Posts Tagged ‘butterfly’
27 Sep
Hello Butterfly!
5 Jul
RX: Notice Nature
I live in one wild corner!
Our newest wild resident is a deer.
She’s a brave young Momma and struts around like she owns the place! Her territorial behavior makes me a little nervous. In the photo below, she’s only a few feet from my door. I stay back, keep my distance and she looks over at me from time to time, I guess checking to see if I’m still there. After all, this is her new home and maybe in her mind, I am the resident human, who she thinks acts a little weird.

MY Home!
A few nights back, a neighbor knocked on my door. She looked rather stunned. I stepped outside.
First, she pointed at the deer standing close to us.
“Oh my!” I gasped.
The deer was closer than usual!
We’ve become used to the deer and its territorial antics, but we had never seen it come for a sleepover right outside our doors, which is exactly what the deer did.
The neighbor pointed to our right and in a slight voice, suggesting she was taken by all the wild activity going on, she said, “The owls are here too.”
Two Barred Owls were perched under the street light on the electrical wires behind our building. Oh, we’ve seen them before, both day and night, but lately, we’ve heard them too!
The owls were making a sort of hissing sound. I’d heard the nightly noise for about ten days, but I wasn’t sure of the source.
Barred Owls make several sounds other than the most known call (hoot), that can sound like they’re saying, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?”
I think the hissing sound we heard was from a fledgling. The timing makes sense, because I heard the Barred Owls mating in springtime.
The hissing is a mysterious sound, and I think it’s a bit eerie for some people, but I love the owls and their presence is soothing.
Some people are afraid of owls. Others say seeing one is a bad omen.
I respect the owl and feel protected when they come around. Owls eat snakes, mice and rats. They watch the darkness and alert their mate or youngsters (and me), of unusual intruders.
If you’d like to see the Barred Owl and hear the hissing sound, here is a video from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on YouTube:
My neighbor and I stood together for a few more minutes in the wild of our otherwise pretty normal residential neighborhood. We watched and listened. The owls were successfully hunting. The deer was cozy in the corner of the yard.
OUR BEAUTIFUL RESIDENT BARRED OWL

Perched Above Creek
The air was thick with wild.
“I also saw a big snake on my walk home,” my neighbor added. “I think it was a Copperhead.”
Our wild backyard scenario was becoming more interesting by the second!
Thank goodness, I don’t have a photo of the snake! I’d rather they are not seen by me.
Nature is very much alive where I live and the residents do take notice. Every neighbor I’ve talked with mentions something about the natural environment around here, usually pointing out one creature or another. The children seem to like the turtles and the adults often mention the Great Blue Heron.
A sense of community can be felt in our common awe, interest or simple excitement, inspired by the wild things that live amongst us.
Seeing the owls during the day (and capturing a few photos), is a beautiful thing. Watching all the pretty birds, listening to the sounds of nature, and once in a while, getting a glimpse of the Great Blue Heron, are each blessings of beauty.
Nature’s beauty is healing in so many ways. Beauty shows up unexpectedly too, like in the green muddy moss on the turtle’s shell and the hissing owls. I think those are beautiful things.
A flood zone, surrounded by a creek, with a pond in the center, apparently has a unique ecological system, which is a big reason why we have a diverse community of wildlife, such as the family of turtles that live in the pond.
Below Photo:
A resident turtle.
Normally, the family of turtles take leave and dive into the water when people approach, which they did, but one came back after a minute or two of my arrival, climbed on the rock and gave me a stare!

I Like Water, Mud and Sunshine
Maybe I imagine these wild-life-looks I get, but I must say, I believe communication happens. I like that.
For instance, I played with a white butterfly the other day. That’s right. We played and I had a grand time!
I was growing a few Kohlrabi plants, which might have been the reason for my playful winged visitor, the Cabbage White Butterfly!
I was so happy about my time with the butterfly, that I shared photos and wrote a little about it in my photo journal blog, Green Healing Notes.
Photo Below:
A Green Healing Morning with the Cabbage White Butterfly!

Beauty in the Cabbage Patch!
I need the outdoors to thrive; whether it’s walking through woods, tending plants, birdwatching, chasing butterflies, or taking photographs of the beauty I see.
In nature, even in my own little green space, with one butterfly hovering around, I lose myself. Or perhaps, I find myself and lose the rest.
Thank you for visiting my blog!
- dogkisses
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25 Sep
“Some how, monarchs are able, with much smaller brains than ours, to feel their own bodies, to read the weather and to instinctively feel where they are and where they are headed and how they should respond to the earth itself.”
Excerpt from the post: Butterfly Effect
(See link above to the blog, “what a shrink thinks”).
Thanks for visiting!
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We are all connected; To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe atomically.
― Neil deGrasse Tyson
Every late August /early September it comes, whether I like it or not.
As soon as the wind shifts, without any invitation at all.
In fact, when I resist or forget that it is arriving, it bursts in a rage, like some slighted and pissed of fairy-witch that spits curses, wreaks havoc, and grinds the whole works to a stop.
When I just remember to behave with grace when it knocks it becomes a respectful, polite, if somewhat impinging guest who is aware that their presence is inconvenient, and unavoidably disruptive, and their scheduled stay just a little too long.
When I am attuned, prepared and accepting, it brings with it quiet pleasures and relief.
As the earth under my feet cools, and draws the heat out…
View original post 2,017 more words
25 Aug
Green Healing ~ Discovering Macro
Whoa! I discovered macro mode!
BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWERS!
Ingredients for GREEN HEALING:
A beautiful day. A classic Carolina sky.
A lovely bright Sunflower. A little silver Canon.
My little silver camera surprises me. I see people walking around with very fine cameras. They are impressively large and I’m sure those carrying bags include an assortment of lens. One day I might like to have a bigger and more powerful camera, but that’s a secret. I don’t want my sweet compact little Canon to hear me say that.
I love the ‘macro’ view of various insects, along with the delicate intricacies of tiny flowers. Photographing the life around the pond garden is always fun but again, a closer look is better. ‘Little Frog’ has grown. He (or she) mostly sits in the sun when I visit.
The newest garden critter, a baby turtle with a serious face and grand personality, usually found within a few feet of the frog doesn’t seem to like me, or my camera. I’m not sure which one bothers it more. The frog had to go clear to the other side of the pond to get away from the determined turtle while I took pictures. I must admit that although I love taking photos of wildlife, I don’t want to disturb the beloved critters I meet. I’ve noticed how some don’t like being photographed, particularly lizards and turtles.
My favorite part of the day was photographing Butterflies in the Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower) garden. I was in awe! Truly, I was.

Painted Lady and Mexican Sunflower
Above, Our beautiful Painted Lady Butterfly sips sweet nectar from Tithonia. (Below) Swallowtail enjoys the same. Tithonia are my favorite flowers because of their prolific blooms, hardiness and obvious nectar production. Of course, the deep (and bright) orange color is pretty cool too.
Below: Our pretty Carolina Sky and a Swallowtail Butterfly
I’m very glad I took the time to play with my camera in the garden. The images of butterflies are vivid and clear in my mind. I can close my eyes and see swirling colors and merging outlines of transparent wings. I’ve had a few dreams of winged colors, which were nice to wake up with in my mind. I guess you could say I’m having macro ‘Green Healing’ dreams! Mother Nature is amazing.
In Gratitude to Mother Earth, Father Sky, the Butterflies, and one very special person who decided to plant the Tithonia Garden!
Thank you for visiting Michelle’s DogKisses Blog.
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If you would like to use any images by Michelle and/or from this blog (Non-Commercial Use Only), then please give proper credit with a clear link back to DogKisses Blog at https://dogkisses.wordpress.com/. Thank you for respecting this license.
Related articles
- Winged Yellow on Orange (greenhealinggirl.wordpress.com)
- The Story of the Butterfly (marciadavistaylor.wordpress.com)
- Painted Pretty in Nectar (dogkisses.wordpress.com)
- Between Summer and Fall (greenhealinggirl.wordpress.com)
11 Aug
Butterfly la Blue
A colorful play in blue, with the Red-spotted Purple Butterfly.
Thanks for visiting Dogkisses’s blog.
Note: I also had another visitor to my ‘Green Healing’ garden the same day the Red-spotted Purple stopped by for the photo shoot. A brand new, as in new-born, and very, very tiny lizard took its first crawl on a leaf in my favorite container of flowers. I was truly in awe.
Pop over to my other blog, Green Healing Notes, for a look.
Peace and Pass it On.
Related articles
- Nature Watch (goerie.com)
- Another New Butterfly (therousedbear.wordpress.com)
- Pearl Crescent Butterfly (wingedbeauty.com)
- Chasing Summer (forkinmyeye.com)
23 Feb
Butterfly, A Beautiful Life
Watch the butterfly happen! Two minutes of transformation.
NationalGeographic, “Great Migrations: Butterfly: A Life”
The best part is near the end of the clip. I hope it plays for you.
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