bonfrey

I grew chamomile this year for the first time. Drying the May buds resulted in an unremarkable tea, but now that new plants are coming back in after this summer's heat, I'm game to try again. #chamomile #herbs

It irritates me that it takes the article so long to name the chemical in the treatment - sulfate. Yes, acid rain. I agree with you - nevertheless the topic fascinates me. Have you read Elizabeth Kolbert? Her book Under a White Sky discusses several of these kinds of geoengineering.

So excited to have this visitor. Although not uncommon in New Mexico (very common in Texas and Mexico), this is the first time I've seen an American snout in my yard. It kept hanging out in the same branch of my pistache tree for an hour Sunday afternoon. #insectthursday #nm #butterflies

#insectthursday #butterfly I saw my first Atala butterfly while visiting Florida earlier this year. This species had disappeared from Florida in the 20s, but it has made a comeback beginning in the 70s. The caterpillar is on a coontie plant, its preferred host plant. 3/13/25, Sarasota.

Great lighting!

Check out this website, Butterflies of New Mexico, if you are interested in more details. peecnature.org/butterflies-... It's great to be in touch with someone interested in proper IDs!

In my area, you can pretty much assume it's a Huachuca skipper. From this angle, though, it is a little hard to tell the difference, but I think the forewing markings are a dead ringer for a Huachuca. Interesting to me, the Huachuca used to be considered a subspecies of silver-spotted.

Black, white and yellow design of an Atlantis fritillary butterfly. Blue eyes; yellow wildflower.

#insectthursday #butterflies #nm

Atlantis fritillary near the Taos ski area, New Mexico, 8/30/25. It amazes me that the female would be described as duller than the male. Her design snaps!

Pika alert, Lake Williams Trail, New Mexico, 8/30/25 #newmexico #nm #taos #pika

Got mine last weekend.

Trump administration scraps $135M in New Mexico clean energy projects, potentially raising utility costs President Donald Trump's Department of Energy has canceled 10 major energy projects across New Mexico on Wednesday.

#newmexico

That's a squirrel tail sticking out of its mouth.

I guess #worldsnakeday is long over, but here's a black-tailed rattler for your enjoyment. Magdalena Mountains, New Mexico, Sept. 19, 2025. #newmexico #magdalenamountains

Oooo! Actually, those are crescents, pearl crescents, I think. Nice shot.

Happy to share a photo of this black-tailed bumblebee (Bombus melanopygus) and its buddy, a Southwestern fritillary (Argynnis nausicaa nausicaa) for #insectThursday. 8/23/25, Manzanos Mountains, New Mexico #butterflies #newmexico

Still #insectthursday in New Mexico. Checkered white, one of our common ones here. 8/23/25, Manzano Mountains. #butterflies

Feb. 26. I would love some birthday frog spam.

Ants apparently have a really powerful relationship with other species. I just learned that certain caterpillars thrive by certain ant species treating them as a queen ant, thus feeding and protecting them.

Sometimes the iPhone just nails it. Timber Peak Trail, July 27#naturesky #newmexico #magdalenamountains

Halloween yet? #cats #halloween

#insectthursday #butterflies
A fat Huachuca skipper on a thistle near Ruidoso, New Mexico. 6/24/25

Thistles are so powerful!

A celery looper moth I met at Madison's Montpelier, Virginia, last October. #insectThursday #moths

Happy World Snake Day. Diamondback rattler near Oro Valley, Arizona, a few years back. #worldsnakeday

A small fly that is very fuzzy with furry antennae, thorax, abdomen, and wings. It is standing on a speckled bathroom wall.

I am sure more than a few of you have encountered drain flies before. While they look a bit like moths, these are indeed flies and they have a worldwide distribution in tropical and temperate areas often associated with humans. What a genus name, Clogmia!
(Clogmia albipunctata) Portal, AZ

Beautiful. Wish they didn't hang around my commode. I might appreciate them more!

Lost, alone, but smart,
It bleats at the bedding field;
Elk fawn at stream blank.

Processing worry for this little one, but it likely found its mom when the herd returned in the evening. #wildlife 6/21/25 Ski Apache, New Mexico

18 minutes late for #insectThursday, but you're getting one anyway. Just about the only June butterfly I found in our drought ridden central New Mexico, but the monsoons have come, and I'm hoping for some new blooms to attract the butterflies this weekend. Marine blues on mesquite #butterflies

And celebrity worship

Female black swallowtail on my chaste tree (vitex), Central New Mexico, 6/28/25. The wear on the wings reminds me of a poem by a friend of mine, "earth-marked like you." A tale of flight, feeding, sex and wind battery - can we assume a good life? #butterflies