tarantula hawk catches dinner

I think I found a tarantula hawk's nest near the base of this cyprus tree. She drug her dinner under the brush.  A few minutes later she emerged and then flew off and landed on some nearby flowers and checked them for pollen.  Take a look at the fangs on the tarantula.  

Painted Lady

The honest to goodness truth is that this butterfly's official name is "PAINTED LADY".  I snapped this photo myself one afternoon out in my yard.  This beauty is the most widespread butterfly in the world.  Every few years it has a mass migration from Mexico. 

What's been in the garage (part 2)?

This laid out for about 6 months in the corner of the garage and we managed to "catch" a lizard, a scorpion, a nice sized spider or two, some crickets and various other small bugs.  YUM!

Sara Orangetip

The Sara Orangetip butterfly is also known as the Pacific Orangetip.  It ranges along the Pacific coast of North America from Alaska to Mexico.  They are abundant up and down the West Coast, making their home in fields and deserts. They are one of the first butterflies to appear each spring and their bright colors add a touch of sparkle to their newly emerging green environment.  Butterflies are generally categorized as one of two types, patroller or percher, depending on mating strategies.  Sara Orangetip's fall in the patroller category of butterflies. Males patrol, or fly up and down a particular territory, in search of female butterflies. 

Millipedes

We have a lot of these.  They are usually about 4 inches long.  They love to get into the garage for some reason.   They are a slow moving insect known for eating decaying plant material and on rare occasion a small insect.  Their defense mechanism is to roll in a ball, hiding their underbelly and legs and/or to emit a caustic irritant to ants and other prey.  Each "section" is called a "segment" and has two legs.  Millipedes are known to have from 11 to over 100 segments depending on the age or type of Millipede species.  The genitals are always on the third segment behind the head.  Unfortunately we have stepped on a few and found that they have a dark red/black colored blood that stains whatever it lands on.