I love butterflies and thought I was familiar with most of those common to our state, but this was a new one to me. Meet the pipevine swallowtail.
Isn't it a beauty? We found several of them feeding on the roses at MO Botanical Garden on a recent sunny day. Although lovely to look at, pipevine swallowtails have the good fortune of having bitter-tastng body fluids and so they are typically ignored by predators.
As we strolled the garden, we enjoyed seeing a few pieces of the Chihuly glass which has been on permanent display since the exhibit was at MO Botanical back in 2006. I was drawn to the color combination in this section of the lily pad pond.
Just as I was taking this photo, though, I noticed something flitting about on the water's surface and discovered a drowning dragonfly. I grabbed a small twig and fished him out to safety. He is shown below recovering on the concrete edge.
I decided it would be best to leave this little guy in some nearby shrubbery where he could camouflage.
This "guard frog" was in our backyard this weekend. While my husband was mowing, he discovered the little amphibian in the opening of one of the bluebird houses we have at the edge of the woods. This was the best shot we have because each time he tried to step toward the house, the frog would disappear inside!
I cropped the below picture in an effort to show you a closeup. A few weeks ago my aunt shared a "guard frog" she had at her home in FL so it made me laugh when I heard that we had the same experience last weekend!
Don't forget to see and appreciate the small things in life! They will make you smile.