Hot August Pollinators

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Tina

It’s been good, this summer of 2024, with less extreme heat and drought than summers of the past decade. With only brief flirtations of over 100 F (searing, but of relatively short duration), plus bouts of welcomed rain in between, the garden and its inhabitants have flourished. August is always hot, dog-days and such, but pollinators are in their prime, busily working the hot August blooms.

My last post profiled the emergence of newly adult Black Swallowtail butterflies from my garden’s supply of the host plant, fennel. I also grow White-veined Dutchman’s Pipe, Aristolochia fimbriata, which is an excellent host plant for the Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor.

This beauty drifted from flower to flower, settling on a fiery Pride of Barbados for this nectaring session. The snowy Frostweed in the background also saw visits from the Pipevine.

Spring bloomers are nearly done and those that are hanging on into late summer are tired, much like this cluster of Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea. Their weariness didn’t lessen the attraction for a Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus, though. It sipped, then flit–as butterflies will–before moving on to its next snack.

Most of the sunny summer sunflowers are spent, having segued from providing rich nectar and plenty of pollen, to offerings for birds and mammals in the form of seeds. There are a few flowers open for pollinator business and our honeybees never miss a trick when it comes to open flowers.

My Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala, shrubs have flowered non-stop since early May. A garish, Barbie-pink bloom, some gardeners don’t care for the flowers, but I love this plant, as do a wide variety of pollinators, like this Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus,

…and this Clouded Skipper, Lerema accius.

Bordered Patch, Chlosyne lacinia, are everywhere this latter part of summer! Since I grow many plants in the Aster family, these cuties have plenty of host plant material to nurture their young into adulthood. The adults, like many butterfly species, will nectar on scores of flowers. The garden is a win for this showy winged thing!

Recently, Queen butterflies, Danaus gilippus, have re-appeared in spades after an early summer lull. This one, along with several of its look-alike buddies, enjoyed the bounty of the Mexican Orchid tree blooms.

A cousin butterfly, one single Monarch butterfly, also visited my garden. I only spotted it for one day; I assume it’s an early migrant, headed to its winter quarters in Mexico. In the next months, I will see more of both kinds of butterflies as autumn approaches.

Summer brings breeding hummingbirds to Central Texas, and the females and juveniles remain until serial cool fronts encourage the tiny birds southward. There’s a good deal of zooming and chasing happening now, territorial disputes that are entertaining, but frustrating to photograph.

This female Black-chinned Hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri, stopped to re-fuel with some Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii. Stopped is not the correct word; maybe slowed down is a better description of the hovering motion as it fed from the crimson cap.

Busy as the pollinators are, buzzing, flying, or floating through the garden, sometimes pollinators need a rest.

As September is just around the corner, summer is rapidly closing its oven doors. Oh sure, there are warm days ahead–plenty of those to come–but days are shorter, rain chances are greater, and the first cool fronts, fleeting though they are, are merely weeks away. The garden, the gardener, and the wildlife will appreciate the changes that the season brings.

A New Day

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Tina

My new day starts before light with coffee in the catio, as the cats keep me company. They sniff the humid, warm morning while I sip and watch the dark sky turn pink and yellow at the horizon, beyond my oak trees. Then it’s play time inside with the cats, all wands-with-fluffy-feathers, jingly bells, and happy purrs. At some point, I’m in the back garden for the first round of look-sees in the morning sun, feeding the pond fish, and hanging a couple of bird feeders. Then, it’s time for the dog’s walk.

On a recent morning, if I’d been more alert during that first round in the garden, I would have seen two Black Swallowtail butterflies emerging from their temporary homes, the homes where they morphed from worms to wings. Alas, it was later in the morning, as their wings dried the the bright sun, and before take-off for their new day as adults, that I noticed and appreciated, their beauty.

The butterfly situated at the top of a fennel stem caught my attention first.

I neglected to include the whole of its now-open chrysalis in this photo, just like I neglected to take any photos of both chrysalises in the two weeks they were in chemical flux. That was my bad to miss documenting those jewels. The chrysalises are stunning and look like they are lit from within. Maybe they are.

I like this view of the same insect. It’s rare that a butterfly demonstrates the whole of its underside in my presence, without my having to twist and turn and crane my neck for a glimpse or photograph.

The second butterfly and its worm-to-wing home were stationed two stems over from the first.

You can see two drops of liquid settled on the stem, which spurted from the butterfly just before I snapped the photo. I assume this liquid is part of the chemical transformation from a caterpillar to a winged insect, and the reason why butterflies, after emergence from their chrysalises, must sit in the sun, opening and closing their wings until dry.

Shortly after I snapped photo, the butterfly took flight, to nectar and mate, to continue the cycle.

Big and Little

Posted on August 5, 2024 by Tina

It’s always a pleasure to spot an unusual bird in the garden. Recently, I spied this tiny cutie, as it flitted and flashed between shrubs and trees, remaining immobile for only brief periods.

Though a rare sighting in my garden, this Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, isn’t out of its normal range. My garden sits in the orange area (breeding range), near the border with the purple (year-round range) area in Cornell’s map of gnatcatcher range.

I’ve seen gnatcatchers in the garden on two other occasions, years apart. Maybe they’re in my garden more than I realize or observe, as they’re tricky to identify, being diminutive speed demons, hiding in the bramble of bushes.

This one was on a rapid-fire feeding frenzy, zipping from shrub to shrub to tree, looking for insects and spiders, the gnatcatchers’ main sources of food. It perched a few times in my Red Bud tree, just long enough for me to say ‘hi’ and catch some shots of the catcher.

My last sighting was this aerodynamic pose in the second before the teeny gnatcatcher belted away, no doubt in pursuit of a yummy munchie.

The gnatcatcher is a little bird, but big birds are also around, and they’re usually predators hunting for prey. If you’re squeamish about seeing a predator with its prey, you’ll want to move on to your next gardening blog or bit of political news.

This handsome juvenile Cooper’s Hawk, Accipiter cooperii, was upsetting the Blue Jays and a bunch of other birds as it sat in my SIL’s garden early one morning. I snapped a couple of photos just before it flew off, but didn’t see it clutching its breakfast, an unlucky White-wing Dove, until I downloaded my photos.

Bird breeding season is just about completed; chicks have passed the fledgling stage and have matured to juveniles. Like this young hawk, they’re learning to fend for themselves. Next up in the backyard birding world is fall migration; it’s already started, but will peak in September/October. In my garden, I don’t see as many migratory birds in the fall as I do in spring, but maybe this year will be different. Either way, safe travels to the migrants and continued growth and learning for the neighborhood birds.