Timm

This praying mantis spent the morning staring at me through the screen.  Apparently she was wanting to come in the house.

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord I don’t get eat…

Dozens of turkey vultures congregated in the trees along the country road near our house to feast on a roadkill deer.

Every spring, hundreds of houseflies gather on our porch railing to bask in the sun and socialize.  At first I thought they were mating, but a close inspection showed there was no hanky-panky going on.  So maybe this deck rail is their meeting place, where the flies flirt to find a mate, and then they [...]

Here is what I think is an Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly on a pink thistle flower.

Notice the bottom of his right wing is eaten off.  The bright colors on a butterfly’s tail warns off potential predators, and also attracts persistent predators determined to take a bite out of the butterfly’s body, but instead munch [...]

We interrupt your busy day to show you a pretty orange Fritillary butterfly on a pink thistle flower.

Check out this crazy insect.  It appears to be some type of fly, but I couldn’t find it in my insect book.  Please comment if you know what this is.

As I reported earlier, we have a toad friend who has moved onto our porch.  At night he sits in front of the sliding glass door and feasts upon the endless supply of bugs trying to get to the light inside. 
This little toad certainly has it made.  He has the porch all to himself.  [...]

Imperial moths are drawn to artificial lights, where they often remain past dawn and into the day.  This makes them especially vulnerable to predators like birds, hence the species is becoming more rare in areas with lots of human lighting.
I found this big fella inside our house on the living room floor, and he wasn’t [...]

Here’s a neat shot of what appears to be an American Hover Fly on a thistle flower.  This fly gets its name from how it hovers above flowers.  It’s considered a beneficial species because its larvae helps eliminate species that attack commercial crops and ornamental plants.
Thistle are very pretty but also invasive.  They are armed [...]

This bee just hung out for a while, inspecting this concrete in great detail.  He eventually flew away. 
What in the world would interest a bee on concrete for so long?  Just catching some rays?