Monday, August 17, 2009

Macro Monday: Coneflower and Friends

I planted this Purple Coneflower last fall in the vegetable garden to attract pollinators and it bloomed for the first time this weekend. This morning it had attracted some new friends.

Here's a little Folded-winged Skipper of some sort enjoying the nectar. When basking in the sun, they hold their fore winds and hind wings at different angles unlike other butterflies. They have really big eyes! I would say they fall into the cute category.

Here's a male Little Metalmark or Fatal Metalmark. Don't you love how butterflies uncoil their proboscis to take a drink? His striped antennae are interesting.

Closer up you can see the metalic lines in his patterning that give these butterflies their name.

For a more detailed view on life, visit Macro Monday!

14 comments:

Mellimaus said...

WOW, great pictures, what awesome colors! Very nice! What cute butterflies and the moth is cool, too.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

These are really great! Cone flowers are one of my fave flowers, too.
I'm glad you hopped on board the Macro Monday train. lol!

~Lisa

Ed said...

Very cool, the coneflowers really attract the pollenators, so do Lantans if you can get it to grow in your neck of the woods..:-)

Nivin Kadar said...

So Cool! :D I havent seen a cornflower for real yet! Great pictures :D
How come you know so much about theses insects?!? Its amazing! keep em coming! Thanks for the info :)
Nivin ~ WildBlack

colleen said...

Really great pictures. I just love little visitors to the garden, if only they would hold still longer for me to take their pic.

Celeste said...

If you plant the right things, they will come! Beautiful photos, you must have been delighted to discover them.

chloe; moresecretwhispers.wordpress.com said...

i'm glad you decided to play!
these are great :)

Dana and Daisy said...

that is REALLY up close and personal! very beautiful!

Patches said...

Wow! Those are amazing pictures! Great job!

Africantapestry and Myfrenchkitchen said...

lovely photots...especially the last one with the wide open wings.
Ronelle

Regular Guy said...

Very nice close ups. Like the coneflower too in the shot.

The Pink Geranium or Jan's Place said...

these pictures are so cool, the details you got are amazing!

thecrazysheeplady said...

Very nice. I agree, the unrolling proboscis is cool.

CTG Ponies said...

Very cool! What great pics!

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