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Learning new things

2004-08-02

Ten years in the same house. Ten years sitting in the same yard. Learned something new about butterflies today. They�re aggressive. Twice I�ve seen one of the fritillaries chase a dragonfly, a carnivorous insect out of the yard. Kind of like a rabbit chasing a cat. The dragonfly was resting on a plant hanger and one of the butterflies noticed it and chased it away. Twice. They also chase away butterflies of different species but the same size. The cabbage butterflies they ignore.

Had five goldfinches at the feeders this afternoon. That�s the most I�ve ever seen at one time. Three males, two females. I don�t know if they�re mated pairs or not. Before today I�ve only seen them in pairs, male female. I think the ones I�ve seen lately may not be adult birds. The coloring seems less distinct than I�ve seen before. That and they let me get way too close to them. I got less than three feet away from one of the males and four from the females, trying to take pictures of them. I was stunned. The ones I�ve seen in past would flee when I turned a page in the book I was reading, fifteen feet away, sitting down.

The males have also been chasing the females away from the feeders. Another reason I think they may be young birds. I�ve seen behavior that is just the opposite in pairs during early spring. The male sits on the highest available perch and the female eats. He warns her if he sees anything threatening.

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