And one more...
I just looked at some sulphurs on line and added the yellow butterfly for our dear friend @
Sunshine.
I liked the way this one was sitting on a plant:
But I liked the brightness of this "Cloudless Sulphur" one:
Wow. Some cool butterflies. Do you have Butterfly Bushes where you live? I have two of them and they draw some beautiful butterflies. It's cool to go out in the morning and see 20 to 30 butterflies fluttering around each one. Nature has a way.
That's wonderful, Bloodrock. There's some kind of weed that is a host plant for the most beautiful caterpillars, so I never cut it down by the back door, for it hosts some really beautiful caterpillars, though I don't know what specie--maybe swallowtails? There's another growing in an area in the back 10 acres 40 feet in from the fence, but I haven't checked it for caterpillars lately. I grew up in the city of Houston, and visited relatives in the country. Guess somehow I got the idea country living was the thing to do. Wrong!
I prolly have the worst-run farm in Walker County, because the wild birds own it, and what they say goes, which is kind of the law of the jungle--the great white egrets are undauntedly the boss when they are around. Other birds do not speak to them unless spoken to, including a pack of 5 flamingos that alighted here a couple of years back. Their 3 days here was too much for the pair of great egrets, and it was comical to see them elegantly peck their targets to the point of leaving. Five of them couldn't stand up to two great egrets, one of whom did nothing but preen the entire time the other one did the pecking. They may look like lace, but they have a way of capsulizing an inner strength if any other bird annoys them. The funny part was, the flamingos actually held council after being pecked good. It took them about 2 hours after their chastisement to decide to leave, and they never came back. They do best in flocks of no less than 200, and our 2.5 acre man-made lake would not support them since they'd clean out the fish in a couple of days, likely. They may have been a scouting team for a larger flock. I just don't have country smarts to know the ways of big birds, but the two most elegant egrets won their engagement in determining pecking order of large-bird ownership. There is a reward, though. I have the distinctive pleasure of watching the egrets preen all day for at least half the year, as the computer sits in my little upstairs window that has as good a view as any blind.
[ame="http://youtu.be/8BhGOZcGc6Y"]Great Egret Flying - YouTube[/ame]
Notice the dark legs of the great egret as he flies away. That's one of the best ways to distinguish the egret from his cousin, the great white heron morph of great blue herons, which has a glint of yellow in its legs, often mixed with a little gray. Both species are shy of humans, and it's not often you see them up close unless you have the animal magnetism of someone like Spoonman, who occasionally visits the Wild Pecker's ornithology thread at USMB "Hobbies" "Outdoors" thread grouping.
Notice the yellow legs of the Great White Heron:
Edit: I'm going over to the Outdoors boards where I am posting BTO's excellent tube video of egret identification.
