This afternoon, I headed outside to clean out the DRATTED sparrows from our purple martin house. Beautiful day! Sunny and warm. While I wrapped up the house project, I looked around the Meadow and admired the tiny sulphurs flitting just above the grass.
Hmmmm. No flowers to be seen. What the heck were they doing? I watched one land on a greenthread and perch a few moments. Then it flit away. DUH! I crouched down in the grass to confirm my suspicions. Bingo! Time for my camera!
But first I had to mark my place in the grass. Which I did.
Look carefully at the photo above, and you'll see a teeny tiny, elliptical yellow egg. Just laid by a
dainty sulphur (
Nathalis iole). I took some more photos and barely caught another female depositing an egg (below). See her bent abdomen? (You might have to click on the picture and see it enlarged.) The next photo is the new egg....
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| She's depositing her egg... |
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| The new egg |
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| A dainty sulphur |
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4 comments:
Fascinating! How fortunate to get these photos!
YES I just LOVE to observe, learn and then apply what I've learned to yet more learning in the field!
That's fantastic!
Note the "wedge of cheese."
Do you know the host plant?
Yes, greenthread! Which is in the Aster family (hosts for dainty sulphurs). I'm learning, Kip!
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