Discover Prompts – Wandering Dawgs

Lens-Artists #94: At Home

April 30, 2020Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged At Home, Discover Prompts, Lens-Artists, Paiinted Bunting, Photo Challenge28 Comments

This week, Amy has challenged us to show photos we have taken at home.

During this almost six weeks of sheltering in place I find myself spending more and more time outside appreciating the natural beauty all around me.

20200426-garden-chrysalis-day-17-(17) — Hibiscus

20200425-chrysalis-(3) — First day lily of the season

20200426-garden-chrysalis-day-17-(11) — Second day lily of the season

We’ve had many birds at our feeder this spring – chickadees, house finches, cardinals, hummingbirds and others. My favorite is a pair of painted buntings that come by every day. So far I’ve only been able to get photos of the male.

20200426-garden-chrysalis-day-17-(25) — Male Painted Bunting

The cardinals hang around under the feeder in hopes of finding fallen seeds.

20200426-garden-chrysalis-day-17-(2) — Male cardinal searching for seeds under the bird feeder

Monarch butterflies are continuing to come through the garden. I haven’t found any more caterpillars and the milkweed they stripped is coming back strong with new growth.

I first spotted a Monarch Chrysalis in my garden about three weeks ago. I’ve been checking on it several times a day and after 14 days I realized this one was not going to make it.

20200425-chrysalis-(1) — Monarch chrysalis day 16

Being at home for six weeks has made me realize how much I have to be grateful for. I am so grateful to live in a home where I can go outside into my yard to enjoy the natural world. I’m grateful I can keep in touch with friends and family who are far away. I’m grateful for my health and the health of my family and friends. I’m grateful I am physically able to get out and exercise in the fresh air.

Many thanks to Amy for this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – At Home

Inspired by Discover Prompt Grateful.

Monarch Caterpillar Update

April 11, 2020Posted in Daily Prompt, Nature, PhotographyTagged bite, Discover Prompts, monarch caterpillar, monarch chrysalis16 Comments

Just two days after I posted about the Monarch caterpillars in my butterfly garden the caterpillars are continuing to devour every leaf on several of my milkweed plants. One bite at a time, they chew up a leaf and move on to the next. In just a few days they have stripped some of the plants until there is nothing left but bare stems.

Yesterday morning I counted about 10 caterpillars. One had attached itself in the hose reel on the edge of the flower bed. It was preparing to transform into a chrysalis.

20200410-caterpillars-and-chrysalis-(6) — Monarch Caterpillar preparing to make chrysalis

A little while later I settled down in my chair under the arbor to read a book. I was facing the hose reel but was so engrossed in the book I didn’t look up for about 30 minutes. When I finally glanced over at the caterpillar I saw that while I was reading it had become a chrysalis.

20200410-caterpillars-and-chrysalis-(11) — Monarch chrysalis day 1

Today there are more caterpillars and less milkweed leaves. They will continue taking their bites until they are full grown and ready to transform into a chrysalis.

Meanwhile, there are still Monarch butterflies flying around in pairs doing their mating dance. I’ve had a hard time getting a picture but I managed to catch this one drinking nectar on a Mexican Sunflower.

20200411-caterpillars-(1) — Monarch butterfly feeding on Mexican Sunflower

I’ll be keeping my eye on the chrysalis and hope to see a butterfly emerge in about 7 to 10 days.

This post was inspired by Discover Prompts Day 9 -Bite.

Pairs of Monarch Caterpillars

April 9, 2020April 9, 2020Posted in Daily Prompt, Nature, PhotographyTagged blogging, Discover Prompts, monarch caterpillar, pairs16 Comments

We are in the middle of the butterfly breeding season. I’ve seen pairs of Monarch butterflies flying around our yard recently and the females have been laying their eggs on milkweed leaves in my small backyard butterfly garden.

This morning I counted seven caterpillars on the milkweed including two different pairs munching on the leaves.

20200409-monarch-caterpillars-(20) — Pair of Monarch Caterpillars on Milkweed

20200409-monarch-caterpillars-(1) — Pair of monarch caterpillars on milkweed

After about two weeks of eating, the caterpillar will be full grown and will make it’s crysalis. Approximately 10 days later the monarch butterfly will emerge.

This post was inspired by Discover Prompts Day 9 -Pairs.

Curve

April 9, 2020April 9, 2020Posted in Daily Prompt, PhotographyTagged blogging, curve, Discover Prompts6 Comments

For the Day 8 Discover Prompt Michelle chose curve. I browsed through my photo archives to find these curves in bodies of water we have seen during our travels.

20190517-Day-17-Glasgow-to-Inverness-Sony-(12) — On the road to Inverness, Scotland

20170514Boat-Ride-(9) — Creek through the Georgia Salt Marsh

20080604New-River-Gorge-(45) — The New River in West Virginia

Thelma and Louise drove into the Canyon at Dead Horse Point State Park — Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah

This post was inspired by Discover Prompts Day 8 – Curve.

Discover Prompt Day 3: Song

April 3, 2020April 3, 2020Posted in Daily PromptTagged blogging, Discover Prompts, music, song2 Comments

The last time we were away from home before the social distancing and shelter in place began was in early February when we traveled about 30 minutes from home to attend a Willie Nelson concert.

One of my favorite Willie Nelson songs is “On the Road Again”. I can’t hear it without thinking about how much fun we had being on the road on one of our many RV trips. I look forward to the day when we’ll be able to go on a road again.