The annual Caper White emigration/migration is under way and once again the garden is at times a fluttering haze of delicate powdery wings as millions upon millions of these butterflies make their way North then East from the Karoo in the Cape. And there are the occasional passengers along for the ride. Female Belenois creona … More Lazy Saturday. It fluttered by.
Spotted this morning. This beauty is called the Gaudy Commodore (Precis octavia sesamus) and like it’s more plain cousin, the Garden Commodore, has seasonal dimorphism – wet and dry (summer and winter) versions. This is the summer rainfall version. The winter version is a vibrant blue pattern. Now that the summer cousin has visited maybe it’s … More It fluttered by. New Species!
Newly emerged Citrus Swallowtail I found yesterday looking somewhat disorientated crawling around my lemon tree seedlings. I gave a little helping hand and it flew across the vegetable garden and found this nice shady patch of potatoes to dry its wings. This morning it was still hanging around – looking for a date/mate as it … More It Fluttered By.
Common Diadem. Photographed this morning. Ark.
Pinacopteryx eriphia, Zebra White. Colotis evenina – female – Common orange tip, Photographed today. And speaking of the Orange Tip … The previous butterfly post I featured this shot. Which I thought was a Common Orange Tip. However, this is what Mark Williams, one of the people in the know over at the SA butterfly … More It fluttered by …..again
The Brown Veined White migration is still in full swing and the garden is like an endless stream of fragile, almost diaphanous wings, from sunup until sundown when our migrants alight on the lavender bushes and rest for the night. As mentioned before, there are other butterflies in among the main body. Whether these are … More Passengers on the flight
It’s the annual migration of the Brown Veined White as millions of butterflies begin the migration journey , or more accurately emigration, as they do not return. From the south western regions of South Africa the butterflies make their way north east towards Mozambique and head out across open water towards Madagascar. We are fortunate … More It fluttered by
I awoke this morning to discover two of the remaining four Swallowtails completing the final transition to adulthood. One had fully emerged from its cocoon and was already hanging from the side of the water bottle drying its wings. The second, was still busy. I managed a couple of shots. Not the best of … More It fluttered by: New Swallowtails
Was out of bed early this morning … 5:30 … and after making a coffee and pottering about for a bit I went into my office and was greeted by this … Having emerged from its cocoon not long before this shot was taken. I coaxed it from the plastic container, and it eagerly climbed … More It fluttered by. All Change!
Citrus Swallowtail caterpillar in defensive posture. When feeling threatened, as is the case here, the caterpillar will extend this impressive double branched horn-like protuberance to ward off attackers. In this instance the threat was moi as I was attempting to gently lift the caterpillar from the leaf it was on to relocate it. As I … More Feeling a little horny?
Citrus Swallowtail – first form. 1/11/19 Ark
I have made mention a couple of times that once I acquired a digital camera I embarked on a quest ( cue music) to photo catalog all the flora and especially the fauna that resides in and/or visits our garden. In the beginning it was fairly easy, and the files quickly filled with all sorts … More Quelle Surprise!
