This weekend was perfect strolling weather, so we loaded up the buggy and went out to see what we could see. It wasn’t even 8 a.m., but it was already close to 80 degrees outside, with the ever-present south Florida humidity, so we knew that we had better get out there while the getting was good.
Off we go, keeping a close eye on that mischievous sippy cup:
The screw pine down at the temple appears to be in fine form still:
And a bit farther on, a butcher bird does its best to look casual, even though we’re scoping it out from below. In case you’re not familiar with the butcher bird, you might know it more formally as a Loggerhead Shrike, more formally still as Lanius ludocivianus:
When we returned to the house it was still bright and sunny, foretelling yet another hot and sunny Florida summer’s day. Yes, it’s true, the summer solstice is still two weeks away, but everyone knows that the summer season begins at least as early as Memorial Day, and here in south Florida, where there are only two seasons (wet and dry), summer begins even earlier: when the rains do. And they began fairly early this May.
With all the rain we’ve been having recently, I’ve been able to keep the sprinklers completely off (yay, water savings!) and the landscaping is still lush, rich, dense, which is to say, in danger of becoming completely overgrown. Time to get to work with the pruners! The lawn needs mowing, the cocoplum and dutchman’s pipe need trimming, and Daddy needs to spend some time out in the yard. Mom and Eric were content to watch. Well, Mom was. Eric was not just content, but practically despondent that he wasn’t watching from a closer position.
I always prefer to cut the grass after I’ve done the rest of the yard work, because, no matter how many toddlers it attracts, the loud mower frightens off many of the butterflies and other insects that one could espy if one were a bit quieter. The lawnmower is also a dangerous tool, and I want to make sure Eric stays safe while he watches Daddy “play” in the yard. But Eric is no through-the-window watcher; he needs to watch from up close. So Mom got the unenviable job of shepherding the boy around, keeping him out of range, but within sight, of our electric mower as it got pushed around the yard.
As if to reward me for my philosophy about power tools, I was able to get a decent shot of a leaf-footed bug:
And there were almost a dozen butterflies out early: Polydamas swallowtails, Gulf fritillaries, a milkweed butterfly (couldn’t tell whether it was Monarch, Viceroy, or Queen). And, just before I fired up the mower, I saw a couple more Pearl Crescents, which I only saw for the first time the other day:
Of course, once the mower comes out, these little beauties hightail it, and the nature photography is pretty much over for the day…