Another great day in the yard. New yard butterfly Painted Lady #14. Great views of male and female Spicebush Swallowtails. Glad to see the butterflies increasing in numbers. Bought a few more plants on Saturday that I need to plant plus Les brought me some today.
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| Painted Lady |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Spicebush Swallowtail |
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| Spicebush Swallowtail |
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| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Dark Morph Female |
Great day in the yard today- 3 Hummers on the porch feeding on flowers & at feeder at the same time. 9 species total of butterflies with 2 new yard butterflies #12 Zabulon Skipper, #13 Least Skipper and 11 Tiger Swallowtails that included 3 dark morph swallowtail. The Tiger swallowtails are going crazy on the tall garden Phlox.
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| Zabulon Skipper |
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| Silver-spotted Skipper |
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| Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
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| Zabulon Skipper |
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| Least Skipper |
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| Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
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| Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
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| Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
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| Northern Flicker |
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| Northern Flicker |
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| This elk was playing hide and seek with lots of YNP visitors tonight. |
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| Off to bed so Bernie & I can be up really early for more fun here at YNP |
I am off on an impromptu trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Lot of great fun planned with my friend, Bernie who lives in OR. Yellowstone is re-opened after the major flooding on June 15 with just Lamar Valley closed which maybe closed for at least a year due to much of the road there destroyed. I visited here for a few hours on a day trip in September 2008 and for 2 weeks in 2016. Now, we are here for about 8 days.
For the next 2 days, we are staying in Gardiner, MT. We went into Yellowstone from Gardiner at 5AM with an awesome guide, Josh from Yellowstone Wildlife profiles. Going in with a guide is the only way you are able to go into the park from here due to road construction to build new roads due to the flooding. Many highlights - Cinnamon Back Bear, Black Bear, moose and her baby (very rare), White-tailed deer (very rare), Grey wolves, Pronghorn, Bison, Mule Deer, Big-horned Sheep and lots more. Here are just a few pictures.
Cinnamon Black Bear 
Bison & baby which is called a Red Dog
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| Wildflower Season with fields of Lupine |
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| Lupine ~ close up |
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| Bernie by marking where bison have scratched off bark on the trees |
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| Black Bear ~ Hayden Valley |
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| Sachem Skipper |
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| Sachem Skipper |
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| Daylily |
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| Cheyenne Spirit Coneflower with Bumblebee |
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| Purple Coneflower with Bumblebee |
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| Black-eyed Susan with bee |
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| Daylily |
Erynnis baptisiae, the wild indigo duskywing chrysalis. The caterpillars I've been watching are all now in chrysalis stage so waiting the births called eclosing. The chrysalis measures 1/2" long and 1/8" wide. This Duskywing is very small—1.3" which is about the size of my thumbnail.
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| pictures taken 6/30 |
Butterflies and moths develop through a process called metamorphosis. This metamorphosis looks almost complete. I believe I'll have a Wild Indigo Duskywing eclose later today.
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| When the butterfly is ready to eclose the chrysalis membrane becomes very thin and translucent so you can see the butterfly. So cool to see. |
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| This caterpillar went into the chrysalis later then the one pictured above. |
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| Born 7/8 |
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| second pictured chrysalis eclosed 7/12 |
First butterfly to be born in my (new) yard - Black Swallowtail - on Golden Alexander gifted to me by Karen. Not a great day here to be born with rain and showers but hopefully, some sun will arrive and he will finish drying out his wings and be on his way.
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| Black Swallowtail chrysalis on 6/28 |
I love the Autumn Joy Sedum as it is a no fuss plant that brings in so many butterflies in the Fall - at least it did in NJ. Coming here, I found that something was eating the sedum that was both in pots and what I planted. The culprits are House Finches. I sat almost everyday watching them both on the deck and in the garden. Next year I need a plan! Has anyone else had this happen to them? Planted 6/7. Striped off sedum picture taken 6/28.
