Cool Canatara Finds!

3 Viceroy were having a party on a Buttonbush Flower in Canatara! A single black line crosses the parallel lines on the hind wings of the Viceroy. Monarchs do not have the cross line.

Video of the Viceroy butterflies.

Monarch butterfly for comparison.

Many butterflies have been finding nectar on the invasive Purple Loosestrife. It is one of the plants blooming in the mostly very dry conditions we have been experiencing. A Peck's Skipper is shown above.

Silver-spotted Skipper

A Slaty Skimmer has a rest stop on Purple Loosestrife.

Green Darner: If I hadn’t watched her fly and land, I likely would not have noticed her.

Eastern Amberwing 

American Pelecinid Wasp: Although the long abdomen appears threatening, it is not a stinger. Females use the curled abdomen (ovipositor) to locate grubs in the soil, and lay an egg on the grub. When the egg hatches, the young burrows into the grub and eats it! Adults are pollinators that feed on nectar.

https://fmr.org/updates/conservation/dont-worry-i-come-peace-meet-one-kind-pelecinid-wasp

Four-banded Stink Bug Wasp: The female builds a nest in sandy soil. She places a bug in the nest, deposits an egg, then seals the chamber...Another wasp providing food for its unhatched offspring!

http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/four-banded_stink_bug_hunter_wasp.html