Last week I said that the Photos From My Garden #5 post was … “the last past in this series From My Garden.” I was wrong. I now see that I still have quite a few photos left. I am so embarrassed to have reported fake news like that. Anyway, let’s get one with more photos from my garden.
These first three photos are of a pair of skippers on a purple cornflower. As I’ve noted in the past, late summer seems to bring on more sharing of flowers by various pollinators. I’ve seen as many as four insects on a flower in late August or early September and multiple species on the same flower.
This is the backend of a skipper. Normally I wouldn’t keep a photo like this but I made an exception this time. Why an exception this time? Three reasons: (1) I really like the skinny silhouette of the skipper, (2) I like the way the skepper is holding on to the torn flower petal on the left, and (3) ,and most importantly, I like the little pink and white hand and arm on the right waving “hi” to me.
The next two photos are a couple of orange sulphurs.
A monarch caterpillar getting ready for the chrysalis (cocoon) stage of its lifecycle. It has attached itself to my fencing to keep out the rabbits.
I checked on it two days later at it was sting hanging in there and I spotted this ladybug larva on one of the orange sulphur blossoms.
The next time I checked on the monarch caterpillar things were not good. It appeared to have a puncture wound dripping body fluids. Maybe a young bird not familiar with monarchs took a stab at it, discovered the bad taste, and let it as is. Such are the ways of nature.
This cosmos is not looking that good either.
Let’s have a happy ending enjoying a striking monarch caterpillar mixed in with some colorful swamp milkweed leaves.
Thank you for stopping by.
David
It's Complicated 
Great shots David, you’re forgiven for publishing fake news.
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Thanks, comments and forgiveness are always appreciated. 🙂
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You have a wonderful garden David, this is nothing fake about that.
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Thank you very much Ziggy.
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Sad to see the demise of the caterpillar, but as you said, this is life, not always pretty. The ‘J’ shot was cool, framed in wire, but I guess it should have chosen a more leafy abode to metamorphize.
I really liked the tail-end skipper photo, as it is unusual and interesting POV, as well as the others, skippers are delightful.
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Thank you Eliza, I’m glad you also like the tail-end skipper photo.
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Cool shots capturing the double skippers, looks like they are sharing a drink. Was it happy hour? Love the waving petal too! 😉
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Thanks Donna. I can’t help but see a waving hand everytime I look at that photo. With he skippers I just wish I could have gotten them closer together and at the right angle to look like they were sharing a straw.
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That would have looked really cool too. 🙂
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I’m glad you’re making friends, David. Not even skippers can resist saying hi to you.
I am very much mesmerized by that caterpillar – I loved the first shot, how you framed the caterpillar within a hexagon-like shape. Which made me all the more gut-wrenched when I saw what followed… Nature is cruel.
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Yes Nature is cruel when viewed from our anthropomorphic perspective. I’m surprised by how often I am reminded of this fact in my tiny little garden comprised of nothing but plants and insects.
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