Goldenrod

Goldenrod

The Goldenrod (Solidago fistulosa) is in the Aster family. There are about 120 species of Goldenrod. They grow to about 40 inches or nearly 4ft tall. Some species branch out, others are like this one growing up singular. Goldenrod is also blamed for causing allergies in humans, similar to ragweed. However, the pollen is heavy and does not blow into the air. It has to be pollinated by bees or butterflies. So, in order for humans to get an allergic reaction, they must touch them in some way, maybe brush against them with their clothes.

In North America, Goldenrod is seen as a weed, but it is prized as a garden plant in Europe.
 
Goldenrod blooms from June through November and can be found in Florida in dry pinelands, flatwoods, ditches and roadsides.

White Peacock Butterfly

White Peacock Butterfly

One of my favorite butterflies, and the first butterfly photo I took after moving to Florida, is the White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) Butterfly. I love the iridescent color of his wings. They remind me of my favorite stone and my birthstone, the opal.

Their food plants are Water Hyssop and Ruellia and inhabit moist or swampy areas. They can be found throughout South Florida and South Texas as well as the American tropics. They have been known to stray North to Kansas and Massachusetts, but that is a rarity, because they are not really strong fliers and not very hardy.

Buckeye Butterfly

I'm giving up on the 365 project. I just don't always have the time or the ambition. Today I remembered, but I wasn't feeling very well and had a lot of errands to run. It seems that life just gets in the way sometimes.

However, I'm not abandoning it altogether. I'm going to stick to the part that I write my blog every day. Today I went back through my archives and found this shot of this Buckeye butterfly taken last April at the Roosevelt Wetlands Preserve in Pinellas Park, FL.

They're not very rare, but we don't see many of them here in Florida. I think they hide or blend in very well. This one was on the grass. Maybe it's their habits.

The Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia), can usually be found at or near shorelines, roadsides, railroad embankments, fields and meadows, swamp edges and other open places throughout the South in North America. They can also be found in the Summer in the Northeast.

Loggerhead Shrike

Well here it is the second day of January, and I didn't get out with my camera again today. My New Year's Resolution isn't going very well, is it? At least so far I'm completing half of it. It's my second day blogging this year.

This Loggerhead Shrike was photographed during a photowalk at the Roosevelt Wetlands Preserve. It was the first time we went there and I couldn't believe how many birds we saw there. The best part is it's local so I didn't have to travel far to get there.

Loggerhead Shrikes (Lanius ludovictianus) can be found in grasslands, orchards and open areas. It feeds on insects and smaller prey like small birds and mice. It usually impales them on a thorn or a barbed wire fence to facilitate eating later on. That's how it got its nickname, "Butcher Bird".

Doing What a Bee Does Best

While on a meetup at a new place one of the members of my group has discovered, the first thing I saw was this huge Prickly-Pear Cactus at the edge of the parking lot.

These blooms are a Honey Bee magnet. I've never seen these blossoms with no bees busily pollinating these beautiful flowers.

Prickly-Pear Cactus blossoms (Opuntia humifusa) bloom from April through August, and they can be found in sandy pinelands, open dry woods,dunes and pastures. The fruit is edible.