Saturday, July 11, 2009

Habitat



Two of my neighbors are redoing their parking strips. Or at least, they removed all the plants that were there. In both cases, they removed butterfly habitat, although I am sure they didn't realize it. The strip with the stepping stones had a beautiful patch of milkweed. I had never seen Monarchs in it, but still, I enjoyed the foliage and flowers and it gave me a chance to dream about the butterfly possibilities. The other dirt patch used to have a very healthly stand of plantain. I even saw a buckeye laying eggs. I had visions of caterpillars in September. Now, they are gone and I am sad.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Spider



These cabbage white butterflies were caught in a spider web. What a smart spider, building a web near the nasturtiums, where cabbage whites spend the day! I debated about leaving the butterflies for the crafty spider. After all, she had put a lot of work into the web and deserved her catch. But I felt more sorry for the butterflies than the spider, so I released them, all the while feeling guilty for messing with nature. Oh well........