Posts Tagged: sedum

A Miss Is as Good as a Mile

A miss is as good as a mile...or a smile. The Buckeye (Junonia coenia) is a striking butterfly patterned with eyespots and white bars. We saw one...

Buckeye butterfly on sedum. Note the missing chunks of its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Buckeye butterfly on sedum. Note the missing chunks of its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sideview of Buckeye butterfly-almost a meal for a predator. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sideview of Buckeye butterfly-almost a meal for a predator. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An intact Buckeye on sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Buckeye on sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Streak of Gray

if it's a streak of gray, you don't wash it away. You welcome it.  The gray hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus) is common on our...

A gray hairstreak foraging in sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A gray hairstreak foraging in sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee joins a gray hairsteak on a sedum blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee joins a gray hairsteak on a sedum blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Imposter

"If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck," or so the saying goes. But if it looks like a honey bee,...

Drone Fly

DRONE FLY is often mistaken for a honey bee. This drone fly was nectaring a pincushion flower (Seabiosa columbaria) Feb. 5 in Tomales. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey Bee

WILL THE REAL honey bee stand up? This photo shows a honey bee nectaring sedum. The drone fly (top photo) is often mistaken for a honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Crab Spider Nails a Fly

The crab spider didn't go away hungry.Camouflaged in the petals of a sedum, the cunning predator waits patiently for its prey.An unsuspecting blowfly...

The Encounter

THE ENCOUNTER--An unsuspecting blowfly crawls along the top of the sedum, unaware of the crab spider stalking it. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ambush

THE AMBUSH--The crab spider grabs the blowfly with its powerful legs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Paralyzing Bite

PARALYZING BITE and it's all over for the blowfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Better Grip

BETTER GRIP--The crab spider moves the blowfly around, like food on a dinner plate. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Dinner

DINNER--The crab spider didn't go away hungry. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Hunter and the Hunted

The crab spider is a clever and skillful hunter. Last Sunday we spotted a camouflaged crab spider (family Thomisidae) lying flat on a...

Spider and the Bee

CRAB SPIDER, blending into the sedum, eyes a foraging honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Dinner?

DINNER? The spider could easily have grabbed the honey bee, but didn't. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Spider Legs

LOOKING like an aircraft, the crab spider moves backward. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Over and Out

CRAB SPIDER heads for another area. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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