Category Archives: Animals

Dicing with danger

A Xuthus Swallowtail Butterfly in Hawaii

I saw this Xuthus Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio xuthus) flitting by a window at home. This is how I most often spot them and by the time I go outside, they’re nowhere to be seen. Still, I’m a sucker for butterflies, so I grabbed my camera and headed out.

Looking around, I couldn’t see any sign of it. I was about to give up the search when I saw movement by a tangerine tree. I should have anticipated this because the butterfly is also known as the Citrus Swallowtail (and Asian Swallowtail). I headed over and there was the butterfly, not only hanging around, but also settling briefly as it flew around the tree. I thought it must be feeding or possibly laying eggs, but it just seemed to be stopping at leaves, and later I saw that its markings meant this was most likely a male, so not laying eggs.

However, the butterfly was not alone. Winter is crab spider season and they love building communal webs in and between the tangerine trees. It’s a hazard for me when I’m collecting fruit, but for the butterfly it’s a potential death trap. While I watched, I did see this one get stuck once, but swallowtails are big butterflies and it was able to shake itself loose.

A Xuthus Swallowtail Butterfly in Hawaii

That look

A green anole looking grumpy in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Frosty.’ See more responses here.

Since there’s not a lot of frost on the ground around here, I thought I’d go with the frosty look I got when I pointed my camera at this green anole, which currently lives under the eaves.

Better Days: Dead bull

A dead bull is visited by cattle egrets

I came across this bull a while back on one of my walks. At that time, the area had not had rain for ages and the fields were dry and barren. I don’t know whether that was the cause for its demise or whether something else was happened. Either way, the cattle egrets weren’t too bothered, checking out the corpse for insects. The bull was gone the next day, and not because it got better.

A day on the tiles

A Mourning Gecko on a tile floor

I saw this mourning gecko on the lanai tiles of my neighbor’s now empty house. Mourning geckos are mostly nocturnal, but are sometimes seen during the day, though usually not in such an exposed location. This one is a female. I say that with some confidence because almost all mourning geckos are females. They reproduce by parthenogenesis, which is where an egg or sperm doesn’t have to combine with another egg or sperm for an embryo to develop.

Posted for Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.

Praying Mantis waiting

A praying mantis in an agave attenuata
A praying mantis in an agave attenuata

This Praying Mantis spent several days on this Agave Attenuata, waiting patiently for food. There were bees all over the flowers and I think the mantis got some of them, as well as other insects.

I presumed the mantis was a female as it seemed to be getting bigger. A couple of days after taking these photos, the mantis disappeared but I saw an egg sac on a nearby tree, so maybe there will be more on the way!