Yesterday will now be called Nature Day.
Morning found us outside standing near the Funky Patio (dubbed Funky Patio in 2010 when we threw it together on a whim) watching an Eastern Swallowtail butterfly float, fly, hover and circle the maple tree. He landed on the poison ivy leaves, on the leaves of other non-flowering plants, obsessively circling and landing as if he was absolutely sure that these plants held nectar of some kind. I kept saying “No. That’s not going to work. Go to the phlox.” But still he circled. At times, his circle widened and he came very near us as we stood absolutely still. This went on for at least ten minutes. Magical.
Then I spied this on the section of picket fence that functions as a door on our front porch.
Two Stick Bugs, or Walking Sticks, one much smaller than the other, which led me to believe – in my naiveté – that one was the mom and the other was a baby. Off to Google I went, looking up Stick Bugs. Nope. Babies don’t hang around moms. In fact, moms drop eggs hither and yon and don’t stay with them.
No. My second instinct was the right one. They are mating. And, according to Wikipedia, this ‘mating’ can take quite a while. Days. If you were able to be on the porch looking downward on the bugs, you’d see that the little one is hooked around the big one near the bottom. In fact, if you look closely here, you can see it.
They were there last night. I haven’t been outside yet this morning to see if they’re still at it.
Then we took a mile and a half walk on the Rail Trail.
Then, I saw this beauty on the butterfly bush:
It’s a Great Spangled Fritillary – which has to be my favorite butterfly name of all time.
All in all, a lovely Nature Day.
Not one bird in the birdbath yesterday. I fear we’ve reached that time in the late summer when they begin to take off for other climes. I miss them. Henry? Who knows where he is? Bunnies? Not a one. But the mourning doves are still hanging around. Thank goodness.
Some of you saw the comment from my reader April Baldwin yesterday. I had mentioned the fire that destroyed the home of our dear friends earlier this week. Well, April – who lives with her daughter and son-in-law in Northern California – lost her home to a fire this week. A fire that was started by an arsonist. They also lost their four cats in the fire when rescuers couldn’t get to them.
Words fail me at times like this. What can I say that is even remotely helpful or soothing or caring? My heart goes out to this friend who has lost everything. Sending prayers and love and a hope for healing to you and yours April. And thank you to those commenters who reached out to April on yesterday’s post.
Happy Saturday.
What beautiful butterflies. I have been watching the hummingbirds get the last of the nectar from flowers in front of my window. The birds haven’t been at the feeder in a few days either. I just read your blog post from yesterday and my heart breaks for your friends and your reader April. So much loss. Sending much love to all.
Linda
Too much to take in, Linda. xo
I’ve never seen a Great Spangled Fritillary…nor Walking Stick bugs mate…thanks for that! Both are beautiful in different ways! We must appreciate the nature that abounds, for fear that it will no longer be there for us. My heart goes out to all those who have lost their homes, whether it be to fire or floods. So far…our birds are still at the feeders…hummingbirds too, getting quite fat I might add! They usually leave here around the middle of September. We’ll see what they do this year, since it’s been so unusual! Enjoy your day! ;)
I see walking stick bugs rarely! This is a real treat. And maybe one Great Spangled Fritillary a summer.
Walking Stick Bugs! Who knew? Nature is heartbreaking, though, whether horrifyingly wrathful or amazingly beautiful. So sorry for April’s loss, but grateful for your lovely views of of its better side.
Thank you, Shanna.
Thank you Claudia for the kind words. We actually lost 4 cats in the fire. My daughter and her husband went to the site yesterday and found some of the cat’s remains in the rubble. They went back this morning to find more so they can have a burial for them. My son in law Jordan is a vet tech. so he has access to anything he needs. We are all heartbroken here. Nothing was left of our home. The entire neighborhood is gone. It is just unbelievable. Thank you to all your readers for the comments. I really appreciate it. xo
Oh, that’s even more heartbreaking, April. We are heartbroken for you and are sending you and your family all of our thoughts and prayers.
April, I am so sorry for your devastating loss.
I am praying that you and your neighbors will see the good in humanity soon, as people and organizations come forward to offer assistance.
Please accept the assistance. You can pay it forward someday.
Blessings to all of you.
I’m so sorry for April’s loss, especially the cats. I have three, and losing any of them would be very very difficult for me. I’m disturbed by what I recently heard on the radio, that 90% of California’s wildfires were caused by humans, whether in error or intentionally. On the other hand, I have total respect for the men and women who put their lives on the front lines, fighting these fires.
They are heroes, of course. Brave beyond measure. I can’t imagine losing my beloved pets that way and my heart goes out to April and her family.
With so much loss and heartbreak from fire and flooding, your beautiful nature photos lift spirits. My heart sends out hope and well wishes for all those in sad and troubled situations.
On a lighter note, I have to mention a funny cartoon recently brought to my attention. A pair of preying mantis were in conversation–the female explaining to the male after she mated with him and before she killed him, she would be needing his assistance hanging some shelves. That ranks right up there with another favorite of mine. The caption being how nervous little dogs begin their day—drawing of a small dog with a stool pushed up to the kitchen countertop making a cup of espresso. We once had a very nervous little chihuahua and I always envisioned her doing that.
I hope tomorrow brings promises of better things to come for all~
Thanks for those cartoons, Jeannine! We could all use a smile right now!
Well, I’ve always heard that I’d eventually see pornography “pop up” somewhere on the Internet – out of the blue. And today, it finally did. But that it happened here – at Mockingbird Hill Cottage – is most shocking of all! Hahahaha! No, seriously. Today’s post really is a mini-version of PBS’ “Nature.” And I’m so glad. PS – I suppose the smaller walking stick is the female. Now I’ll have to go look that up myself. See? I’m ALWAYS learning something new here. Have a wonderful weekend. 😎
No, I think the smaller stick is the male. The females, according to my research are bigger and quite powerful!
So sad about the fires. And for your friend to lose all that she lost,,, I can’t even wrap my head around that. I heard on the news last night that there were many who would not heed the evacuation orders in the big fires, and then the firefighters were called in to do rescues. That makes me angry. When people are stubborn about leaving which creates more danger for others, that is just stupid. (sorry)
The male hummingbirds leave our neck of the woods the first couple of weeks of Sept. That is why the feeders are so very busy right now. Then the females and babies follow after that. It amazes me the long trip that they have ahead of them and then back again next Spring. That butterfly is beautiful. All I could think of was Jerry Lee Lewis standing at the piano and singing “Great Spangled Fritillary”!! Happy Saturday!
We heard the same thing. I know that in the face of losing everything, it’s hard to evacuate, but if you don’t, you put the firefighters’ lives in danger.
I don’t know if the birds have left yet, but the same thing happened last year with catbirds and robins and finches. I’ll keep an eye out, but they sure aren’t availing themselves of the birdbath.
Well, when I lived for awhile on the Gulf Coast, and we knew nothing about hurricanes and tornadoes (being from California), we were poised to get hit by that tornado that eventually hit Homestead, Florida…actually, I think it was a hurricane, I’m remembering now: Hurricane Andrew. We waited too late to do everything because we’d only been in Texas a couple of months; weren’t very oriented to the area at all yet and we didn’t really know anybody from whom to even get any tips. That’s just a personal flaw, though; we should have been more attuned to the environment. What can I say…we were young(er) but certainly old enough to be better informed. Never had I been to large stores only to find nothing on the shelves…and I mean NOTHING; no batteries, no water, no FOOD. People were taking off in droves and the roads leading out of our subdivision were impassable. My husband actually didn’t want to leave anyway (he said, ‘where can we go with no money and five pets that any evac shelter will turn away?’); he was afraid of leaving our new house, which had sucked up our last dollar…the TV news, before we lost power, was citing early vandalism in evacuated neighborhoods…but that’s how dangerously naive we were, assuming we’d even have a house after it was all over, should we indeed get targeted by the hurricane and not have the storms pass over us as, fortunately, they did. We had no cellar; very vulnerable. Anyway, it was an eye opener and we quickly learned after that to have a game plan.
What happens too, with wildfire, is that you can think you can stay, defend your home with a garden hose…I’ve watched my dad do that, hose in hand, up on the roof…but what happens when the water goes dry, since the water lines are being tapped into by fire protection personnel? If you have a swimming pool, they’ll even sometimes use water from your pool. With California wildfire, like in Malibu, we’ve had friends who couldn’t get back in to rescue anything…in previous years, we knew one family who, with no warning, were overtaken so fast by wildfire that the only way they escaped was to run to the water and stand in the waves. The house burned to the ground. Fire can come boiling down a canyon and burn to the sea, lightning fast, especially if spurred on by what are called sundowner winds, which is what happened to them. Fire is already-usually out of control by the time you spot smoke. It’s sometimes hard to know what to do, WHEN, how soon; you do have to be guided by the firefighters, of course; even they can get caught/trapped. Fire builds momentum so fast and gets so hot. You go to work one day and everything is fine; by the time you’re off work for the day, you’re prevented from getting back home. I left one morning for a job interview an hour north and there was white smoke high in the hills; by the time we returned in the afternoon, we could barely drive through dark gray and dense smoke in town with headlights on and red flames shooting high from the lower ridge lines. We have a large, historical, much-loved enclave in my town which is up a creek canyon and a fire captain acquaintance of ours just last week told us that the town can no longer defend that area anymore because there isn’t enough ‘clearance’ around the homes; in other words, the people love their centuries-old oak trees, which touch branch to branch over roofs, providing beautiful shade and a haven for birds and squirrels. I absolutely love it and my aim has always been to live there…it’s like living in a park…and I spent a lot of my childhood in those country neighborhoods because my aunt and uncle had a lovely home on one of the streets that did, in fact, dead-end at the creek but, after listening to our fire-fighter friend talking about the dangers of those gorgeous, tree-laden areas, my husband said hands-down, no, ‘we can’t move there, Vicki!!’ – – especially with the drought changing everything to a landscape none of us have EVER been prepared for, so dry and crisp and dead, even though we did get SOME (not enough) rain this year. Makes me sad. Where I live now isn’t in a scenic area whatsoever. Am I safer from fire? Maybe. Firefighters to a point can only do so much.
So sad for April and family, and to lose your beloved pets that way. Can’t imagine.
Love your nature photos Claudia. While weeding this morning I just stood and observed
and gently spoke to a lovely swallowtail on my butterfly bushes (yes, I am guilty of speaking
and singing to the critters). She (too pretty for a boy) performed her ballet of
flitting around on the breeze drinking daintily from each minute blossom. While
tying up my sweet peas on a trellis I heard a whirring and a little girl hummer hovered
over my pink t shirt seeming to wait for me to finish my job so she could get to her flowers.
The natural world never ceases to amaze and entertain, and it’s all FREE to enjoy! Take care.
The natural world, as you definitely know, is amazing and a constant source of wonder!
I love that you appreciate the butterflies and know their names, Claudia.
And one day, butterflies will again beautify where fire ravaged.
I couldn’t stop thinking about April and tragedy when I eventually read her comment toward day’s end yesterday. In a few, concise sentences, what lay behind the words was life in total disruption; understandable despair and grief for the loss of so, so much. April, I’m glad you could reach out, anywhere you can. Nobody else can do much, but cyber hugs do mean something when maybe not much else makes sense. I wish you hope and gentleness today. Life can be so fragile.
It helps. The love and prayers and cyber hugs help. Thank you to everyone for reaching out to April.
I love seeing the bugs that resemble other things in nature…the walking sticks and Katydids that look like leaves..the smaller “stick” is actually the male…What a beautiful name for a butterfly…I can’t even imagine losing my sweet little friends here…the love and affection of my kitties make every day just a little bit better for me…Your searching for their little bodies and giving them a proper burial shows me how much they were loved…and to think all of this destruction and heartache was caused by another human being..well…I’m beginning to wonder how human some beings are inside…Even though it wouldn’t really change anything April…I would love to give you a great big hug…sometimes even a small gesture like that can be the beginning of healing…
Yes, I’d already written a reply to Janet that the smaller stick bug was the male. I did a lot of research yesterday because I was so fascinated by them. They’re gone today, and I have to say I felt a little sad. I liked seeing them.
April – everyone is sending their love and hugs and prayers and hopes for healing. We can’t imagine what you’re going through, but everyone (as you can see in the many comments by my incredibly compassionate readers) is thinking of you and your family.
Thank you all for the words of encouragement. It’s going to be rough for a while but I know better days are ahead for us. Claudia a great big thank you for allowing me to use your comment section to tell our story. It’s really nice to know that there are people out there who really care. My heart is full. xoxo
Bless you, April. We are thinking of you and praying for you, knowing that things will get better and healing will come. xoxo
What a great day you had yesterday! God is so good to provide us with such beauty to enjoy.
I agree!
:O Stick bugs!!! Awesome. :D
I know!