Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 66, 0 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
I saw the hummers again today and the red-throated one was chasing the other one. Is that some kind of hummingbird foreplay? The one with the red is far more skittish around me but the other one doesn't let me get too close either. I can't tell you how many times I've scared them off today. I just went out to pick some passion vine and unintentionally did it again. They just chill in the oak tree until I'm gone. I actually sat and watched the red-throated one sit in the tree for a couple of minutes. They're so small!

Oh, I also had an army of woodpeckers in my backyard this morning. I've seen one around but today there were at least three. Two had red heads and the other one didn't. I'm not much of a bird person but with the Red-Shouldered Hawk and the Sandhill Cranes I'm learning to appreciate them. And they eat bugs, too! I keep trying to figure out how I can domesticate a crane to be my personal bug exterminator...

Here's a cool Gray Hairstreak. After this picture he settled on the jatropha where he stayed for hours. Literally! I felt bad when I finally had to weed around him. He was mostly sitting under the blooms (shade, I guess?) but he would come topside and eat every so often. I've never seen a Hairstreak that still for that long.