male monarch, red tailed hawk, and a tiny praying mantis outdoor monday
We spent a lovely day at the creek. This creek is becoming one of our favorite places to visit.
Take notice of Rain in a skirt, I can’t remember the last time she wore one! She prefers cotton “lounge” pants, she can’t help it, she’s a creature of comfort.
Fauna seems to be getting longer legs each day.
Our monarch came out of his chrysalis over the weekend. I love how tame butterflies are when they first emerge, sometimes they want to hang onto a finger and not let go. That was the situation with this guy. I think it was a little too chilly for his wings to warm up so we held him in the sun for a little while. When he finally flew off, you could tell he was thinking……”what in the world is going on and what do I do now?” He fluttered in the air in a very non-graceful way, he looked very nervous and frantic until he found the safety of our Hawthorne tree. He rested for a bit then tried to fly again only to land on another twig of the tree. He did this multiple times, I have never seen such a thing; our newly emerged butterflies usually just gracefully fly off and go out into the world. Not only was he special because of his unique personality, but he will be one of the monarch butterflies that fly to Mexico for the winter. I guess, the late season Monarchs have thicker wings that can carry them miles and miles; perhaps that is why they were a little tricker to get used to.
We knew our Monarch was a male due to the 2 large dark spots on his hindwings.
You can see them better with the wings open. Read about the sexing of Monarchs at Monarch Watch. (Picture below taken from Monarch Watch)
Speaking of graceful flyers, my sister Robin took the fantastic photo below of a red-tailed hawk. Look at those talons! Oh how I pity the creatures that get carried off by those.
Robin also took this picture of a young praying mantis. She titled it “Nature’s Sistine Chapel”-
named after Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” of course.
If you are participating in Outdoor Challenge Mondays, be sure your blog link is below; if you still want to participate let me know and I’ll add you to the list.
5 orange potatoes, the five of us,little eco footprints,potje thee, silverpebble, the work of childhood, searching simplicity, love living simply, strasilo, semi-handmade, this little kitchen, school time adventures, heirloom seasons, the loving path, a place like this, the magnifying glass, pebbles in the water, chocolate eyes, we are here, rosy-posy, oakbee farm, my year in haiku, time to craft, child in harmony, serendipity, secret water, free flowing ways, se7en, a smile a day, where ada likes to wander, wide open campus, what are we doing today mom?, chasing domestic bliss, dim sum, bagels and crawfish, adventures of a flake, frontier dreams, the snail’s trail, goose and binky, over the crescent moon, it’s a wild life, my world edenwild,the binker files, lil muse lily, foursquare schoolhouse, obaitori, boys in the woods, bumbles and light , wonder in the woods, terrallectualism, semi-crunchy mama, Gwynneth, All Things Beautiful, we are here, shivaya naturals, free to learn and lovin it, moment to moment, being brooke, roots & wings co, little greenapple farm, 5 Orange Perks, home made simple, mommy and me, the child’s paper, jeszie, leaping greenly spirits, living and learning, for love of my oceans, earthboys, mummy do that!, pacific northwest nature for families, shoestrings and doing things
“That’s all.”
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We are participating, i linked to you today. http://whatarewedoingtodaymom.blogspot.com/2010/10/run-salmon-run-field-trip.html I like this challenge, especially in the winter I’ll have to make more of an effort to be outside. Thanks!
I love your daughter’s Sistine Chapel picture! And the hawk picture is just amazing. Beth
what great photos! i got chills from the pictures of the butterfly…the sensation of little butterfly feet….amazing! and the little mantis picture is so special too.
What a fantastic day. I think on the same day I was outside sharing my garden with 3 different butterflies including a peacock butterfly which is one of my favourites. What a beautiful and fragile world in which we live.
As I type, there is a praying mantis taking up residence in our study. Funny sort of creatures aren’t they? I keep telling my husband she reminds me of a cat the way she grooms herself and stalks her meals.
A monarch! Congratulations.
We just successfully hatched two for two Eastern Swallowtails. It was beyond thrilling to watch them go from caterpillar to butterfly. Now we’re on the hunt for something that will explain (or show!) what, exactly, happens inside that chrysallis… We read this afternoon that the caterpillar largely turns to “soup”. I can’t for the life of me figure out whether this is bad children’s book writing or real science. Off to research…
amazing photos!!
OMG Great insect photos!!
I am very much in love with the praying mantis one … They are probably my favorite bug because they have so much personality!
Thank you for sharing about the monarch butterflies and that photo of the hawk is so perfectly clear – just beautiful.
Warm wishes,
Tonya
Adorable and amazing shots! I like the “miror” you present with Michelangelo and the little bug! It’s a funny and beautiful idea.
The boys and I loved your outdoor Monday photos, and what an amazing treat to see you butterfly appear.
We are finally getting outside now that the days have cooled off. I was starting to worry this summer that Isaac wasn’t going to be an outdoorsy type kid – but as soon as it cooled off, it’s been all I can do to get him to come inside. YAY!
Here is our day – (Sunday) xo
http://debbiedas.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/picking-apples-outdoor-challenge/
The photos of the butterfly are stunning!
I was just about to ask you “How do you know it’s male?”
My Hana try a skirt,and than she says “Where are my pants?”
Love the photos. Looks like Fauna is hitting that ‘colt’ stage — she’ll be all legs for a while now I bet.
Beautiful photos as always! I’m sure it was exciting to see the butterfly emerge. We enjoyed a simple September weekend at home:
http://momn3boys.blogspot.com/2010/09/get-thee-to-woods-vol-13-you-know-its.html
We have so many butterflies here as well. The Smoky Mountain institute is tagging butterflies to trace their migration patterns. Lately we have two hawks living in our trees in the backyard. They are just beautiful. Your spot looks perfect. I can see why it’s a favorite. We’ve been investigating the world of bees.
http://valariebudayr.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/09/bee-happy.html
Lovely, lovely photos. It looks like you had a wonderful time outdoors! Thanks for the motivation and inspiration!!!
Hey thanks for showing off my pictures
But I like your monarch picture the best.
great photos! i love the butterfly, or flutterby, as we call them. i can’t believe how much the little ladies have grown!! Fauna looks so grown up!
lisa
Spectacular photos! Thanks for sharing.
Being at a creek is such a nice place to be. ♥ That is so awesome that you got to have that experience with the monarch butterfly. Those are such neat pictures, and it was great to read about him and his unique personality! That’s an amazing picture of the red-tailed hawk, and the name of the picture with the praying mantis sure is clever.
my goodness, those are some long legs. i’m noticing the same thing with ronin too. she used to seem so tiny and all of the sudden it’s like she’s a big girl! we have quite lovely young ladies!