The Butterflies' Garden

In addition to the butterflies and caterpillars, Butterflies of Cape Cod is filled with beautiful plants and flowers

OK this freaky looking thing is a mud dauber wasp, or at least 2-3 of them stuck together.  I saw it in the parking lot  when I left and at first glance, I thought it was a dying butterfly that had escaped and had ragged wings.  I was really freaked out when I bent down to have a closer look.  I sent the picture to an entomologist/research scientist and asked what kind of mutant wasp this was.  He wrote back right away to say it was at least 2 mud dauber wasps, but he could not tell what they were doing because very little is known about them.  He said that it's possible that this was a mating thing, since they hatch in summer, or perhaps their nest had recently been hit with pesticide, causing them to lethargically stick together.  Either way I hope I never see this again.  I've dubbed it Waspzilla.

First Visit to Butterflies of Cape Cod

I got a late start to my multiple visits to Butterflies of Cape Cod.  Usually I go in June but everything was going sideways that month and I just never had a chance to stop in.  

Right now they mostly have monarchs, but there were a couple of swallowtails, sugarbushes and some others that I didn't get the names of.  Lots of them too!  It should be noted that if you visit this or any other butterfly garden you absolutely MUST be conscious of where you step.  They often land on the ground and you don't want to accidentally kill one of these beautiful and delicate creatures.  

I got there when they opened and the butterflies' breakfast had just been put out.  The sun wasn't quite out yet so a lot of them still had their wings up and weren't moving much.

This swallowtail looks a bit ragged.  He may be near the end of his life cycle.

 Their camouflage markings are gorgeous.

Can't remember what this one is but this plant was covered with them.

This might be a cercropia moth.

Monarchs that will hatch soon

 I think this is the ragged guy from above.  His underside markings are amazing!

Butterflies of Cape Cod

As mentioned in a prior post, I made another visit to Butterflies of Cape Cod to drop off more jewelry and visit the habitat!  

The lunar moth caterpillars are huge now!  Should be fully formed moths in a couple of weeks.

No idea what this is but it sure is pretty!

More monarchs are hatching.

Don't know what this is but it's pretty! I love the blue butterflies best.

The sugarbush swallowtail photobombed me.

This is a very unusual flower.  Never seen one before.

I love these flowers

Pink, orange & yellow is one of my fave combos.

I followed the sugarbush around for quite awhile because I really wanted a pic of it's open wings.  It was so cute just fluttering around but then finally landed.

This one is cool too!

When I left, this big and unusual dragonfly landed on the wooden bench.  I've never seen one like it before. I looked it up and it's some kind of Broad Bellied Chaser, but all the pics I googled didn't show striped wings like this one has.

Stoked for the lunar moths! Stay tuned!

Butterflies & Bournedale

Butterflies of Cape Cod reopened for the season on June 1 so I headed down to see their new habitat.  I inquired if they ever sold any of the jewelry I dropped off last fall and I was pleased to receive a check from the sales!

Their new habitat is really nice.

Can't remember the name of these moths, but they only live a week because they don't have a mouth!  The caterpillars are able to eat but once they emerge as moths, they starve!  Poor things.

Oh HAI!

More getting ready to hatch.  This features only regional butterflies and ones that can live in our climate.

Around the grounds.

Then I walked up to the old Bournedale Schoolhouse and the smaller building next door.

Reflection of the schoolhouse in the window.

Bournedale Schoolhouse, 1897.

No idea what it's used for now, but it looks like a preservation group is looking for donations to upgrade the place.