Last week my wild desert broom blossomed at the back of the yard. It was covered in a variety of butterflies. While I am good at identifying birds, I have little to no knowledge of butterfly ID, so if you know what these are (Doug Taron, Chris Rohrer or anyone else) please tell me! 10-24-12 Thanks Doug!
Many Thanks to Doug Taron for the butterfly IDs!
Birds
Of course, with all the butterflies, I am still seeing birds!
Warning!
Beyond this point, there be DRAGONS!
I’ve been wanting to take its picture and try to identify it.
Finally it showed itself!
He is a Desert Spiny Lizard!
For those of you who read yesterday’s post about seeing the Tennessee Warbler in my back yard, well today I got another surprise when an actual Orange-crowned Warbler finally showed up in the yard! Yes, I checked! It did have YELLOW under tail coverts! That makes yard bird number 29! My yard list just keeps growing even though I only see about 6 to 8 regular species! For me, this is the fun of bird watching. I like the surprises.
P.S. I will update the info on species as I get it!
Your American snouts are all identified correctly. The species is fairly variable. I photographed a about less variant last summer. Clueless is a painted lady. The checkerspot is a checkered skipper and the swallowtail is a giant swallowtail. Excellent stuff!
ReplyDeleteDoug! thank you for the ID's. I hope you enjoyed seeing what is showing up in my backyard!
DeleteIt autocorrected my comment. I photographed a snoutless variant last summer.
ReplyDeleteAll fascinating critters Kathie. Never seen a snout before or that type of lizard.
ReplyDeleteDenise, the southwest is full of all kinds of different critters! Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteLove the colors and patterns on the butterflies and lizard/dragon.
ReplyDeleteGaelyn, don't we live in a great state!
DeleteLots and lots of fun!!! Now that's a living wildlife garden:) You have it all going on. Those butterflies are indeed snouts because of their "nose". American snouts are common in our area and this year has been their year here in Tucson. And number 4 may be a Painted Lady:) Love the hummer checking out the lizard. They make me laugh:)
ReplyDeleteRohrerbot, Thanks for the info! I love having such an active garden! I notice it is the native plants that are pulling in the species though! I love that hummer/lizard picture too!
DeleteBeautiful butterflies, Kathie! What a great collection. And I love all your finches and the cute lizard. Wonderful post and photos. Happy Birding!
ReplyDeleteEileen, thank you very much! It's always nice to have you stop by!
DeleteLovely bird shots Kathie and you are still getting some nice butterfly sightings. Ours are just about all gone now until next spring.
ReplyDeleteRoy, I think we have butterflies here year-round. Either way, it sure is fun to see them!
DeleteWhat a nice variety of butterflies. I know the Snout and the Painted Lady (couldn't tell how many large spots it has, but if only two it is an American Lady). But you have more butterflies out west than what I have here, so I don't know your varieties. I have a good guide: Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. You might like it better than I do, because it has so many that aren't seen in the east in this guide, that I have trouble finding my butterflies. Great bird shots! I love the lizard and what a lot of Goldfinches!
ReplyDeleteMary, thanks for the info and your comment. and yes, I do have a lot of goldfinches. some days I have upwards of 30 in the yard!
DeleteYou have such a variety of butterflies and birds, beautiful pictures. The dragon or lizard is interesting, they usually scurry off before one gets a good look at them.
ReplyDeleteGillian, it is a lizard but it looks like a small dragon to me! I love seeing them in my yard and this guy was so impressive! I have been watching him for weeks and am glad I was finally able to photgraph him!
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