The good news is I have lots of information to post and lots of pictures to share!  I’m also hoping my new site is good enough to finally share with everyone, so please check it out at www.butterfliesandwildlife.com.  I have to admit this migration to my own hosted site has not been easy, nor pleasant, and I still have many updates to do, but it is getting there.

Since I’m hoping my new site will stay permanent, for those of you who subscribed to this blog, I encourage you to subscribe to my new blog, as I will gradually decrease my posting on this site.  To subscribe to my new site, just enter your email where it says “Subscribe by email” on the Menu bar (on the new site, not here).

I look forward to your thoughts and comments on the new site!

Also, if in the future I decide to start selling prints of my pictures, then that capability will be available at this new site as well.

This weekend is a busy weekend for me.  Tomorrow (actually today since it’s 12:15 am) I will need to print out all my pictures to take to my Photographing Butterflies class on Saturday.  I also hope to take several more pictures late Friday afternoon.   Saturday morning is more picture taking, then I’ll break to do my weekend chores and grocery shopping.  I’ve also got to plant some new plants I bought (need to go and guy some new soil as well). Last, but not least, I need to trim up some plants, and completely yank some others.  I’m getting an early start on the Fall cleaning of the backyard.

Butterfly-wise we are getting more and more Monarchs laying eggs, and those eggs are quickly turning to large caterpillars.  I hope I’ll have enough Milkweed when the full migration comes though.

The Hummingbirds are a different story.  We have lots and lots of them right now, and they are sucking down the sugar water like crazy.  We are having to refill our 7 feeders twice a day now.

For some strange reason, we just started getting a very large mass of Honeybees.  I wonder if a nest is nearby somewhere.  The bees never really bother me, but the wasps do.

We have also noticed we have a new late night visitor out at the bird feeders.  It’s a big ol’ rat.  Leecy will have to take care of that for me.

It’s also around this time when we start seeing a hawk or two appear.  Once they appear, the regular birds need to be careful.  If they aren’t paying attention, that hawk will swoop down and carry one of them off.  Maybe it will be able to find the rat instead.

I haven’t really mentioned it publicly, but I am really taking a hard look at taking my photography to the next level.  It’s not an easy business to do.  Anyone with a fairly decent camera can take pictures of Butterflies so I need to come up with a strategy to take my pictures to the next highest level.  I don’t have my full plan worked out yet on paper, but I do have lots of ideas in my head.  In the short term, I’d like to see a picture of two published in a magazine, and if I get to write an associated article, or even be interviewed for an article, I think that would be a real thrill.

My new website (once it’s available) will be Butterflies and Wildlife.com.  Don’t try and go there just yet as it is not set up.

In taking a step back for a moment, I have the majority of common (and some not so common) Butterflies right here in my backyard.  That’s not necessarily an easy task when you live in a suburb, but we definitely have it working.  The sheer volume of Butterflies and other wildlife that we have suggests that we are doing something right so I figure at the very least I still have more information to share.  Once you set up a Butterfly Garden, and/or one that caters to wildlife, it really is an enjoyable and relaxing endeavor.

I also should be getting that new camera soon (I hope).  That may have to be my last big purchase for a while.  I’ve got most of the tools and I’ve got many of the plants I want.  Now I need to work on doing all of this smarter and more efficiently.  Who knows, maybe I’ll publish a quick little book for attracting and raising butterflies in the Houston Gulf Coast Region.  It’s not difficult, it just takes some time to research everything and since I’ve done a lot of that, why not share some of that knowledge for just a few dollars, right?

I don’t think I would even be considering some of this stuff if it hadn’t been for the wonderful feedback I have received, either here on this blog or from personal email.  To have almost 1000 visitors a month is a nice stepping stone for me to share information over this passion I have.

That’s about all I have to say tonight as it’s getting late.  I hope everyone you reads this blog now will follow me over to my new site once it is ready.

If you’ve ever wondered what Ruby Throated Hummingbirds sound like, you can definitely hear them in this video.  Also, the flash you see coming from the left side is from my camera while I was taking pictures.

Remember, you can always subscribe to this blog and it will automatically send you an email update whenever I enter a new post.  Look in the top right corner to subscribe (where it says Subscribe to Texdr’s Blog by Email).

It was just one year ago that Hurricane Ike came through and I’m sure disrupted the migration of the Hummingbirds.  I don’t recall seeing very many last year.  It looks like this year might be like it was a couple of years ago where we probably had close to 100.

Here are just a few pictures I took this evening.  I also have some video I’ll try posting.

Unfortunately, I did get some pictures, but they are not that good, and what they do show is gross.  I think this Dove is infected with Trichomoniasis.

After doing some additional research.  It the above disease is what this Dove has, it is highly contagious.  It says the bird will continue to try to feed and drink even though it may be starving or dying of thirst (reference here).

Now I’m feeling kind of bad.  Hopefully I didn’t create a situation where this disease develops.  It says to clean the food and water stations daily (I didn’t do it every day).

Last but not least, this bird looks so miserable, how do I put it out of its misery and also protect the other birds?  I’m not good at euthanasia.  I can’t imagine trying to catch him with a net or anything.  I do have a pellet gun (which I never use).  Maybe I’ll see if Leecy can try and shoot it.  For those wondering why I would ask Leecy to try and shoot the bird to put it out of its misery, I’ll share one example of why.

We put down a glue mouse trap one time.  It worked.  The mouse was stuck in the glue.  Being the freak that I am, I was asking how we could save it and even tried to gently pry it off the glue (that made it worse).  In the end, Leecy was able to end it’s suffering, no thanks to me.

Trichomoniasis In Dove

Trichomoniasis In Dove 2

For the majority of the video, you see them sipping sugar water from 2 of the feeders.  At the end of the video, you’ll see a Hummingbird getting nectar from the Firecracker Bush.

Hummingbird On Cardinal Flower

A different angle, and different Hummingbird.

Hummingbird On Cardinal Flower 2