Butterflies Galore

Variegated Fritillary

This Saturday will be the second annual Butterfly Open House at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve, and what a difference a year makes! Last year, Tavia and I chased through a field, trying unsuccessfully to catch some butterflies for the event. The children had better luck, but we still only had a small number. This year, we won't really need to catch butterflies to put in the netted pavilion at all. We can just walk out to two different butterfly gardens, and see dozens of them at once!

Red Spotted Purple

In the cool morning (the first "cool" anything we've had for weeks), I walked down Mahan Lane, the main trail, startled when clouds of butterflies rose around my feet. In delight, I noticed that they were feeding on the wild cherries lying on the ground rotting. Wild cherry is the host plant for the Red Spotted Purple butterfly, and I understand why so many were around.

Viceroy

After taking pictures, I decided to put them into a Flash file for the Creasey Mahan website. Enjoy!

Tawny Emperor

The field guide I used described the Emperors, both Tawny and Hackberry, as "pugnacious," an odd adjective for butterflies, I thought. They aren't afraid of people, and don't hesitate to land on us looking for minerals on our skin. I think they laugh when they tickle us while walking around.

Red Admiral - top

Many butterflies close their wings when they land, so it can be difficult to identify them from the bottoms only, let alone get a good photo. The wing bottoms usually bear little or no resemblance to the tops, and not all field guides give pictures of both.

Red Admiral - bottom Eastern Comma - top Eastern Comma - bottom

Common Buckeye - top

Common Buckeye - bottom

I wonder why there seem to be so many more butterflies this year than previous years. Something about the hot weather? More butterfly gardens? Simply being more aware of them, now that I'm in the nature business? Whatever the reason, they are absolutely gorgeous!

Butterfly Hunting in the Big Meadow

The Big Meadow at Bernheim Forest is just full of summer wildflowers this weekend. Standing on the edge, you are impressed with the tall waving grass and yellow coneflowers. As we walked to the center with our butterfly leader, we saw the individual flowers - bee balm, yarrow, orange butterfly weed, fleabane, small white flowers we couldn't identify. The wind was rather strong, which felt good to all the sweaty butterfly hunters, but discouraged the butterflies from venturing out. Dragonflies are tough though, and we saw more of them than the butterflies.

Tiger Swallowtail

As I pooped out from the heat and headed back to the Visitor's Center, I did find a few nice butterflies around the bottle-brush buckeyes.

Pipevine Swallowtail

Great Spangled Frittilary

Eastern Amberwing

Isn't it beautiful? We are so fortunate to have a place like this to enjoy. I enjoyed hunting for small wildflowers, trying to grow and bloom before the trees shaded them out in the early spring. The prairies and meadows are overwhelming. From a distance, you see green and small splotches of color, but the variety and abundance of flowers just take my breath away. And I recommend a Tilley hat with a broad brim to keep the sun away as it blazes on the flowers, plus a strong sunscreen for anything not covered by the hat!

Hear the Frogs in Yonder Pond

Even the bird club doesn't always find different birds, or many of any sort, on an outing. Not to be discouraged, the resilient birders turn their efforts to other more numerous creatures. Since we walked past the frog pond at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve just before dusk, we found more frogs than we could count. Green frogs in a pond covered in duck weed are a real photographic challenge!

In fact, they ought to rename this small water plant "frog weed," since the frogs find it the perfect cover. We heard one bullfrog, but it looks like most were green frogs instead. You can tell a green from from a bullfrog by the raised tympanum behind their eyes. I never noticed before how solemn all frogs look.

Listen to the song of the frog in yonder pond, krick, krick, krickety krick, Br-ump! Sounds a bit like a concert of rubber band players! The female Common Whitetail dragonfly does not have a white tail at all, which doesn't surprise us a bit.

You have to count fast to see how many spots this Twelve-spotted Skimmer has before he flits away.

Even the Red-eared Slider is covered with duck weed when he climbs out on a log for a little sunning before dark.

Great Spangled Fritillaries "frit" from flower to flower in the still, humid afternoon.

As we return to the parking lot, we overhear these Bluebird parents discussing who's turn it is to feed the children this time.

We have tried on three different occasions to find nearby Putney Pond, and got more specific directions from other club members. We actually found the correct driveway, but still did not see a path, so we will have to ask again, or better yet, get someone to show us!

'Bama Bugs and Butterflies

The Alabama Gulf Coast abounds in bugs and butterflies, particularly with large dragonflies. I've been able to identify the butterflies, which posed cooperatively for the camera. The dragonflies, however, are perpetual motion insects, rarely lading anywhere long enough to focus the camera. Any names you see on them may well just be a descriptive name so I can tell one shot from another. If anyone knows the names of these dragonflies, I'd sure be glad to learn. The large yellow dragonflies never did land, that I could see. Once we saw a large yellow helicopter flying over, and I quickly told Dick to look up at the giant yellow dragonfly going over!

Painted Lady

Gulf Fritillary - topside

Gulf Fritillary - bottom side

Common Buckeye

Why do butterflies go to the beach?

Long-tailed Skipper

Mystery bug - looks vicious

A 2 inch long spider

I'm glad dragonflies aren't 3 feet big as there were in prehistoric times.

Big fat dragonflies are a favorite Kestrel food.

Don't want to find this beetle in my shoes!

Red Saddlebag Dragonfly

Pleasure Before Work

Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge is the closest NWR to Louisville, so we like to make the easy one hour drive up there whenever possible. They had lots of rain and flooding in June, but not much at all since then. All the lakes, which are shallow at best, are covered in duck weed, with dead trees sticking into the air. One lake seems to have dried up completely, and the Killdeer called mournfully as they walked over the mudflats. A small group of Wood Ducks, some Great Blue Herons and a single Green Heron braved the heat. White droppings under a dead tree branch led us to suspect it to be the favorite perch of an owl.

We did have a mystery bird in the shallows. Logically, it should have been a Lesser Yellowlegs, common in the area, but it seemed a lighter, smoother color of tan with a whiter belly. The field guide said Lesser Yellowlegs can easily be confused with the Stilt Sandpiper, an Arctic breeder. The winter plumage for the Sandpiper did look more like what we saw. Well, the Arctic birds have to pass through the middle of the country when they migrate, so I guess it might not be impossible. We spooked a collection of vultures at Lake Linda when we stopped for a picnic lunch, and found they were lunching on a dead deer. Addendum: Here's a link to a photo comparing the Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs and Wilson's Phalarope, all taken at the Falls of the Ohio. I think our bird was the Phalarope.

The autumn wildflowers and butterflies were simply outstanding. Monarchs and Viceroys posed for us, along with an Edwards Hairstreak and Painted Lady. Don't you just love the names these butterflies have? The autumn colors are so bold - orange Butterfly Weed, yellow Goldenrod and Asters, purple Ironweed, and scarlet Cardinal flowers all nodding in the breeze. We picked some Goldenrod with galls at the request of a Bernheim friend who wanted some for a presentation she's working on. I didn't realize they even had galls, but it wasn't hard to find at all.

Sometimes the yellow and red are early changing leaves. The Tulip Poplars are losing their leaves fast and furious. No stealthy walking on the trail today - too many crunchy leaves. Someone has made an effort to plant native grasses in the restored areas as well, and their plumes waved as we crept down the gravel roads at 7 mph. The dragonflies didn't seem to mind the shallow water at all. Some of them were bigger than hummingbirds, I think.

The bookstore at the Visitor's Center has a terrific collection of nature books and field guides. Dick picked up one on caterpillars and Discover Nature Close to Home by Elizabeth P. Lawler. I came this close to getting one on sparrows and finches, but decided to restrain myself. A glance at the bird observation area behind the Visitor's Center gave me a photo of a hard working chipmunk. I just couldn't decide if he was stuffing those seeds in his cheeks to store for the winter, or planned to chow down during the football game!

This is Labor Day weekend, and when we got home, we started cleaning out the accumulated clutter in my daughter's room, so it can be cleaned for wedding guests. Your children grow and go away for college, but they never really leave home. I suppose her children will enjoy playing with Mommy's stuffed toys and books, just as I did at my grandmother's. There is a large pile going to Good Will and another large pile going out for the trash, while a third large pile got transferred to the basement for further storage. I don't know what to do with the saddles, tack and other horse gear left over from our years showing Saddlebred horses. Perhaps a call to our old trainer can find a home for some of it, at least. Progress, after all these years! You can walk through the room without falling over boxes!

How do you like the new paint job on the blog? I was starting to feel boxed in with the old template and decided to make a change.

Butterfly Collection

Isn't this cool? I saw a collage image on Swampthings' blog, and she made it with Picasa. So I got the software (for free) and tried it too. This is a much better way to make a butterfly collection than pinning them to a board. Of course, there is the challenge of deciding what kind of butterflies some of them are. Any takers?

America's Biggest Home

Anyone going to the Asheville, NC, area should make a stop at Biltmore Estate, America's Biggest Home. We went not so much for the house as for the landscaping and gardens. The Beach Boys concert that night was already sold out, so we had to miss that.

Frederick Law Olmsted was the landscape architect in charge of the landscaping and forest development when the "house" was built in 1889. Think about that title. An architect designs buildings for a purpose. I never thought of landscaping in quite that formal manner. If his name doesn't sound familiar, he also designed Central Park in New York City, and all the city parks here in Louisville, Ky, among many others. Biltmore has a combination of formal gardens and winding paths through more natural forested areas. As we walked down the hill to Bass Pond, pictured above, I wondered how often the turn of the century society ladies actually took this stroll in their long skirts and corsets! I was breathing heavily on the way back up myself! We were accompanied by several Eastern Towhees and Carolina Wrens along the path, and met by soaring dragonflies and butterflies along the pond's edges. In fact, this is the first decent picture I've ever taken of a Towhee.

The walled garden closer to the mansion is an inspiration to gardeners everywhere. They are famous for their roses, but we were impressed by the thousands of annuals planted in the beds, and how much work is involved in replacing them each season. I bet all these gardeners have at least a Master's degree in botany, as well as a green thumb. Bees and butterflies abound. The ripening grapes in the arbor smelled sweeter than the flowers! A hummingbird landed on the trumpeter vines to rest before sticking his whole head in for the next drink of nectar.

The Vanderbilts wanted their property to be self-sustaining, and operated a commercial dairy, timbering, and farming during their tenure. Their descendants follow that tradition, but concentrate on the tourist industry, offering tours of the mansion itself, a gardening center, outdoor recreation and a farm for city kids, an Inn, sales of home design accessories, an equestrian center, and the Biltmore Winery. We learned about the wine making process, and most importantly, got to sample all their products! Yum! To support this endeavor, we purchased a few bottles to take home. Of course, restaurants abound on the property. We had to stop and take photos of the sunflower fields bordering the corn fields.

Now, to me, "home" is where you live all the time. The mansion advertises itself as a home opened to friends, children and dogs. George Vanderbilt was literally master of "all he surveyed" from any window. As high society at the turn of the century, George Vanderbilt was an art collector, and I kept thinking that our Speed Art Museum would kill to have the collections in this "home." Also, as high society, the Vanderbilts had "homes" in New York and Paris, as well, if not Newport and Washington, where they also spent time. Maybe my concepts of home are too limited.

Maybe I would think differently if I were the heir to that much money. They did provide jobs and homes to the people who worked for them all those years, whether the Vanderbilts were actually in residence or not. During those times, I imagine such jobs would have been hard to find in the mountains. They did provide the land for the Mount Pisgah National Forest to be established. I was surprised that family members are still involved with the active management of the property. But I must admit to a prejudice against conspicuous consumption when there is so much need in the world today. On the other hand, much of the world would consider my modest lifestyle to be conspicuous consumption too. I guess it just depends on your perspective.