Yesterday morning, though the sky lowered, the girls convinced me to take them on a nature walk. Not one minute past Redwing Swamp, the heavens opened up and it began to rain. No thunder or lightning, merely a downpour. I suggested we go home, but the children pointed out that there was no lightning. So we decided to keep going.
And look what happened!
This butterfly landed on Mariel's shirt and had a nice, long drink of rainwater. It stayed with her so long she began to consider it a pet, and named it Mademoiselle.
I think it is a hackberry butterfly. Anyone?
Another Update: Okay, I'm not sure it is a hackberry now. Javamom has got some beautiful hackberry pictures at her place, and the wings of ours just don't look right.
'Nuther update: Javamom says that the wings of the hackberries are looking a little scraggly lately, so I guess this is one.We walked down the hike and bike trail to the mown walkway through a field of wildflowers that leads to our little corner of the lake, and then back. We took lots of pictures, but these are the only ones that turned out:
Before I saw this butterfly, I thought the yellow and black tiger swallowtail was the most beautiful butterfly in Texas. We do not have a butterfly book. Does anyone know what this is?
Update: Phyllis helped us out by mentioning that it looks like a Red Admiral. It looks that way to me, too! (Thanks, Phyllis!)
I thought the flower was crow poison, but it has an onion smell, so it may be a very white wild onion.
Triss' friend, Ray (as in Ray-of-the-Sun) spotted this lizard as we stood deciding which way to go on the way back. She won the "Eyes" Award for the day!
4 comments:
I think your butterfly is a Red Admiral. We have them here, too. :-)
Good for the girls for continuing the walk! Mariel's butterfly looks like a hackberry to me. Some of the hackberries are very beat up looking, I noticed yesterday. We had one stuck by rainwater on its back on our windshield, yet it was still kicking and trying to free itself.
I love how spring reveals herself bit by bit, not all at once...little mini-explosions of life, as it were.
p.s. I forgot to say that your onion blooms are indeed wild onions. Don't they make such a pretty display of themselves in their simplicity and form?
Thanks, Javamom!
The wild onions are just beautiful. We couldn't believe it when we walked through the trees and into the meadow. It was all flowers and butterflies. Amazing. There was such a variety of wildflowers too. We even saw bull's nettle and prickly pear in bloom. (We made sure not to step on those!)
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