Oh no!

 

Jon the bird guy, now Jon the bug guy too, identified the butterfly for me.

 

It’s a Pipevine Swallowtail.  Now it’s stuck in my head.  Before, I only knew Monarchs, Queens; and maybe Snouts and a few moths.  Now I accidentally learned another one.  I’ll have to go find a different butterfly to not recognize.

 

 

Let’s be clear

 

I watch birds.  I don’t watch butterflies.  I can’t afford the time it would take for another compulsion.  But every once in a while, a butterfly leaps in front of my camera and I have to take a picture or two.

 

If I was actually looking for butterflies and watching them, I’d be able to tell you what kind of butterfly this is.

 

 

 

 

Okay.  Maybe I looked at a few butterfly pictures, but this doesn’t look completely like a brown swallowtail, so my butterfly integrity remains intact.  I don’t know what kind of butterfly this is, perched on a Texas Lantana.

 

UTRGV

 

On Sundays, another nice quiet place to bird.

 

 

 

 

 

And there is a covered trail that circumnavigates campus, so even if it’s crazy hot in the summer, I can still walk in the shade.

 

 

Didn’t need the shade today though; a nice fall day.

 

 

By nice fall day, I mean less than ninety degrees.

 

 

I enjoy university campuses.  Pleasant memories.  Well, except for the stressful part about graded exams.

 

Aerial ballet

 

First, a red-shouldered hawk, cruising the sky.

 

 

 

 

Then, when species collide.

 

 

A red-tailed hawk and a Harris’s hawk.

 

 

 

Ultimately, they each gained their own space and went their separate ways.