Olive-backed Sunbird on Lantana Camara

Olive-backed Sunbirds are frequently seen on my Lantana camara shrubs. They are ingenious in the way they collect nectar from the flowers. Being small-bodied, light and possessing a long, narrow, curved beak helps.

This sunbird alights on a slender stalk ...


and insert its curved beak into a tiny flower.


It then flips up to approach a flower facing upwards.


See how its fine beak can be inserted into the teeny weeny florets.



These globular heads are left behind when all the flowers drop.


 

Lantana flowers non-stop and add dashes of colour to the garden where ever the seeds disperse and take root.



This variety has touches of pink.

In this variety of orange-yellow florets, the buds first appear pink.

Red Hornet on Lantana Camara

The colourful flowers of Lantana camara are always top favourites with insects.


The flowers after the evening shower 


and under bright sunshine.


This hornet visited each and every floral inflorescence in the bush whether ample or ...

with scant flowers.

It was very meticulous in its collection of nectar. Each and every flower was picked through.



Even these denuded heads were not spared the inspection.

Leaves were also checked through.

Pink and White Lantana Featuring Amorous Flies and Butterflies

To add vibrancy to the garden, it is always a strategic move to have some butterfly attractants to the garden.  One of this is Lantana Camara. 

Lantana camara has small tubular shaped flowers arranged in terminal clusters. Each tiny flower has four petals. The flowers on the outer ring of the cluster open first, followed by the next inner row. The buds appeared as little bows.

I like this combination of sweet pastel colours. The mix of baby pink and light cream flowers is almost perfect.

A female Jacintha Egg Fly (Hypolimnas bolina jacintha) frolicked on this shrub.

This Jacintha Egg Fly can be seen extending its long proboscis deep into the tubular part of the tiny flowers. 

Another had its wings slightly open revealing its gender - a male.

A tiny yellow butterfly took refuge from the heat on the underside of a leaf.


"Flies in the family Sarcophagidae (from the Greek sarco- = flesh,  phage = eating; the same roots as the word "sarcophagus") are commonly known as flesh flies. They differ from most flies in that they are ovoviviparous, opportunistically depositing hatched or hatching maggots instead of eggs on carrion, dung, decaying material, or open wounds of mammals, hence their common name." ~extracted from Wikipedia

CAUTION: The following three photos are X-rated. Self-censorship is strongly advised.

One day while looking for bugs, my lens zoom in on an amorous pair of flesh flies (Sarcophaga carnaria).

This pair were caught in flagrante delicto right on the leaf of my L. camara.

"Flesh flies are often mistaken for houseflies due to their coloration and markings. However, their gray-checkered abdomens are distinctively larger than those of the housefly. Typically, flesh flies exhibit three dark stripes along the prothorax and four distinct bristles atop the thorax. An extra row of bristles is found beneath the flesh flies’ wings and yet another can be found at each side of the thorax. Flesh flies measure approximately 10 to 13 mm from end to end. Larvae are yellow in color, with pointed heads. Along with bottle and blowflies, flesh flies prove useful to forensic entomologists. These fly larvae may assist in pinpointing time of death. ~ extracted from Wikipedia

Flesh flies reproduce on decaying vegetable items, animal flesh, carcasses, garbage and excrement. Although flesh flies do not bite and are not carriers of disease, their feeding habits can become a nuisance. However, larvae can also prove beneficial to humans, as they are parasitic on the eggs and immatures of other pests such as grasshoppers, blowflies, houseflies, spiders and snails." ~extracted from http://www.orkin.com

A container of Lantanas in assorted colours.


A "Painted Lady" butterfly winging colours to compete with these striking orange-yellow Lantana flowers.

The following two images on my pet guinea pig was added on 3.8.14

I presented some Lantana flowers to Nikolai ...

... but he sniffed at them disdainfully. I like his pink lips and two front teeth on both upper and lower jaws :)

A few heads of the pastel Pink and white Lantana camara in a white vase.

Capers of Pygmy Grass Blue Butterflies on Lantana

Zizula hylax pygmaea (Pygmy Grass Blue) are incredibly tiny butterflies that freely flutter around in my garden. Lantana camara are their firm favourites.
 

"The butterfly is a flying flower. The flower a tethered butterfly"
- Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun

Their strong preference for this plant could be due to the aromatic leaves and flowers.

 

Unfurling a coiled proboscis into the floret of Lantana camara 'spreading sunset'.

Having a field day, hopping from one floret to another, they are simply just spoilt for choice.


Their thirst for the nectar seems to be insatiable as they flit tirelessly from one inflorescence to another.


The nectar must be like ambrosia to them.

Even flower buds are given the once over. 

 
The buds appear as little rectangle packages

 The buds are just as interesting as the flowers.

A Cold-blooded Encounter

I enjoy looking at butterflies fluttering around. They appear to be mobile ornaments for my garden. Robert Louis Stevenson once said that "Butterflies are like flying flowers, the flower a tethered butterfly." 

How apt, I would say by looking at them frolicking amongst the plants. As I strolled in the garden, my mind was on beautiful things and I stopped by

a nearby clump of Alpinias to select some for cut flowers. As I stooped down to sever the stalks,

 I felt as if I was being watched.

I looked up and lo and behold I saw gleaming eyes with piercing Medussa look.

 

It was a slender snake of about five feet long. 

It then slithered away deeper into the ginger torch clump.

I flipped through the large fronds and found it lying lengthwise along the long leaf stalk. It was certainly not pleased to be discovered and showed its displeasure by extending its forked tongue.

 

After a while as it no longer felt threatened, it changed its stance and ...

gave me a quizzical look.

It then turned its head sideways to get a better look at me. It looked at me hard and long. It was a very tense moment as we eyeballed each other.

“Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.” - Chanakya 

I then bade it goodbye and it lifted up its head as if in acknowledgement. We parted in peace. 

It was hovering near the wall probably because of small morsels of food such as this which was self-exhibited and ready for the picking.

An interesting shadow play was displayed with its pair of tentacles. It seems snails have poor eyesight. No wonder their eyes have to be located at the end of stalks. Dots at the end of the antennae make them look like eyes.

This snail has found a lovely way to shelter from the sun. The canary yellow petals of the Allamanda cathatica form the perfect canopy for it. Snails have a messy habit of leaving their droppings on the walls which are rather difficult to dislodge. Spraying with a stream of water under high pressure can dislodge them but the smudges remained - ugh!!!

Posted from Cork, Ireland. How time flies. I'm into the third week of my one-month sojourn in Ireland.