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LinkedInPosts Tagged: Mexican
What's a Group of Butterflies Called?
What's a group of butterflies called? A kaleidoscope, swarm, or rabble. If you've ever had a kaleidoscope in your childhood and admired the swirling colors and patterns, you know that's an appropriate name. But even one monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, reminds us of...
Migratory monarchs in a Vacaville pollinator garden filled with Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Migratory monarchs in flight over a patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Monarch Kind of Day
What we've been waiting for all season... A migratory monarch butterfly fluttered into our Vacaville garden at noon today (Tuesday, Sept. 17) and nectared on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. Then she treated us to a butterfly ballet. The Danaus...
A female monarch nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotunifola, in a Vacaville garden at noon, Sept. 17, 2024. At left is a territorial male longhorned bee, probably Melissodes agilis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female monarch butterfly lifts off the Tithonia. This image was taken with a Nikon D500 with a 200mm macro lens. Settings: 1/4000 of a second; f-stop, 5.6; ISO 640.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch descends, ready to head to another blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
She lifts up and away she goes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's Friday Fly Day: How About a Mexican Cactus Fly?
It's Friday Fly Day, when folks post images of flies. Flies seem to the entomological equivalent of Rodney Dangerfield's "I-don't-get-no-respect" quote. So how about a black syrphid fly, a Mexican cactus fly, Copestylum mexicanum, nectaring on a Mexican...
A black syrphid fly, a Mexican cactus fly, Copestylum mexicanum, foraging on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Jackie-in-the-Box
In your childhood, somebody probably gave you a jack-in-the-box toy, a music box that you crank up, and then the lid springs opens and out pops a wildly dressed clown, startling you and everyone around you. A praying mantis sighting is something like that, but without the music box. You're...
A female praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, pops up between the petals of a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. Surprise! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Battle Between a Butterfly and a Bee
So, here you are, a newly eclosed Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, eager to sip some nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. It's a warm, windless day, and you're anxious to score, score, score. You touch down on a Tithonia, but something...
A Western tiger swallowtail, aware that a territorial bee is about to attack, raises its tails to ward off the intruder. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Western tiger swallowtail begins to take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Western tiger swallowtail leaps off as the bee draws closer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Western tiger swallowtail escapes a hit by the longhorned bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
