Some older pics to add to the catalog of local critters:
I think we have here, a Pondhawk (the male to the green female I posted yesterday perhaps?), a male Whitetail dragonfly, a Hackberry Emperor butterfly upon a hackberry tree, and a Buckeye butterfly on the ever popular cowpen daisies. July 2023 Central Texas
As a new, inexpert hobbyist, I am grateful for & welcome corrections, always. 💚
#nature #photography #insects #dragonflies #butterflies #nativeplants #Texas
@MixBluets I coaxed iNat into giving me a list of all dragonflies in TX (at least those that have been reported). You may also find that useful. Also I think you are correct on the dragonflies.
https://www.inaturalist.org/places/texas#taxon=47792
Also I looked a similar list of Emperor butterflies in Texas and I think it's an Empress Leilia, Asterocampa leilia, not a Hackberry Emperor because of the more muted colors. They look very similar though and I think it's either one or the other.
@BenjaminBugl Oh, thank you for that--super helpful! I have several dragonflies I haven't even managed to get a bad photograph of yet.
And holy cow, those butterflies are nearly identical to my eye! Wow. I gain more and more respect every day for every human throughout history who has ever tried to document and identify arthropods. 😅
@MixBluets Oh yes! Butterflies especially. Two weeks ago I spent a good hour or two looking at this site (it's in german but the pictures make my point anyway).
Best thing: I didn't even find the right one... But looking at butterflies and trying to identify them is really the best kind of frustrating because of all the pretty pictures.
@BenjaminBugl Oh my gosh! That is a lot of options to go through! But indeed a good frustration to have.
iNaturalist is, I'm finding, a bit overwhelming, but so much more helpful than the less granular "15 common X in Texas" online guides. I think I will need to be content in many cases to narrow my ID's down to genus.
Mx. Bluets
Benni