just don't stay still long.  I've enjoyed watching them more closely than I have in the past, but most of my efforts to photograph them have not been very successful.  I won't make you suffer thru blurry butterfly photos.... you're welcome! 

One day I was talking on the phone when I glanced out the window.  I cut the phone call as short as I could, because the butterfly I saw looked quite large!  I grabbed my camera and went out to see.  It might not look so large in the photos, but the zinnia flower is almost 5" wide.  After studying my field guide I decided the butterfly was a Giant Swallowtail. 

August 27th

The range map does not show it in our part of Pennsylvania but in the text it said they often stray north of their range.  Still, as I said -- I'm a novice, so I emailed a family member who has been studying butterflies longer than me, who confirmed it as a Giant Swallowtail (and expressed their jealousy of my sighting!)  It truly was a beautiful creature!

I only saw the Giant Swallowtail that one day.  But the following is a butterfly I've seen numerous times this summer.  It's an Aphrodite Fritillary.  Here's one on a Common Milkweed on July 8th.

Here's another one at Grey Towers on August 2nd.

And here is one in the early morning of August 27th.  

Do you know where butterflies go at night?  Click here for a neat website for kids that will answer that question and many others about butterflies.

One of the questions they answer is what is the difference between moths and butterflies.  Since it's a website for kids, their answer is quite simplistic-- after giving several differences between butterflies and moths they sum it up by saying that butterflies are "fancy moths".    

Well, I saw a couple of rather fancy moths this summer, too!

Here's a Luna Moth I saw at Spruce Lake on June 18th.

It was on the siding next to the door of my room at Joni & Friends Family Camp.  The camp is surrounded by deciduous hardwood forest, the moth's preferred habitat.  There were a bunch of them around camp. I've read that they are rarely seen because the adults only live for a week, but they are considered common.  With a wingspan of 4.5" it seems to me a poor description to call them 'common'!

Another unique moth that is decribed as being common is the Clearwing Moth, also known as Hummingbird Moth.  I do often see them on my white phlox but they always fascinate me.

They are a day-time flying moth with a very long tongue which they use to drink nectar from tubular flowers.  Sometimes people mistake them for tiny hummingbirds since they have similar flight and habit.  

They actually have rather furry green backs (similar in color to hummingbirds), which wears thin over time.  You can see that in this photo and also the name Clearwing definitely applies!

That's it for now... though I'll definitely keep watching for more Monarchs.  Maybe next time, I'll get a photo!

Hummingbirds Galore!

It's been a good summer for hummingbirds.  Last summer, it seemed their numbers were down, but this year we've had quite a lot.  I've written about hummers before (click here), and I don't have much new to tell about them, but I do have a lot of photos!  

It's been fun capturing them with my new camera, a Canon Power Shot SX-50.  For hummers, I like to use the High-speed Continuous burst setting.  I do end up having quite a few photos to delete, but I also have a better chance of catching a good shot of these high-speed flyers.  

So, just because they are such beautiful birds, here are a few of my favorite photos.  I hope you enjoy them!    

First, here are some up close at my window feeder.  It's so neat to see them only a few feet away from me!  They watch me as I watch them.  I can't make any sudden moves or they fly away.

"Yes, I see you in there!"

I also have a feeder hanging under our apple tree (I wrote about this special tree in a post called "Our Giving Tree").  There was one female Ruby-throated Hummingbird who amused me with her relaxed method of drinking from it.  Unlike the other hummers who just hovered in front of it (it has no perch), she clung on to the bee guard with her feet.  She even turned upside-down to watch in the other direction if another hummer came too close.

I love flowers, so I plant a lot of them and try to choose some the hummers will especially like.  Here's a section of my flower beds.

While I was standing nearby watching this morning, a hummer came to the white phlox:

the zinnias...

and made a quick stop at the wild bleeding heart...

before heading to one of their favorites, the red calibrachoa in my deck boxes:

They also love the Geranium "Vancouver Centennial" that I keep in pots on the deck.

This one's bill got a bit sticky and it flew up into the tree to clean up.  It rubbed its bill up and down on a twig.  Then it stuck its tongue out!  Check out how long it is in the next photo.

Speaking of cleaning up, here's a hummingbird that was preening its feathers one day.   

It's pretty fluffy-looking for a hummer, partly from preening but also I think it could be a juvenile still getting its regular feathers. 

Here's a male with his red throat towards the sun, looking more sleek and jewel-like...

And one final shot, a size comparison photo.  Bumble bee on the left, hummer on the right.  This time they are on the scarlet runner beans on our vegetable garden fence.  I should have lots of seeds from them this year.... Dr. Ruby did not get to eat too many of the beans!  (click here to read Ruby's post about that).  Let me know if you'd like some seeds to grow your own to attract hummers next year.  Or perhaps for your dog to eat!

Wrens by the Numbers

I'm usually not much 'into' numbers.  But recently I've been reading about house wrens and some of the numbers associated with them amazed me.  

Such as that the parents may feed their young as many as 1,000 meals in a day!

Given that the babies stay in the nest for 15 to 17 days after hatching, that's a LOT of insects.  (Thank you, wrens, for keeping our sweet corn worm-free!)

House wrens usually raise 2 broods in a year and this year they did that here in our yard.  Their first nest was in a box in our hemlock tree (click here to read about it). The second was on our garden fence in a box that had just been vacated by a tree swallow family. 

So they have had a very busy summer!  I read that a house wren nest may contain over 700 twigs!  Since they use a new nest each time, I thought I would try counting the twigs in ours when I removed it from the box.  However, when I took it out of the box, I discovered that ants had made their nest in it... so I decided to take their word for it and say "700" is a good number!

Most of those small specks in the box are ants!

Add to this the fact that male house wrens build numerous nests to try to attract a female - between 2 to 7 is common and as many as 20 have been reported... that's a LOT of twigs! 

Once the female has chosen a nest, she puts the finishing touches on it by adding some soft grasses and feathers.  Then she lays between 5 and 8 eggs.  She will incubate them for about 12 to 15 days.  That's when the real work begins of bringing all that food!

Our father wren somehow lost all but 1 of his tail feathers, but, no matter, he still diligently brought food to the box!  While the mother typically landed on top of the box and worked her way down with short hops to the entryway, he usually flew directly in.  That might have had something to do with his lack of tail.

How do I know which was which?  They both look the same...

 but the male is the one who sings.  The female can make sounds, but she mostly squeaks or scolds.  You can listen to them here.

Mr. Wren singing on top of the box.

I tried peeking in the nest once to see the babies, but they were nestled so far down in that I couldn't even glimpse them.  So I didn't know how many there were until they fledged.  With brood number 1, I missed seeing them leaving the nest, so I really was hoping to catch these on their maiden flights.

Sunday morning, August 10th, I was getting ready for church when I happened to look out the window and see one of the parents clinging to the front of the box.  It stayed there for awhile, which I thought probably meant something was up!  Thankfully, I was about ready and had some time to spare, so I grabbed my camera and binoculars and went out on the kitchen deck to watch.  Here's what happened:

That was number 1 out of the nest!  Now for number 2...

Hold on a minute!  This is scary!

And, after awhile clinging to the outside of the box, its 'take off' goes more down than out -- and even backward...

But number 2 made it!

Now, it's down to 1!  Mama comes back to do a little encouraging (though I think baby number 3 may just be hoping she's going to feed it)

Baby brother or sister sits nearby in the corn.  

Finally, baby number 3 takes off and that was it!  From the first flight of Number 1 (at 7:23:23) to the last (at 7:35:58) it took about 12 and a half minutes -- and I was still on time for church!

If these babies are typical of house wrens, they will live 2 or 3 years.  The longest-lived wren on record was 9 years old.

There are more than 70 species of wrens in the world.  Mexico has over 30 kinds.  They are not known for having bright feathers but they are superb singers.  Some names of other species of wrens are  Flutist Wren, Nightengale Wren, and Musician Wren.  Some of them even sing duets, with the male and female singing different parts!  That's not 'by the numbers' but I thought it was so neat I couldn't resist sharing.  I would love to hear those sing!

My mother always hoped a house wren would nest in her yard (and they often did) because she loved hearing them and so do I!  This year I was blessed to have them raise 2 broods close by!