This and That

Two dozen pictures from September, a mixed bag of nature, sky and a couple of cats:

Have a great day!

Metalmarks

I found a small butterfly on a tangle of cactus and vines.

The brown and coppery orange colored butterfly was not so easy to see on the purple-tipped milkweed flowers.

White dots on the butterfly's wings mimicked the white parts of flowers...

and the butterfly's green eyes matched the color of flower stems.

After a while, I noticed there were more metalmarks already on the milkweed.  While buzzing bees and bigger butterflies flitted from one blossom to another, the metalmarks would stay quietly on a flower cluster for a long time allowing me to take their pictures.

Palmer's Metalmark on Rambling Milkweed

Over 1,000 species of metalmarks occur around the world, named for the silver, gold or copper colored areas on their wings.

Linking to Camera Critters.

Blooms, Bees, Butterflies

Blooming barrel cacti

honey bees

metallic green sweat bees

red ants

Wildflowers growing on the side of the road

desert senna with sweat bee

Butterflies

chrysalises on sweet acacia tree

giant swallowtail flying over citrus tree

giant swallowtail resting on oleander leaf during a rainstorm

The next five photos (shot through a chain link fence) are of a pipevine swallowtail butterfly on a blooming desert willow tree.

And here's a swallowtail camouflaged on a red bird of paradise flower:

The pictures above are from August and I took the one below in September.

pipevine swallowtail on creosote

Have a good day!           

Skywatch

We visited Saguaro National Park East on Monday for an early morning running event.  The weather was really nice!      

See more skies from all over the world at Skywatch Friday.