I’ve been seeing lots of butterflies around lately, and chief among them are Painted Lady Butterflies. Some I’ve seen when visiting areas I don’t go to often, but even my usual walking route at Upolu, where I rarely used to see them, is all aflutter with them. That’s where I saw this one, feeding off a tasselflower.
I like scenes like this. We know they happen all the time, but don’t often get to see them, at least in my experience.
A bee forages on a colorful Lantana flower.
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.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Seeking Light.’ See more responses here.
This seedling is coming up where some tomato seeds were planted, so it could be one of them or something else that’s volunteered there. We’ll find out in due course. Either way, the seedling is reaching up to the light to boost its growth.
Recently, I noticed that the neighbor’s grassy yard was sparkling with dew, so I hotfooted it over there and got these photos, getting my feet very wet in the process.
I used to see Ground Beetles all the time on my walks at Upolu, but this one was the first I’d seen in ages. I don’t think it’s because I’m becoming less observant. I think the numbers are down, for whatever reason.
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!
Graham's Island 