Tiny Changes - Monarch Caterpillar

 “A tiny change today brings a 

dramatically different tomorrow.”

 - Richard Bach 

 This image captured on September 5, 2024 documents my first of year (2024) sighting of a Monarch Caterpillar - found along the Huckleberry Trail between Plantation Road and Hethwood. 

I was truly fortunate to have captured his shadow too!

Wasp on the Wildflowers

 If you truly love nature, 

you will find beauty everywhere. 

—Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

Print Available - HERE

Seen during my walk through the Hahn Horticulture Garden - July 23, 2022 

I think this is a Golden Digger Wasp.  ID help appreciated.

Silvery Checkerspot Butterfly

“There is an undeniable exhilaration in moment of even the smallest discovery” 

― Graham Moore

This was such an exciting find for me. My first Silvery Checkerspot EVER - seen on June 23, 2019 at Heritage Park in Blacksburg, Virginia. Nectaring on the milkweed that is abundant in this area. I try to inspect this milkweed weekly for monarch caterpillars, and to my delight saw this beauty. It was quite thrilling!

Print Available - HERE 

Monarch Caterpillar - Living on the Leaves

Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful. 

~ A.R. Ammons

Monarch Caterpillar on its host plant, Milkweed.

Print Available - HERE 

Milkweed Seed Pods

"This very moment is a seed from which the flowers of tomorrow's happiness grow." 

~ Margaret Lindsey

Print Available - HERE 

Monarch Butterfly Art

Print Available - HERE 

Pay attention to what gets your attention. 

- Gina Mollicone-Long

Orange Milkweed

"Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities of the world." 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Print Available - HERE 

Hope for the Future

Hope is not a prediction of the future; it's a declaration of what's possible. 

- Yogi Bhajan

A Monarch Caterpillar munches on the milkweed.  HOPEFULLY he will grow up to become a beautiful Monarch Butterfly!  

 

Fritillary on the Milkweed

 What wonders lie in every mountain day! 

- John Muir

Monarch Caterpillar - Seen through the Leaf

Monarch Caterpillar seen through the Leaf - Munching on the Milkweed

~ A Closer Look ~

The greatest quest in life is to reach one's potential. 
~ Mychal Wynn

Egg-Laying Monarch

  What is important is not what you hear said, it's what you observe. 
 ― Michael Connelly

This Monarch is ovipositing - laying eggs.  I ALWAYS love to observe the behavior of butterflies, and bugs, and birds - and just about anything else in the kingdom of the wild.

Milkweed and Monarch

Wonder. Go on and wonder.
William Faulkner

 Milkweed is a perfect butterfly magnet and is the host plant for the Monarch butterflies.

  I was ELATED to capture a Monarch laying eggs! - See it HERE 

On the Milkweed

 Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. 

- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Summertime Walks....

  

But the beauty is in the walking -- 
we are betrayed by destinations.  

― Gwyn Thomas

Butterfly On Milkweed

Everything changes, but beauty remains.

― Kelly Clarkson

Wildflowers and Berries and Wings

Do you see the two bees in this shot?
Butterflies and Bees LOVE the Milkweed

Dragonfly

Silver Spotted Skipper

A Butterfly convention....there are at least three here on

this plant. 

Berries... (are these raspberries/blackberries?)

Do you see what is lurking on the right hand side?

Mr. Long Legs!

Another Butterfly on the Milkweed

Blue Chicory Wildflower - One of my favorites!

The seeker embarks on a journey to find what he wants and discovers, along the way, what he needs.

~ Wally Lamb

A Bluebird and Some Milkweed

This Bluebird lives at Bissett Park.

I think they are one of the prettiest birds we have around here.

I zoomed in so you could have a better look!

Below is a Milkweed seed pod.


These plants are beautiful in the summer - and beneficial -
especially for Monarch butterflies.

And a closer view!
I LOVE these plants!!