After several days of rain, sometimes torrential, the sun came out today
and I decided to take a walk around the yard. We have a patch of
milkweed I've been saving for Monarchs, and I made that my first stop.
While there is still no sign of Monarchs at all, the milkweed has
suddenly blossomed, and the patch is abuzz. Besides the normal
bumblebees, honeybees, wasps, ants, flies, milkweed beetles, and
japanese beetles, I found:
several Crescents, one with wings worn down to almost stubs
an Azure
swarms of drab brown skippers
a couple light tan skippers
Red Admiral
White Admiral
Painted Lady
a fritillary
Checkerspot, probably a Harris's
Brown/Pearly Eye that was spotted only once and flew away promptly into
the forest

The most interesting find was a small spider (Crab spider?) that blended
in perfectly with the milkweed blossoms. I never would have spotted it
except that it had caught a skipper, which was not moving even when I
got close. The spider was a pinkish white color with rose stripes- very
pretty.

I also stopped at a large clump of black-eyed susans that have taken
over a corner of the garden. The Crescents are wildly attracted to
these- they don't move even when I got close enough to get butterfly
head-shots with my camera. They also brought in a Common Wood-Nymph and
several more of the drab brown skippers.

Also had a Widow Skimmer hunting from the back porch, a Common Green
Darner patrolling the fields, and a Scarlet Tanager calling from the
nearby woods.



Lorena Krenitsky

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