Today's no walk report: 072420

A couple of posts back I complained about not seeing a normal frequency of swallowtail butterflies this year. Since then I seem to be getting daily visits but they generally disappear by the time I get outside with my camera. Of course they do. The attraction in the backyard is the Plumbago auriculata plants and unfortunately their flowers are rapidly dying back. Both the Papilio rutulus, aka, the western tiger swallowtail and the Papilio cresphontes or giant swallowtail, have a rather frenzied interest in the plumbago. This often makes picture taking somewhat challenging.

Plumbago flowers are loaded with very sticky trichomes so that may have something to do with the the butterflies agitated behavior. I got curious about the plant’s adaptation for this stickiness thinking, like many plants with sticky trichomes, that it must be a defense against insects and found some suggestions that plumbago may be protocarnivorous. However, most research seems to conclude that the actual purpose of the glandular trichomes is not clearly understood. One other note, larger insects like grasshoppers and katydids seem to love hanging out in plumbago.

This was the only decent shot I got this afternoon of a Papilio rutulus butterfly, thanks to the frenzy.

There’s one more reason for this post. It’s the first blog post I’ve done entirely on a mobile device (iPad). I found the process a bit cumbersome compared to working from a desktop computer but it wasn’t awful. 

Addendum 

I don’t typically do this but wtf. It’s August 2nd and I had afterthoughts about a couple of items. One was to add another shot of the Papilio rutulus butterfly just to show it with wings open. So here’s that...

I also thought I should better illustrate the Plumbago auriculata plant and highlight the glandular trichomes. Note the calyxes in the lower center of the image. These are extremely sticky resin-like exudates, the trichomes, that trap mostly small winged insects. 

Today's walk report: 040117, butterflies are...

... few. If you were able to date yourself far back enough and were thinking "free", nope, that's not the case. If you're environmentally aware you may know of the 90% decline of monarch butterflies that has taken place over the past 20 years but I'm here to say that monarchs are not the only concern. In just the 5 years I've been back in this part of SoCal I've seen a decline in everything from common grass skippers to swallowtails, mourning cloaks (Nymphalis antiopa), Vanessa atalanta, Vanessa cardui, Gulf fritillary, monarchs (Danaus plexippus), Leptotes marina and Pieris rapae. There's probably a few others that aren't coming to mind. When I think back some 45 years (or so) to my childhood the butterfly population situation is downright depressing. Today the concern is higher than ever with a Presidential cabinet that appears hellbent on destroying the environment (and a lot more).

Sigh.

Yesterday while watering in our backyard I was able to put aside the above stated reality for awhile and take in the joy of this lovely lady (I'm pretty sure this is a female) and a perfect specimen at that. We have two 6'+ (2 meter) pride of Madeira (Echium candicans) subshrubs that are flowering heavily and this Papilio rutulus, aka, the western tiger swallowtail was enjoying them immensely. In fact I was able to get 974 shots off during her 17 minute stay.

Our walk took place shortly after this wonderful event but no cameras were in play. PS, we saw "our" ducks again (read back one post)!

040117...

No April fools jokes but rather a peaceful morning walk to our nearby garden hang. 

Right outside the front door.

Papaver rhoeas and a little insect.

This was the only butterfly I saw in the garden and this story doesn't have a happy ending.

It was still cool at the time I took my last pictures of this Vanessa atalanta and it wasn't very active for that reason. The situation allowed a lot of picture taking. I was changing out a close-up lens on a nearby bench and suddenly I saw a sparrow sized bird fly right over this spot on the ground. When I went back to look seconds later the butterfly was gone. I didn't see the catch but it didn't look good for the butterfly.

Hummingbirds were mostly chasing each other so there weren't too many photo ops on that front but there was this...

Female Calypte anna on Grevillea sericea.

and both my girl and I had a "that was fun" moment while sitting on a bench taking photos of our friend "not Rusty" (again, if you don't get it read back a post or two).

That's all folks. Thanks again for coming along!

Today's walk report: 092513

Chasing butterflies.

On several occasions this summer I spotted what I believe was the same Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus), typically from my office window or while attending to something outside around the house. I'd grab my camera and would follow the thing around, front to backyard, one side yard to the other but I only saw it land once and it was ridiculously far away for a good picture. When I was a kid we would see Tiger Swallowtails all the time. I'm a little shocked and dismayed over how few butterflies I see here now.

Today I found this about 1/2 a km in on my walk. This is a Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) and yes, quite obviously, it's dead.

Here's the underside...

I don't usually bring a DSLR with me on Mon-Thurs, neighborhood walks but today I did. Mostly because I was thinking I might catch a nice sunset and I did but I decided not to detour to a good photo op spot for pics. It would have added over 3 km and a hill I didn't feel like tackling.

More square pictures...

I cannot BELIEVE these chairs were FREE. I would like to see who was using each of these, just curious.

Intersections and three birds.