Now with the warmer weather and the hint of rain, there's plenty happening by way of garden wildlife. Every time I step out of the house, there are birds, spiders, lizards, bees and butterflies drawing my attention. I usually see the garden lizards outside but sometimes they land on the wash-basin in the guest bathroom and find it difficult to get out.
This one nearly barked at me to hurry up. So I got a pair of tongs, lifted it, went to my terrace garden and placed it on the Cardboard Palm/Zamia furfuracea (first picture). I got a most disapproving look for my efforts and it quickly jumped to the thorny branch of the bougainvillea.
After a little game of "Now you see me, now you don't", I left it to return to my chores.
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| An itsy-bitsy spider |
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| ...and its prey |
With the rains we get to see several colourful damselflies but I was happy to photograph the first damselfly of the year. It's the most common one in our area, black with yellow stripes near the head.
The few poppies that I am growing next to some phlox are attracting several bees. The yellow allamanda as well as the nasturtiums are attracting a few butterflies as well.
Caterpillar Update
The swallowtail caterpillar that I had posted last week now looks like this! Egged on (pun intended) by the sight of these butterflies-in-the-making, I stopped by a nursery today for a few more lemon plants. Imagine my delight when I saw that one of the plants I bought had five of these caterpillars. It remains to be seen how many of them make it to the butterfly stage. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
To see what's happening in the world of nature, head over to Rambling Woods where many bloggers share pictures and posts on Nature Notes.
I often come across spiders of all sizes amid my plants But some time ago as I was about to pluck some basil leaves, this small black and white spider jumped on a leaf giving me a few seconds to take this shot. This image has been cropped because the creature was so tiny. I was startled to see this shiny black spider...I'm more used to seeing the grey ones. It's a good feeling to see or notice anything new in one's surroundings. A garden, no matter how small, brings so much joy in these little discoveries.
Check out other Nature Notes posts at Michelle's Rambling Woods.
