The Heir Apparent to the Monarch

Here is the little guy. He sure is growing fast. I lost sight of them for a time but I can find them easily now.
The Heir Apparent is well on his way

This generation of the Monarch will only live for a total of about 3 to 4 months. The next generation will live to be more than 8 months and travel to Mexico and back.

Here is the seed pod of the Next Generation of the Milk Weed. Next year's home for this Monarch Butter-fly's Grandkids. It is rather neat how Nature just ticks along in harmony with it self.

The Monarch Babies are Born

This young guy just hatched a short while before

These are the same two, that came from the eggs shown last week

A close up. Actually very plain at this very young stage. Now to keep track of them. I do know that they will not leave so it is just a matter a looking for them daily

The Flower head of the Milk-weed. It is actually very beautiful

Here are the Milk-weed that have the babies on. These will be all stripped down in a few weeks. they all stand over a meter tall.

a Monarch Butter-fly and her eggs

This old Monarch was laying eggs in my Milkweed yesterday. I will send pics here as they hatch and grow and become adults. It will take about a month or more.

This is an old lady, Her wings are tattered, scales missing and her colour is lacking. She is probably 4 months old. They live about four months normally.

One of the two eggs I seen her lay. These are called

Egg-citement

a close up of the egg

Here is a second egg, there are six in total that I found.

This is what keeping nature in the garden is all about. Leaving some of the natural fona where it be, nature will come.

Birds from here

A Cathartes aura (Turkey Buzzard), In their own way they are beautiful !!! What is incredible is watching them glide threw the air. They are amazing to watch. This one was flying over my house this evening.

A Charadrius vociferus Kill-dear, This one was at the Ball diamond just a couple 100 meters from my house. It is amazing how they fuss when you get near them. Broken wing and all, faked of course

A beautiful Hirundo austica (Barn Swallow). This one is a very busy guy. He has a home at the next door neighbour's place. They are the perfect insect controller.

a lovely Zenaida macroura (Morning Dove) in one of my trees.

In the Garden, To-day

I have no Idea what this rose is called but there are thousands of blooms and they are all the size of a Canadian or /USA Dime

Chive flowers in my Herb Garden

Alexander Mackenzie Explorer Rose, this is incredible

A Ragosa, A wild rose bloom. This plant came from the Farm out in Saskatchewan

Who can resist the Butter-cup. I let a few always grow in the garden.

Just a few pics from the day, nothing special really but it is nice to share a bit of ones day!!!!

What is your favourite part of your day in your Garden?

 For me it is to walk around with a coffee in hand and watching my dog go crazy first thing in the morning!!!!!

A few Wildlife domestic activity pics

A bee in the Wisteria flowers. There where hundreds of bees in this to-day. My Wisteria is having the best flowering year to date and it is incredible to see.

Here is my buddy, I actually called him Buddy Robin!!!. He has set up a  residence again in the yard but moved this year. The next pic will show where. Rather cute really. He has become Condo Urban.

Here is the Robin's Nest. It is sitting on top of a bird house. The Bird house is occupied by a pair of House Sparrows. There seems to be no complaints by either family and are doing extremely well as neighbours.

After a week of rain and cold, actually more like early April, To-day was a warm sunny day. That really sucked, I had to work to-day so I did not get a chance to do any gardening or real picture taken. I am hoping in the next few days to get some wild life back into the Blog, Those are my favourites. There is so much activity now.

Busy as a Bee

Just a couple of pics of a bee doing her thing on a Bleeding Heart. I find it so relaxing watching nature. The primary reason I have this garden now is for nature. I have learned so much in the last few years

A few birds

Turdus migratorius (American Robin) This guy is a friend of mine and we have known each other for a couple of years now. He creates a nest in my Catalpa Tree each spring and I always make worm hunting a breeze for him. I recognize him by the fact that he has one back feather always out of place, not seen here. We are buddies really, he has no fear of me at all.

This Cardinalis cardinalis (Northern Cardinal) has a nest near by and he is a real talker. I love their song and it is so distinctive. These are my favourite song bird for show. If you never seen one it is hard to believe how red their red really is. The male does lose some of that brilliance after the mating but is still amazing.

Passer domesticus (House Sparrow) These guys are so common here that it is hard to remember that they are a transplant from England. They are a wonderful social bird that really carries on. O man can these guys fight and carry on. I understand that they have been so successful that they have displaced many native birds.

Like Clock Work

Picoides pubescens, (Downy Wood Pecker). This is a great little guy. He visits like clock work. Every morning at 07:30 hrs he comes to this tree. I am interested in what he will do to-marrow as this tree was cut down to-day. I am not worried about him as he visit other trees in my neighbour-hood as well.

Not exactly Easter Eggs

Here it is just days after the first Toad invasion of the year.
I have Thousands of eggs on hundreds of strands in the fish pond. I suspect if the last couple of years are any indication I will have about a 70 % survival rate. Great for the Toads as well as us really.

The Bafo b americanus ( Eastern American Toad) is a great hunter of insects and un-wanted creatures of the garden.. These guys when they leave the pond will be the size of a pinky finger nail. They are truly small when they leave and when they do, it is a black carpet of moving souls. We have no shortage of these creatures in my neighbour-hood. I wonder why!!!

Spring is in the Air

 

The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

The Eastern American toad (Bufo b americanus)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_toad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Sparrow

Spring is really here for sure now. Nature is getting ready for the next generation, every where. We have been so fortunate as of the last few days. Our temperatures have been in the mid to high 20's o C. I even cut my front yard on Thursday. Now for the by-weekly chore for the next 6 months!!!!.

So now I have toads in the pond making courtship noise all night long. The Birds are busy with their mating, and fighting over territory. That said I love it all.
I hope every one enjoys the Easter week-end,

Life Cycle of a Queen

This is a series of photos of the same butter-fly from Egg to Adult. It took several weeks to get through all the stages. I was lucky to be out on my front Veranda when I saw the mother depositing an egg on a Milk-weed that I let grow in the flower bed. I kept track of it all along, at times it was a search but I stuck to it. I had taken hundreds of pictures. These represent the essence of what happened. As the Title would indicate this is a female