The Butterfly (and Moth) Cookbook

If butterflies and moths excite you, and following them around the yard results in less than perfect shots, then maybe you should try some "non-plant" baiting (or sugaring). I have collected these recipes from the web and from people on various butterfly and moth lists. Your spectacular images, if you want to share them with me at your sugaring stations, will be placed here in later entries.

That infernal racket you're hearing...

Which is the musical accompaniment to the butterfly and wildflower slideshows, can be shut off
by clicking on the little speaker at the bottom of each. You hear them once - that's ok. But
constant noise - NO WAY!

So, though I've tried to make them both entertaining, you may not like it. I was quite proud of myself, actually.

February 12, 2008. I told you Spring is nearly here!

Been out paddling a few times lately, and the creek banks are coming to life. See? Winter is just a period of well needed rest for the earth. I never think of winter as a time of death; just a time of
renewal. We all need to sleep in one way or another, and when you think of earth as a living thing - the soil is alive, under our feet, the lava boils. Life, action, mysteries.

The trees are beginning to bud and flower. Aquatic plants are reaching for the sunlight. I saw two waterlilies in bloom today. Egrets in pairs, signs of a new beaver dam being built, Coots - too many to count, wood ducks in pairs flying. Wasps, I found, inhabit a huge cypress snag - it stands tall and straight...and full of wasps! Tiny little turtles come to sun on exposed stumps. Carolina jessamine vines are beginning to flower.

A swallowtail butterfly fluttered through the yard. Robins have eaten the pyracantha berries.

The Four and Twenty Club are here again. They are a huge mixed flock of visiting Redwing Blackbirds, Common blackbirds and grackles who raid my squirrel and bird feeders. It's ok with me. I love to hear them.

Wait a minute. Did I say, "butterflies" here? If I get it right, there will be another album of butterflies and moths common to this area. Most are on native wildflowers. Can you tell me which are which? Of course you can! They're labeled! There are a couple that are unique because they are visitors or rarely seen here. The Harvester is the only butterfly with a carnivorous caterpillar. Some are camouflaged with eyespots; bright colors ward away predators as unhealthy to eat. Our butterfly season starts in August and runs through the last of October. By November, the migrant stragglers stop off for nectar but the migrations are over, for the most part.

I love my butterflies, and I encourage everyone to leave a spot in the garden for the weeds and wildflowers. And that is the purpose for this slideshow. All the plants are natives. (Weeds are wildflowers, too.) As I correct this entry, it is February 15. The redbud is full of tightly closed buds, but showing pink, anyway. Just an update!

Guess it's time to show you some of my photography...

My friend (and chosen, intrepid cousin, Tim who is from Ireland - more about that later) took a look at my blog today and suggested I put links in to show you some of my photography. This makes sense to the dense! I forgot, talking about other things. I have thousands of images in my files, and they are available for stock photography, as well as individual orders. Contact me by leaving me a comment for pricing if you see something you like, or if you are local and would like me to come out and photograph you, your family or the members of your family who have hairy legs, scales or feathers.

4x6 images, unmatted, are available for $10.00 and I will post the prices matted and unmatted for various sizes in a separate post.

Again, though I've given these links in the beginning of this blog, in the pursuit of shameless self-promotion, you can view some of my work at www.jpgmag.com/people/maziel and www.thelensflare.com/u_may.php

Google lists some of my images that are in the files of other websites, such as the Bug Guide and Dalton State University, Entomology Department (Dr. James Adams).

The Bug Guide is fast becoming "the resource" for insect identification on the web. So snap that picture if you see something unusual, or want an identification, and join The Bug Guide (free) for help. Dr. Adams is an expert on moths at Dalton State in Georgia. And in case you think moths only fly at night and are dull and drab, the image above is of a Polka-dotted Wasp Moth. Completely harmless, a day flying moth, and absolutely stunning in color.

I know this guy named Craig...

He lives in Arkansas. Found him on PBase. Let me tell you - he's on his way to becoming a
world class photographer of wildflowers, and his specialty takes him outdoors every day, searching the woods. He's putting together collages which should be posters for the state and part of developing an eco-tourism program. (How's THAT, Craig!) If you'd like to visit his website, here it is: http://www.pbase.com/cmf46/index_of_arkansa_native_wildflowers

I love wildflowers, too. Because our winter's been mild, there are still a few patches of stubborn Bidens alba, that reliable little plant that frosts our summer and fall roadsides, and gives sustenance to all manner of insects. It is ruthlessly mowed by the county which apparently doesn't believe people really like wildflowers on the sides of the road. This one plant guides the migrations of the Monarchs, the Gulf Fritillaries, provides food for aphids, ladybugs, moths, butterflies, flower wasps, the nectaring mosquitoes (didn't know that, did you), all sorts and sizes of bees, beeflies. In turn, small predators like green lynx spiders and anoles hunt there. It's a remarkable, prolific plant. Some in my yard have become perennial. They have a tenacious little seed, hooked at both ends.

One wildflower, above, that has had me stumped for nearly a year got identified by the UF Herbarium just last week. It is a skullcap, Scutellaria integrifolia, and it is incredibly beautiful. The color is stunning, and it likes its feet wet. I have found a few plants in ditches and just a couple in an untended yard on Bayou George. There is a lot to be said for not mowing right down to the water. Which prompted me last year to write a piece that got into the local newspaper.
The caterpillar of the Banded Sphinx Moth is vividly colored, intricately patterned, and lives
on a specific host plant with a yellow flower (Ludweigia decurrens, the Wingstem Water Primrose), which grows in seeps, water's edge and in wet ditches. Again, a plant with a penchant for wet feet. My neighbor is terrified of snakes. I found a caterpillar at water's edge one night in summer and decided to return the next day to photograph it. She had hired a lawn service, and they had just scoured her creek bank down to nothing, and reached out into the water. I was devastated.

That yellow, green, red and black caterpillar is the one I'm talking about.

I guess the point of this post is to ask you to set aside one spot in your yard and let whatever grows - even if you consider it a weed - grow undisturbed and see what happens. The most barren part of your yard is your lawn. Nothing grows in a well kept lawn. Cut back on your use of pesticides and fertilizers just a little, or entirely; consider xeriscaping. Watch your little wild plot. Spend some time each day observing who visits; who lives there. I have a feeling you'll be very pleased. It's a good place for the children, too.



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