Alicia, yet again your photos are a bright suprise and joy on an early Monday morning when it is gloomy and chilly. You are a great photographer. Thanks for making my day!

Thank you Amy. It was nice to see so much activity on Saturday, the weather was so warm.

Anyone know what this little butterfly is?

{{gwi:562171}}

{{gwi:562172}}

it's a male falcate orangetip. Anthocaris midea. Found it in Butterflies of the Carolinas. Love that book- shows fronts, backs and the pillars for positive ID. They eat mustard clan members- rockcress, field peppergrass, cut leaf toothwort, bittercress, shepherd's purse and garlic mustard. It says: " This small delicate butterfly provides a welcome hint of approaching spring by appearing during the cool, unpredictable early season. " Only the males have the orange tip. It only has a single generation, so i guess you see them in spring and that's it. Pretty little guy- don't think i've noticed one before! Thanks for sharing.

I've seen more insects here in three years then I have seen my whole life. I have not seen that lovely before. Its gorgeous. Alicia what a wonderful picture. Adele

Thank you Adele. Thank you Tammy for the ID. When Gene saw the picture he said he didn't remember seeing a butterfly like that, and no wonder, since they only show in early spring. That sounds like a very nice book, and what a wonderful description of the butterfly.

It is- it's the best guide i've seen or used. It's organized by dominant color of the butterfly, and there's a shortcut guide in the front for the shapes, so you can narrow it down quickly. The pix and info are on the same pages (i hate the guides with the pix in one spot and info somewhere else). My only gripe is there are no moths- only butterflies. I'd love a companion moth guide, but don't recall seeing one. I bought it at the science museum downtown. If i think of it, i'll try to remember to bring it to the swap so you can see it. My kids let it get wet by leaving it outside once, so it's a little worse for wear, but is still great, if stiff. I guess i should be pleased they cared enough to try and ID something, but i sure was mad they half ruined it, esp since it was practically new and they did completely ruin a guide that was a gift from when i was a kid and my dad had made numerous notes in.

Tiger Swallowtail

{{gwi:562174}}

{{gwi:562176}}

The wind almost tipped him over a few times:

{{gwi:562179}}

{{gwi:562182}}

{{gwi:562185}}

{{gwi:562188}}

{{gwi:562191}}

{{gwi:562195}}

{{gwi:271143}}

Just a random question. Are bumble bees and Honey bees 2 different things? Are they both native? I know American honeybees are dying off randomly in recent years. Is seeing a giant bumblebee a good thing. I was so glad to see him/her floating around last weekend. That's for sure!!

JQ- they are different. Honeybees are from europe originally, but they naturalized here. Mason bees and bumblebees are native, among others. They and other insects do some pollination, too. Masonbees are helpful for early season pollination, esp of fruit tree crops. Bumbles are especially good at pollinating blueberries and tomatoes. Bumbles actually do produce honey, but since their nests are underground, it isn't really harvestable. from what i've read they have much smaller hives, too- so not so much in quantity. As a rule they are gentle and won't sting unless provoked somehow. Wasps actually are great pollinators, too- and they catch and eat caterpillars, so even though they're testy and more prone to unprovoked stinging, they are worth leaving alone if they're not in a bad place. I don't know how useful hornets like yellow jackets are, but i'm less forgiving of them because they are so ornery.

Here's a couple of pictures of honeybees. I haven't seen any bumbles yet but probably will this week.

{{gwi:562197}}

{{gwi:562199}}

Oh- the bumbles are going nuts out on my blueberries! We do some honeybees around- mostly i figure because our old psycho neighbor who had bees released them when he got tired of dealing with them after a yr or so. We had them before that, but not as many.

So far I've honeybees -- lots -- carpenter bees, and my least favorite, paper wasps. But I bet all of the bees will be waking up this week. It's going to be warm!

Yup- seen some paper wasps, too- one who's trapped on my porch but is happy pollinating the lemon tree. And plenty of borer bees- they like our shed.

More honeybee pics:

{{gwi:562200}}

{{gwi:562202}}

{{gwi:562204}}

{{gwi:562206}}

{{gwi:562207}}

{{gwi:562210}}

{{gwi:271144}}

These pics aren't great close-ups but I kind of like the effect of the second one.

Hummingbird moth:

{{gwi:562212}}

{{gwi:562214}}

Love that wing ripple!

Gray Hairstreak again:

{{gwi:562216}}

Honeybee:

{{gwi:271145}}

Great pictures Akicia.
Thanks for the education all. I got a lot to learn about NC.

Sorry I spelt your name wrong Alicia.

Wonderful photos!

Our hollies have such a sweet fragrance right now and the honeybees are swarming those. I saw my first butterflies yesterday. I couldn't get close enough to all the flitting about, but I think they were tiger swallowtails. It's time to start carrying the camera to the garden again.

A favorite plant for the bumbles is a deciduous St. John's Wort. When it blooms, the bumbles work themselves into a frenzy on it until they look like they are passed out! It frightened me at first as I thought they were sick. However, I could easily rouse them out of their stupor! Happy Bees!

Cameron

Thank you Cameron. On very warm days these guys are hard to photograph, they zip around so fast, lol.

A chilly spring day made this little guy much easier to photograph than carpenter bees often are. He was clinging to the back of the horse shelter, apparently waiting for some warmth and sunshine.

{{gwi:562218}}

{{gwi:562220}}

{{gwi:562223}}

{{gwi:562226}}

so pretty, Alicia!