Butterflies and Bugs

 The weather has been stunningly beautiful the past few days and cool enough in the afternoons to resume my afternoon walks while the sun is still out.  I headed down to Ft. Fisher as it is really too early for birds but knew I would spot some butterflies down there among the Painted Daisies.  I always see different butterflies there than in my neighbor's yard but I have included one from there as well.  This is a Gulf Fritillary which looks totally different on the top and bottom.  This is the top view.

 This is from below -- notice all those white large spots and the stripey body.

This shows a side view so you can see both sides.  It is a lovely burst of color this time of year.

This is a Common Buckeye,   I didn't notice this petite wildflower until I blew up the picture.  I was wondering what was attracting these butterflies.

This is a Common Sootywing which is quite small.  I was surprised I managed a decent picture.

This is a Phaon Crescent.  The butterfly books shows this as being further west but it definitely was this butterfly .  I should note that this is really a "macro" as this butterfly is only about 7/8 of an inch across -- you can see the blades of grass for comparison.  This was in my neighbor's yard.

This is most of a Common Green Darner (dragonfly) which our cat caught the other evening.  I decided the remains would look nice in my Christmas Cactus which sits outside on the porch.  The top of the body is bright green and then it is aqua.  It is a good sized dragonfly.

This was a HUGE bug -- probably three to four inches long when stretched out.  It was late in the day but it was green. Thanks to the entomology group on Facebook, I now know this is an Obscure  Bird Grasshopper described as a HUGE grasshopper which it was!!