I found this pretty yellow moth in a nearby meadow last week. It was fascinating as it reminded me of a delicate paper cutting. It looked as if the black areas had been crisply cut away from the yellow. That effect does not show up in the photo. Memory is a funny thing sometimes. When I went home I told my husband I had seen a geometer moth!. a year or so ago I had found a very similar looking moth which I identified as a false crocus geometer moth and that memory had stayed recessed in my mind. ( As I get older I am very aware of carrying genes from two grandmothers who both suffered from memory loss and dementria in their later years. so I am always pleased when my memory unlocks some identification puzzle for me.)
This moth even had yellow legs! as seen in this upside down view above
To be sure of my identification I sent a copy of my photo to Bug Guide:http://www.bugguide.net in hopes that they would id it for me. They did!!!! What a wonderful free service this is. They reported back to me that it was a Xanthotype moth. Another common name for this moth is the false crocus geometer moth! wow! I had been right when I had first seen it.
I chanced upon this injured Viceroy lying on the road. I can only assume it might have been hit by a car. This is the first viceroy I have seen this year and I don't think I saw any last year.
The selvage information on the beautiful butterfly fabric shown above says " Creature comforts butterflies" Isn't it beautiful! I especially like the swallowtail butterflies illustrated on it.
Shown above is a butterfly pillowcase I made for my little granddaughter. I hope she likes butterflies!
Above , a swallowtail butterfly feeds upon our lilac blossoms, just outside my window.
My first skipper sighting and photograph of spring 2011. I am making a guess that this might be a Hobomok Skipper!. I love finding Skippers. They are so tiny and beautiful.
I haden't seen these moths yet this spring until I spied this one shown above feeding on out lilac blossoms. Tiny isn't it? At first I had thought it was a bumblebee! This moth that is looking like a minature hummingbird was so busy and small its a delight ans wonder to observe. This photo was tasken from my living room window! WOW!Isn't nature so amazing!
The number of black spots on its fore wing determine the gender of this cabbage white butterfly. The photo sbove shows a female Cabbage White with two black spots on its fore wing and below showing only one blsck spot is a male Cabbage White butterfly!
finally I was able to get a picture of a Mourning Cloak butterfly! I have been trying to do this since April when I hadfirst started to see them on an old dirt road. Yesterday I had gone to a small pond hoping to see something to take a picture of when I saw something small and dark cross the road in front of my car, a dragonfly , maybe? I inched my car up to an approximate location when I had seen it enter the roadside bushes.
Then I saw it! A beautiful Mourning Cloak draped on a small branch of a bush.
Yesterday morning I saw an American Lady Butterfly, My first sighting of this species of this spring. How beautiful it was!
Wow! My first butterfly photo of 2011. Its time to revive my butterfly blog isn't it! and I believe it is an Eastern Comma!, not a species that I am very familiar with.I find this sighting quite exciting! I had been driving down a woods road and kept seeing Mourning Cloak butterflies. A couple of times I got out of my car hoping I would see them alight or land, but I had no luck. But them I caught a glimpse of an orange butterfly that I thought had landed on some dried grass along the side of the road. So with my camera ready I got out of my car and walked to where the dried grass was, and oh, such luck, the butterfly arose from there and landed close by on the dirt road. I had a canon 300 mm lens on my camera and just zoomed in from where I was standing. Oh lucky day!!
