Sunday Safari

I hunted for bugs in my backyard today.

Seeing the Zebra Swallowtail is always exciting.
She is never far from a Paw-paw bush, which is her host plant.

I was so pleased to see a Northern Walkingstick.



Autumn is coming soon.
My mums are in bloom.
The grasshoppers are in abundance.

The Zinnias are begining to fade.
The Skippers are still finding nectar in them.

The Live Forevers draw Gray Hairstreaks

and Praying Mantis.




The Bright Eye Cosmos have been in bloom since June.
The Common Checkered-Skipper is not common to my backyard.
I have only seen her a few times.

Red Spotted Purple likes rotting fruit.

I share the stems of my figs and my apple cores.

The Female Hummingbirds will begin to migrate in October.
The males left last week.

The Nuthatches will stay all winter.

The Northern Cardinals will also stay through the winter.

This couple raised four chicks this year.

I have chores to do.

Autumn is coming.

Happy Sunday Safari.

ABC Wednesday

H is for Hummingbird.

H is for Hawk.

H is for Heron.

H is for Hollyhock.

H is for Hibiscus.

H is for Hyacinth.

H is for House.

Happy ABC Wednesday.

Weekend Safari

We went hunting for Bison.

On a tall grass restored Prairie in south-central Iowa
we found a herd of 80.

The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge is committed to

"restoring and reconstructing tall grass prairie and savanna habitat"

of this region.

We walked on mowed trails through the grasses.

We watched many butterflies nectar on the wild red clover.

The Painted Ladies charmed me.

We read about a restored wet lands just north of the refuge.

At first light we were on the trails.

As the sun rose the fog lifted.

The Campion plant and Spotted Touch-me-nots

reminded me of how beautiful the woods


are in the morning light.

We are approaching Autumn.

The Pelicans are migrating.

This wetland is an important resting place.

Here, as on the open Prairie,
the grasses provide shelter for the birds and insects.
I watched as the Monarchs awoke.
Hundreds slowly began to start their day.
One by one they rose out of the grass and flew across the trail.









When we care for the land, bio-diversity returns.
White thistle provides nourishment for the migrating Monarchs
and for my spirit.

We traveled the state roads.
Serendipity lead us to five ancient Indian mounds.

A Great Spangled Fritillary and an Indian Pipe

watch over these ancient Indian burial grounds.

ABC Wednesday

G is for

Gray Hairstreak in the Goldenrod.

G is for Grosbeaks,

the males and females are migrating south now.

G is for
Giant swallowtail

and Grasshoppers.

G is for Grass.

There are many different varities of grasses,

not all are green,

yet all are gorgeous!

G is for the Green Jay

and the Goatweed Leafwing.

For more Gs visit ABC Wednesday.

Sunday Safari

Wah Kon-Tah Prairie,
Great Spirit, Great Mystery, Sun, Moon and stars.
For the Osage Indians, Wah Kon-Tah describes
all that is sacred and unfathomable.
For me Wah Kon-Tah describes bliss.


The Regal Fritillary
have one brood in June and fly until frost.

They are common in prairie meadows

in Western Missouri.

I watched them feast in the Ironweed.

The Buckeyes

and the Hairstreaks

have a relationship with the flowers of the prairie.

Small tracts of native, virgin, prairie

are knitted together with degraded pastures.

Land stewards are working to protect and restore over 20 square miles.

I saw bright orange moths

and Lady Beetles.

I watched many different Skippers

and Pipevine Swallowtails.

Eastern Tailed-Blues were in abundance.

The butterflies and the grasses

are in relationship.

I was delighted to see a Black Swallowtail.

I have seen very few this summer.

On the way home we saw a river of wildflowers.

They glowed pink in the late afternoon light.

This is sacred land.

May we all be land stewards.

The butterflies are depending on us.