Below is a slideshow of images taking you through the process from young cats to adults. Images are available for purchase. Please feel free to contact me for signed copies and note, all images are copyright protected - do not download or redistribute.
Last time I left you, I had a few of the black swallowtail cats pupate into their chrysilis forms. The wait for the transformation was not long - just ten days - and the first two butterflies eclosed, or emerged, from their pupa. Beautiful and delicate creatures indeed with folded wings that needed time to expand. What I thought was a male and a female turned out to be two males. In this photo, you can see the row of yellow spots typical of the male. A female would lack these and have more blue in the hindwings. I had to wait to release them as I had been running errands most of the day and didn't realize these two emerged until late afternoon. Wanting to give them the best chance possible, I inquired on holding them overnight with some of the more experienced butterfly folks of a social media page, Butterfly Enthusiasts on Facebook. I was informed to keep them covered and quiet and release when the sun rose the next day. Of which I did. It was truly a delight to see them take their first flight after warming for an hour or so in the sunshine. One pupa seemed to have died for it turned brown/black and got squishy soft. However, the last two butterflies emerged about a week later a few days apart from each other. Another male and a female for a total of four released back to nature! Below is a slideshow of images taking you through the process from young cats to adults. Images are available for purchase. Please feel free to contact me for signed copies and note, all images are copyright protected - do not download or redistribute.
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With partly cloudy skies, the trip began by surveying Plymouth Beach taking note of gulls, terns, and cormorants. Race Point, Stellwagen Bank, Peaked Hill and the east side of the Cape were areas that were visited during the course of the trip. As we headed toward the east side of Cape Cod Bay, a Sabine's Gull was sighted in a large grouping of gulls and terns. The crew did a fantastic job maneuvering the boat to track down the bird as it flew to shore. With some effort, the bird was picked up again and all aboard were able to get good looks at it. It proved to be an adult with full dark hood over the head and was by far the most notable sighting of the day! After leaving the Sabine's Gull, a trio of Parasitic Jaegers were seen performing some aerial maneuvers together. Several mixed groups of Shearwaters were viewed as well as some common loons and a Minke Whale. With a report coming in from another whale watching vessel, we headed off to share an encounter with the infamous Salt and her thirteenth calf, Epson. Salt honored us with a beautiful view of her tail flukes when she dove deep to feed and Epson hung out. Shuffleboard and Habenero were next to be seen. Both whales came close to the bow of the boat as they fed. Moving on to another small group of humpbacks, one whale was flipper slapping and Follicle was viewed fluking. What was thought to be another pair of humpbacks turned out to be two Fin Whales, known as the "Greyhounds of the Sea" on account of them being incredibly fast moving whales. Pele and Perseid and her calf were the last we spent time with. While the crew worked to pull out a balloon from the water, the calf spent a lot of time playing. The calf rolled and fluked several times to everyone's joy. Stormy weather sometimes blows birds off course and after such storms having passed through the previous few days, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird passed by as well as an unidentified yellow warbler. A Praying Mantis seemed to stow aboard for the trip as well! On the way back, we slowed down to take a look at Plymouth Beach again and picked up a Piping Plover feeding along the water line. With thanks to Captain Bob English and the crew, to Krill and the interns of NECWA, it was another wonderful trip! To wrap up, here is a run down of the day's sightings and below is a gallery of my images: Seabirds and Gulls: 1 White-winged Scoter 6 Common Loon 225 Cory's Shearwater (majority off Race Point and Peaked Hill) 100 Great Shearwater 10 Sooty Shearwater 2 Manx Shearwater 2 Wilson's Storm Petrel 10 Northern Gannet 32 Red-necked Phalarope 6 Parasitic Jaeger 1 Jaeger sp. 1 Sabine's Gull 75 Laughing Gull 50 Herring Gull 15 Roseate Tern 1 Piping Plover 2 Black Belly Plovers Ring-billed Gulls (indeterminate number) Great Black-backed Gulls 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 warbler sp. (yellowish) Marine Mammals: 19 humpback whales 2 finback whales 6 minke whales 20 - 30 gray seals Identified Humpback Whales: Salt and Epson Perseid and calf Habenero Shuffleboard Ember Follicle Bayou Pele Timberline Gunslinger and one wayward Praying Mantis! Next time, I will conclude my series on the Black Swallowtail butterflies.
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Powered by GreetingCardUniverse.com AuthorI am an artist and amateur photographer with a deep love of nature. I love horses and whales most of all, am knee deep in the model horse hobby as a painting/customizing artist, budding greeting card designer, and love watching crime drama shows as well as nature and science documentaries. Archives
December 2021
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