Defensive Display Between Two Checkered White Butterflies

Oct 112013

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 2

Through my Canon 50D and 180mm macro lens, I witnessed the following sequence of photos. A male checkered white, ID’d by the sparse dark spots versus the female’s abundance of brown outline and spots, is approached by another male checkered white. Note how the grounded butterfly’s abdomen is used to ward off the approaching male.

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 1

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf approached by another male.

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 3

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf fending off another male.

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 4

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf approached by another male checkered butterfly.

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 5

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf successfully fends off another male.

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 6

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf at rest, again.

Enjoy your wildlife food forest garden. Habitat It!

Tony

What Gall! Ceanothus As Wasp Habitat

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening, 3- Habitat It And They Will Come -- Tony's book No Responses »

Jul 042013

I will be posting my monthly blog article (due every 14th of the month) at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens:

Cynipid Wasp on Ceanothus.

Enjoy your wildlife garden. Habitat It!

Tony

20130514 Elderberry Pond — A Greywater Habitat

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

May 142013

I posted my monthly blog article (due every 14th of the month) at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens:

Sambucas mexicana in Elderberry Pond wildlife habitat. Perhaps the cutting shrub propagation will be successful. The young shoots look promising.

Enjoy your wildlife garden. Habitat It!

Tony

Habitat of the Month Contest — contest begins April 2013

4-Habitat of the Month Contest No Responses »

Apr 022013

Contest Entries

During each calendar month, Spore Lore will accept postings of residential wildlife habitats to Spore Lore’s facebook page, Habitat It and They Will Come.

Click to post your Habitat of the Month entry.

Contest entries must include:

1) The name of the garden habitat.

2) The 4 components of wildlife habitat:

SHELTER =

FOOD =

WATER =

SPACE TO RAISE YOUNG =

3) At least one picture of the the wildlife habitat.

Entry Awards and Contest Winners

All Habitat of the Month Contest entries will receive a “Habitat It!” bumper sticker. Habitat of the Month, as in the The Winner, will receive a signed copy of Tony McGuigan’s book, Habitat It and They Will Come. The month’s winning habitat will be chosen from a review of Comments (facebook) posted to the entry AND ALSO from Tony’s impression of the contest entry. In the case of a tie, two (2) winners, both declared “Habitat of the Month” will be announced.

Contest entries (postings to the facebook page Habitat It and They Will Come) will be accepted till noon (Pacific treefrog time) of the 28th day of the month (26th day for February). Contest winners will be announced by 6PM (Pacific treefrog time) on the 30th day of the same month (28th for February). Contest winners will be announced primarily at Spore Lore’s website (sporelore.com\Blog\Habitat of the Month Contest) and at Spore Lore’s facebook page (Habitat It and They Will Come).

To receive your contest entry “Spore Lore” sticker, and/or receive a book if your habitat is chosen as Habitat of the Month, please email your postal address to habitatofthemonth@sporelore.com; please include the name of your habitat in your email.

Please enter your garden habitat one time only. However, if significant changes have been made to the habitat and/or significant documentation (like pictures!) of the habitat is available, then the same habitat may be re-submitted as a new contest entry.

Create wildlife habitat and have fun.

Post your habitat to Habitat of the Month.

Good Luck!

Fine Print — Other Rules

There is no cash value for any contest rewards or contest prizes.

Participants/Entrants of the Contest give Spore Lore permission to leave contest posts on Spore Lore’s facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/HabitatItAndTheyWillCome, and to post Contest entries and Contest winner announcements to Spore Lore’s facebook pages (Habitat It and They Will Come, Spore Lore, and Tony McGuigan), as well as Tony McGuigan’s/Spore Lore’s other social media sites (Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube) and Spore Lore’s website (sporelore.com). Spore Lore reserves the right to use the winner’s name (if provided in the contest entry), habitat name and habitat location (if provided in the contest entry), for publicity purposes only in connection with the Contest and for no other reason.

Spore Lore is not bound to announce contest entries/winner/winners.

GOVERNING LAW: Contest governed by the laws of California and subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. Accordingly, all issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the Contestant and Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the State of California or any other jurisdiction). The Contest is void where prohibited by any applicable law. Contestants, by participating in this Contest, hereby waive and release, and agree to hold harmless Spore Lore and all of its respective officers, directors, employees and representatives and agents, from and against, any and all rights, claims and causes of action whatsoever that they may have, or which may arise, against any of them for any liability for any matter, cause or thing whatsoever, including but not limited to any injury, loss, damage, whether direct, compensatory, incidental or consequential, to person, including death, and /or property, arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from their acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize, or their participation in this Contest, or any prize-related activity. By participating in this Contest, Contestants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor. Except where prohibited by law, by accepting a prize, winner agrees that Spore may use the winner’s name, address (state), photograph, likeness, and/or prize information for advertising, publicity and promotional purposes and to the use of statements made by or attributed to winner relating to Spore Lore or to this Contest and grants to Spore Lore any and all rights to said use without further notice and/or compensation except where prohibited by law.

20130130 Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair 3 of 3

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Feb 082013

Side view of Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair animal habitat.

This is the third of three videos showing a garden animal habitat created when our apricot tree was almost entirely uprooted and partially buried on it side. Features of the completed project are explained:
–The up-ended rootball serves as an animal habitat.
–The buried tree trunk acts as a retaining wall for the wood chip path.
–The retaining wall allows a watering trench to be dug into the garden bed slope.

20130130 Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair 3 of 3 (video):

20130130 Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair (pics):

Grandpa’s apricot tree is snug in the ground, upside down between the slate wall and the pineapple guava tree. Note the also up-ended apricot tree rootball, which remains partially buried. Some of the roots may thrive and send life to shoots reaching for the sky (like a tree!).

Woodchips are scooped aside to create a watering trench for the garden bed trees. The pineapple guava is tan-colored and the mission fig (thicker, in back) is a pale green. The buried tree trunk serves as retaining wall to the left, allowing a deeper watering trench to be dug.

Side view of Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair animal habitat. Note the mix of Medusa-like roots and soil in the up-ended rootball. The mass of roots and crown wood will become homes for wood-loving critters. As well, the fingers of soil converging into the root mass will become homes for soil-loving critters. In the end, ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

Enjoy your habitat upside down creations!

Tony

20130130 Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair 2 of 3

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Feb 072013

The apricot tree is resting off to the side (left).

This is the second of three videos showing a garden animal habitat created when our apricot tree was almost entirely uprooted and partially buried on it side. Highlights:

–Preparing the trench (hole) to receive the tree trunk and crown.

–Pruning the tree to live peacefully in the garden path.

–Stamping the tree into position before it is buried under the garden path.

20130130 Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair 2 of 3

(video):

20130130 Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair (pic):

The apricot tree is resting off to the side (L) until its trench will be dug between the slate border and the pineapple guava tree (R).

Enjoy your habitat thinking-out-of-the-box creations. Nothin‘ is “debris“ in a habitat garden food forest!

Tony

20130130 Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair 1 of 3

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Feb 042013

Close-up of nearly removed apricot tree and its rootball.

Time to remove the apricot tree, Grandpa’s Apricot Tree, in our back garden. Almost no fruit in at least 6 years. Seasons, soil, water, and our hungry food-producing mindsets will wait no longer! Time to nurture another tree. We will plant a Santa Rosa plum tree, who’s namesake is the next town over from our sunny California garden.

Almost! I almost got the entire apricot rootball out before coming to my senses. Yes, I like to create an animal habitat EVERY time I dig into the soil. But, I thought I would shortcut that vision because so many parts of the garden call for my attention. (Truth be told, the garden would do very well without my meddling.) Then, with ¾’s of the root ball removed and even less breath in my lungs, I came to my senses.

Yes!, this is a habitat. I can stop right here. This rootwad DOES NOT have to be completely removed from the bed. The Santa Rosa plum can be planted next to the almost-removed rootball of Grandpa’s Apricot Tree. My exhausted muscles can think of many reasons why to keep the leaned over, buried tree trunk. Watch today’s video and the next 2 to come to find out why!

Habitat it and they will come!

20130130 Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair 1 of 3

(video):

20130130 Grandpa’s Apricot Root Worlds Fair (pics):

The apricot tree was pruned to make removal easier. Note the old grafting sites (with yellow grafting sealer); even new stock would not produce fruit. A shame – the tree growth was vigorous with beautiful structure and wood/bark.

A tree is down! Repeat, a tree is down! After cutting some roots with a shovel, and bronco-riding the tree, other roots snapped and the tree was rendered a soil dweller.

Close-up of nearly removed apricot tree and its rootball. This is where, when I discovered that the tree need not be completely removed, that the soil-rich rootball makes a fantastic garden animal habitat.

Enjoy your habitat thinking-out-of-the-box creations. Nothin‘ is “debris“ in a habitat garden food forest!

Tony

20130114 Pine Brush Pile

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 3- Habitat It And They Will Come -- Tony's book No Responses »

Jan 172013

Pine Brush Pile is a Zone 4 or 5 (Permaculture) habitat oasis in Tony’s back yard. Great place to resource this year’s Xmas tree.

20130114 Pine Brush Pile (video):

Pine Brush Pile (pics in Tony’s book):

Figure B.4 Insect Eggs on Pine Needle. [The picture has two parts: the background is from a distance and an insert is the close-up of the eggs. See post below for the close-up.]

Figure B.4 Insect Eggs on Pine Needle. The insect eggs shown are probably true bug eggs. True bugs, order Hemiptera, are insects like cicadas, stink bugs, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, aphids, and others. All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs! True bug eggs often have the visible “escape hatch” (the circular disc on the top of each egg), which is visible in the inset photo close-up view. I particularly love the outer texture to the egg wall — looks like lime bumps on an orange.

Pine Brush Pile (pics from Tony’s garden):

Nest-building supplies made available for birds. Lots of birds come and go in Pine Brush Pile thicket, some looking to build nests. Yarn, string, and hair is left to help them color coordinate and insulate their nests. Always fun to discover “foreign” articles in a bird nest.

Ground view of Pine Brush Pile from Snake Shores. Perhaps a snake will slither down from the thick, warm slate of Snake Shores. It can enter Mayan Totem Seat, the 18-inch-deep stack of slate AND spacers in the foreground, or go beyond, into the coolness and food-rich jungle of Pine Brush Pile.

Pine log, shaped to maximize thicket-building. The branch stubs left on this log will keep the log off the ground and from snugging up to other logs. More space between logs means…[who knows but Habitat It and They Will Come!]. See next pic for the placement of this log in Pine Brush Pile.

Pine logs and branches in Pine Brush Pile. Helter skelter never looked so good!

Enjoy your habitat thicket creations. Nothin‘ is “debris“ in a habitat garden food forest!

Tony

20121206 Bucket Watering Can DIY 4 of 4

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Dec 072012

First a video re “Bucket Watering Can DIY 4 of 4”, then some pics of the project (below the video):

Bucket Watering Can DIY 4 of 4 (video):

From the project (pics):

New and Improved watering can (model 000000000000000002) has smaller holes. A smaller spout stream helps distribute the water more evenly and is less harsh on bare soil and fragile seedlings.

A look inside the watering can ready for application. Note the floating food particles that would clog up the spout to an ordinary watering can. THIS is no ordinary watering can!

Watering with finer spout holes. Mission accomplished – the new watering streams are less sloppy than the larger-holed watering can.

Happy DIY projects for your Habitat Food Forest. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121205 Bucket Watering Can DIY 3 of 4

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Dec 072012

Watering the garden with our new watering can.

First a video re “Bucket Watering Can DIY 3 of 4”, then some pics of the project (below the video):

Bucket Watering Can DIY 3 of 4 (video):

From the project (pics):

Filling the watering can with dishwater (blackwater). Check out that water! It’s a mix of soapy water, food particles from our dishes, and pasta drain-off water. Here microbes, come and get it!

Diluting the dishwater with fresh water. We’ll get more coverage in the garden by adding fresh water to the nutrient “concentration”.

Watering the garden with our new watering can. Note the use of the fill hole as handle grip. It works! And, easy to clean.

Happy DIY projects for your Habitat Food Forest. See you tomorrow.

Tony

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