Appears to share many Hairstreak characteristics. It is a beautiful BF.

A grasshopper nymph for you.

All right, I posted my butterflies and bird photos from my visit to Bok Tower Gardens yesterday, so now it's time for my other friends!

In case you haven't heard the saga of Melanie's camera, the short story is that my Panasonic is being repaired somewhere in Texas, and I'm using my old Sony. So the pictures may not be the quality you're used to. Or it might just be me.

Pretty sure that's a Green Lynx Spider in there.



That's also one reason I've learned which caterpillars build silk nests and how they construct them. I opened far too many with spiders in them before I learned! Sometimes, I still can't help myself and I have to look.

The camellias are in bloom and the bees are loving them!






This bee went into the Shaving Brush Tree and never came out! Just kidding, but it was having fun in there.

I have been trying to photograph moths feeding at daylily flowers at night. So far I have found it is a true thing that they do not come out if a camera is noticeable. There was a lovely moth last night but by the time I got upstairs for the camera and back, it was gone. I must admit it was setting a cracking pace from bloom to bloom.

But I was surprised to see a Lynx Spider active. It must be a tough run for the moths. You would think the spiders would be sated by day's end when you see how many of my native bees they knock off.

FYI, Dad put my bee box up. I'll take a picture of it whenever I go outside. Having a lot of fibromyalgia pain today so I'm taking it easy. I like the idea of helping the native, solitary bees. Also, there's no way I have the energy to maintain a beehive so this seems like a good alternative. I'll keep tabs on it and I was thinking if it does well, maybe I could set up a couple more around the yard. I put this one right next to my "official" butterfly garden because it recommended placing the box near nectar flowers so the bees don't have to spend too much energy finding food.

In case you forgot, this is the bee box I bought from a vendor at the FL Wildflower Foundation Symposium. She sells on Etsy, too. Her website has good info even if you don't buy anything: http://www.creativegardenstruc...

The bee box is up!



Dad said when he was putting it up, he had a bee fly over and check it out and he said it was not a honey bee. I was looking in the holes and the bottom left one appeared to have some stuff in it. Looks like wood shavings, but I know all the holes were clean when I bought it. Dad's a woodturner so we have wood shavings all over the place. He likes to mulch my gardens with them. I think we're also harboring a family of skinks in the garage. I'll keep an eye on the bee box to see what develops!

Looks great Melanie, I want my DH to make me one similar to that for spring.

@mellielong, that is beautiful! There's a guy at a local festival that sells bee supporting stuff and he had one of these. He explained that it's attractive to carpenter bees. Those are kind of my favorite because they are so friendly. I've heard that you can actually pet them! And they can be very large and fuzzy too!

And thanks for teaching me what a skink is! I was so sure it was a typo until I looked it up!

I had a skink get in my bathroom a couple of months ago and I don't know who ended up more terrified! I did finally grab him with a towel and deposited him out in the yard.

Nice bee house.

I think Skinks are cute. And they eat spiders. There was a tiny one in the utility room the other day. I admit I don't like to touch them but I asked dh to put it in the garage with the plants. I was afraid the cat would get it, which he does. It's kinda weird seeing him playing with a skink tail wiggling around... usually the tail-less skink will get away.

I have forgotten to post this. This is a Black Flying Fox. They are megabats. A colony has made a camp down the road. The wingspan is about 3.5 feet. I love them but they eat my papaya. I have to pick the fruit as soon as any yellow appears on the skin or the bats smell the esters and hone in on them.

They say everything's bigger in Texas, but I think Australia is winning.

Ooo, that's my kind of bat! Mind sending some my way?? Lol

We just purchased our first home, and I hope to get some bat houses set up in spring. I'm interested to see if there will be any in our area.

I hope my new neighbors don't mind bees and bats lol

Britnay, if they don't, just remind them they like food and don't like mosquitoes. Bees are responsible for 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat. And bats eat tons of mosquitoes!

Awesome bat!

I'm pretty sure we don't have bats that big in Texas! We do have a family of forest dwelling bats that fly around the house in the evenings. I think they are actually called Evening Bats; they are small but mighty eaters.

I don't know if they are found as north as MI but they are found is Missouri and Iowa, declineing in Indiana; may be around if old timber can be found in your area. http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild...

~Merry Christmas~ to my creepy crawly loving friends!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Cheryl, one of my friends shared that on Facebook and even my mother liked it! But I don't think she'd be so friendly if she saw that spider in real life.

Brilliant, Cheryl!

I still have pollinators, but if you haven't seen it on the other thread, my camera broke! It's under warranty, but the part is back ordered, so I'm just waiting. In the meantime, I'm using my old camera which is not quite as good. So less pics. But today I saw a large pollinator friend, so I made sure to take some photos to keep you guys going during winter.

Nice pics. They sure are taking their time with your camera!