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Since the fine state of TX gives even photographers so much #$%^ for herping. I decided to do a little photography AND SPEND MY MONEY in VA.
Of course I saw alot more than herps but I won't bore yall with too many. First the herps:
A couple of Watersnakes lying in wait along a stream:

A Black Rat Snake we surprised...he put on a good show

We found LOTS of B-Flys

And finally...my dad got tired of listening to my brother's constant complaining about the heat and shoved him off the mountain

Jason
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HCU
Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas

Hmmmm.....Spice Bush, Buckeye, Tiger Swallowtail and Red Spotted Purple are my best guesses for the butterfly pics. Nice pics.

The first two are Red Spotted Purples also, but the others are right.

I live in VA and have seen a lot of Buckeyes this year. They usually aren't too common, so they are nice to see. I've rescued about 20 caterpillars out of my yard before mowing this past week. They are having a bumper year for some reason.

However near me I've seen ONE Red Spotted Purple, which is weird since they are usually all over.

Thanks. Had a strong feeling the first one wasn't correct and didn't want to change a guess on the first close up. Plenty of Buckeyes and RSP's in east Tennessee right now. Hope we haven't stomped on protocol discussing butterflys on a reptile forum. A few of these posters have this nature photography thing down.

Those are some really great photos. I could look at shots like those all day! Keep them comming.

Is your brother ok? LOL
funny pic

Dan

What outstanding photos. Fabulous shots of the butterflies. Herps-schmerps, can't have too many bugs I say. Well, I guess one can have too many of the thirsty kind....

Anyway, all insects have cycles of abundance that appear to depend on things important to insects--efforts to link periodic abundance to weather or other attractive candidate triggers are not very successful predictors of insect activity. Some years are just good years for some things.

A few fave bugs from Arizona. Pulchra tiger beetle, Rainbow grasshopper, silversmith beetle.

Nice pics. I guess if I was going to pick some favorite bugs out there, these would top my list also. I set the grasshopper as my computer background and its generating lots of comments.

Glad to hear you liked the grasshopper pic enough to use as a screen background. Rainbow grasshoppers are toxic and bad-tasting, as the scientists say, by which they mean if you bite one you will throw up everything you ever ate. Not good for a little bird, so the grasshoppers are in no danger and sit in the open all day--no hiding for them. Small things, about an inch and a half long. Members of the Lubber grasshopper group, most of which are huge.

I heard its illegal to road-cruise for snakes,etc in some western states. Is this true?

Justin