Since My Winter Birds Have Not Arrived Yet, Critter Pictures Instead.

Well, finally got a decent picture of the Obscure Bird Grasshopper, although this one was quite a bit smaller than the one I saw earlier.  Warren has been finding these munching on his hibiscus plants which does not make him happy.  This is one of the grasshoppers that can turn into a locust!  He is quite striking though.

My neighbor wasn't home the other day so I took the opportunity to go into his yard and watch the butterflies from a closer vantage point than my third floor porch!!  I finally managed to get some decent pictures of the Palamedes Swallowtail -- here  you can see his back.

Here is the above butterfly with the backdrop of my neighbor's siding which is a wonderful periwinkle blue. Between the flowers and the siding, this has to be one of my favorite butterfly pictures!  This particular butterfly is a SE coastal species.  He looks a lot like the Black Swallowtail and I have seen those occasionally on my neighbor's flowers as well!

I was surprised to spot another of those Green Anole Lizards in my neighbor's yard as well.  I saw them all the time in Fl and LJ gets them as well in Charlotte (or rather her kitties do) but I have only seen them one other time down here and that was last week at Greenfield Lake.

The Oleander is extra beautiful this year -- lots and lots of flowers everywhere.  The butterflies don't like it so maybe the poison affects them as well.