Nature & Wildlife Thread

[Mike in Vermont]

I finally saw some monarch cats! Have not seen one butterfly all summer. They are inhaling the milkweed. I have some that comes back every summer, volunteer plants. View attachment 133254

Last year, I let some milkweeds grow in a section of lawn near the house. I saw at least 3 dozen Monarch Butterfly hatch out. This year, I have more milkweeds but, have not seen any action. Very disappointing.

 

[addy1]

Mine are hit and miss, I planted some milk weed it did good for two years, dead this year. Think the heat and the fact I don't water killed it, and or the extreme freeze we had after things starting growing.

The milkweeds I saw it on are volunteers, the bright orange flowers. I let them seed and the seed go where it wants and grow where it wants.

 

[WaterGardener]

These tiny guys are in a pool I set up for water lilies. Tree frogs, I was told. Does it seem the one in the top photo is missing a hind leg?

Sorry the images are so large. I don't know how to decrease their size so would appreciate any help with that.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

So cute!! I've been looking for baby tree frogs, but haven't seen any yet (I know I had LOTS of eggs, so I'm hoping to find a few) It could be just the way he's sitting in the picture that makes it hard to see the other hind leg? But sadly, they don't all develop properly... that's one of the reasons why frogs make so many babies.

 

[addy1]

Love my frogs! So cute it will either survive or not. Part of nature.

 

[Jono]

Why do water lilies flower? They do not produce seeds. What is the point?

 

[WaterGardener]

They actually do produce seeds. The seeds are in a gellatonous mass that looks a bit like snail eggs.

In some parts of the world, like India, they are popped and eaten like popcorn.

 

[Burd]

Yesterday, picking up sticks, I saw the big frog that left my pond last year. I tried catching him, he immediately went in the direction of my pond and went in. Looks like he knew.
just now, I saw a green hummer on my patio, I’ll put the feeder up later

 

[addy1]

What a unreal storm! Sitting on the boat, tornado warnings going off for over 2 hours, from Mt Airy to Baltimore, then the warnings down here near annapolis. We were right in the cone of it. No touch downs that I know of, but WOW what a storm. We sat on the back of the boat and watched it come in, not touching anything metal. Non stop Thunder so loud you could not talk to each other, Lightening strikes all around us. Really wild and beautiful! Blacker than black clouds. I LOVE storms! well as long as no one is hurt.

Dropped 2.67 inches of rain in about a hour.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

What a unreal storm! Sitting on the boat, tornado warnings going off for over 2 hours, from Mt Airy to Baltimore, then the warnings down here near annapolis. We were right in the cone of it. No touch downs that I know of, but WOW what a storm. We sat on the back of the boat and watched it come in, not touching anything metal. Non stop Thunder so loud you could not talk to each other, Lightening strikes all around us. Really wild and beautiful! Blacker than black clouds. I LOVE storms! well as long as no one is hurt.

Dropped 2.67 inches of rain in about a hour.

I enjoy watching storms too, but my dogs would have been hysterical messes. Even the one that doesn't mind storms, generally speaking, doesn't like it when things get TOO noisy & crazy.

 

[addy1]

I was totally surprised our two yorkies ignored the noise and light show. They were just happy to be in our laps!

 

[mrsclem]

We were supposed to get that down here in southern Md. Nothing, not a drop of rain! Saw Edgewater had a tornado. Ga

I enjoy watching storms too, but my dogs would have been hysterical messes. Even the one that doesn't mind storms, generally speaking, doesn't like it when things get TOO noisy & crazy.

I don't like storms but now letting my cat Diego let me know when things get bad. He was fine yesterday, no following me around crying. He was right, no storms.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Saw an Osprey yesterday while walking a paved trail in Milwaukee County.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

We were supposed to get that down here in southern Md. Nothing, not a drop of rain! Saw Edgewater had a tornado. Ga

I don't like storms but now letting my cat Diego let me know when things get bad. He was fine yesterday, no following me around crying. He was right, no storms.

We used to have a dog we referred to as 'Doppler Charlie' because he always knew if an approaching storm would hit us or pass on by. If he was totally unfazed by the distant thunder, it wouldn't come our way. If he started shaking/panting/drooling - we were going to get stormed on. It was amazing how accurate he was.

 

[Mmathis]

Our new neighborhood has a lot of wildlife, well, for this being NWLA, that is. Last night I flipped the light on to the back porch before bed — no reason, just checking because our cats often “alert“ to things like geckos, or green tree frogs that climb on the windows after dark.

As my eyes were adjusting, I was looking at a shadow on the edge of the porch. The shadow slowly turned its head and looked at me — it was a juvenile raccoon! I didn’t have my phone ready for a pic, darn! We see lots of ‘coon scat in the backyard, but this is the first sighting!