Amphibians and Butterflies
Tonight while out watering, I saw an American toad in the garden, I carried another one from up near the house out into the garden and shooed two more into the tomatoes from under wire mesh protecting seeds I planted Tuesday! It’s been a toad-tastic week 🤣
From earlier in the week, here’s another little American toad who went for a swim in a watering bucket in the garden.
Three days this week, I spotted the (large!) pickerel frog bounding up towards the house after dark; on the third day, I managed to successfully corral it and transport it out into the beans. (The photos don’t do it justice; it was a good 3 inches long!) 🐸
I’m not sure if this was the same eastern tiger swallowtail from the other day (although like that one, its wings and swallowtail were ragged), but it posed nicely for me on a candy lily while it was gathering nectar.
On Wednesday, I spotted a dark swallowtail in the garden and realized it was not the usual eastern tiger swallowtail, but one of the other two less-common dark swallowtail visitors to the garden—the spicebush swallowtail. I managed to get two quick shots while it was drinking from some zinnias 🦋 Despite the relatively-poor year we’re having for butterflies, it’s a treat to see the spicebush here!
