The Monarch butterflies fly all the way up north from Mexico to lay their eggs on the underside of Milkweed plants. These eggs will grow into a beautiful caterpillar like this one which goes through 5 stages and eventually makes its own chrysalis. It will emerge as a gorgeous Monarch butterfly! The new Monarch butterfly will get strong enough to make the journey back south before the weather gets too cold. Amazing, don’t you think?
Have you ever seen a Monarch caterpillar? We had a chrysalis hanging from one of the shingles on our house last fall. I sure hope we see another one this year!
I’ve seen a lot of Climbing Nightshade, also known as Bittersweet Nightshade, wildflowers along the trails on Cape Cod. I took this photograph at Fort Hill down by the marsh although you can see them all along the trails.
Climbing Nightshade wildflowers are a climbing vine with 1/2″ violet flowers swept back from a yellow central “beak” in loose clusters. It forms egg-shaped shiny green berries which turn to bright red in late summer.
Important to note: The berries are poisonous!
I love it when the Bluebirds have their babies in our yard. They are so much fun to watch. This Mom would fly down to the feeder and get a mealworm while the baby stood on top of the feeder waiting. He was so cute! You can see it with its mouth wide open waiting for some food. (Click on blog link for more photos.)
Love the sequence of photographs. In the 1st photo, mom is on the right with the mealworm in her mouth while the little ones waits patiently. Ha! In the 2nd and 3rd photos the chick is waiting for dinner while mom is just standing there…
Too cute, don’t you think?
