I planted dill in the garden hoping to attract butterflies. It worked. This lovely caterpillar was happily devouring the dill this morning. I think this is the same species as the butterflies I photographed earlier this week.
Caterpillar on dill plant.
This is the blog post with the butterflies: http://wp.me/p3GRKG-X9
I worked in the yard for about four hours yesterday. It felt great. The sunshine was wonderful after all the rain we have had recently. When I was just about ready to call it a day these beauties came fluttering through the yard. One would follow the other and never strayed more than a few inches apart. They seemed to like the bright pink lantana more than the purple butterfly bush that can barely be seen in the second photo. From what I could gather , these are:
I went to my mother in laws house Yesterday. Her hummingbirds are not as afraid of people as the ones that come to our house which allowed me to get a bit closer.
Close up of Hummingbird
Humming Bird in flight
Hummingbird in flight Eye on the Camera.
Hummingbird feeding with effects.
During a break in the rain, I went for a walk to see what had survived and found an abundance of toadstools. Not a wide variety but they are everywhere there is vegetative litter under the oak and cedar trees.
Does anyone else see something spooky in this photo?
I am still experimenting with the new camera and realize there is much I need to learn about the various options. I’m having a lot of fun though. 🙂
Converted to Black and White with Photoshop Elements 13
Cathartes aura – Turkey Buzzard (Vulture)
Bee on dewberry blossom
Closeup of bee
Green eyed kitty
Sunflower
Wren in garden
I recently received a new camera for my birthday. It is an Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5. It is a Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens system camera. I wanted more than my Canon point and shoot camera, which I love and has served me well, but has some issues that I have found limiting. I was not willing to step up to a large Digital SLR. This is my compromise. It is smaller than the larger Nikon DSLR I had at one time, allows for some creative choices and interchangeable lenses with the fun aspects of point and shoot. It came with a 14-22mm zoom lens and I also bought a 40-150mm zoom. I am still getting used to it, but I like it more every time I use it. Today I took it out to try some macro shots and was satisfied with the results.
Ratibida columnaris
Katydid on Gallardia
Spiderwort
Fuzzy Caterpillar (I see myself in this one – lol)
closeup of Beetles in Cactus bloom
Fuzzy Peaches
Peach
Yucca Bloom
I am almost afraid to say anything to jinx the unusually pleasant weather we have had (so far). It has given us a bumper crop of dewberries. These grow wild near our house. We picked two quarts today.
These beautiful flowers have now become this:
Below: These Gaillardia pulchella have just started blooming on our land.
They are beautiful along the roadsides in the Hill Country right now.
This thistle was a bit weather beaten but I loved the way it looked.
This little Syrphis Hoverfly did too.
Sensitive Briar (Mimosa quadrivalvus) grows wild along the railroad tracks. I remember it being more fragrant than the ones I found today. Oh well, it is still beautiful.
This is a little pin cushion cactus that grows wild around our place.
Much more subtle than the larger Prickly pear that we see around the hill country. Love the blooms. I normally miss seeing them bloom.
Asclepias asperula, Antelope Horns Milkweed and bee 
If you enlarge the photo below, it is like one of those seek and find games.
We found seven insects on this milkweed.
Granted it will be a bit grainy when enlarged enough to see the smallest of the insects. This plant supports a lot of life.
Milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) on Antelope Horns Milkweed (of course)
On the next three photos with butterflies,
I used the vastness of the internet to try and identify them.
Hopefully correctly. 🙂
Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus)
Checkered White (Pontia protodice) on Blackfoot daisy (Melampodium leucanthum)
I think this is a Southern Dogface -Zerene cesoniahis
Unknown tiny insect on wildflower
China Berry blossoms – China Berry tree Melia azedarach var. umbraculifera
This is an invasive non-native tree. It’s saving grace for me is the fragrant blooms.
I Love them.
Otherwise, the berries are a mess and the wood is weak.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Melyna
The rain this winter has made everything happy this spring. All around us the trees are green, the flowers are bright and colorful and we are seeing more birds visiting the feeders than last year.
Lithospermum incisum, known as Fringed Puccoon.
Erodium texanum, also known as Texas Filaree, Texas Stork’s Bill, or Heronbill (Front)
purple prairie verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida) (back left)
I had not noticed this tree until we did some clearing this past summer. After reading about it, I am glad we left it.
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PRSE2
This weekend we were cleaning up the garage and found this big fellow. Yikes! He has been relocated.
Coffee and Captured Moments 