Wonders of Nature

The answer to each week's Critter Quiz becomes the Featured Creature the following week.

Click HERE - the answer is there waiting for you!

If you have photos that you would like to submit for consideration as the Featured Creature
please email Wonders of Nature

I am a bird. More specifically I am a bird of prey, medium in size with
broad wings. The upper parts of my wings, my "shoulders" are a rusty red
color, which is how I got my name. I also have a rusty red breast. My tail,
which is quite long for birds of my type, is barred with stripes of white. I
am solitary and territorial and never found in a flock, not even in winter. I
am most often found in open woodlands near water, where I can wait on a
tree limb and swoop down on my prey. I make my home in the eastern
parts of North America and along the coast of California. I am known for
being the most vocal of my type here in America. Who am I?

Matt took these pictures
right in his own backyard in
St Pete.

This beautiful butterfly can
be found in the extreme
southern parts of the US,
which includes us here in
Florida. In our state they can
be found in all 67 counties,
year round. Gulf Fritillary
butterflies are at home in
most open, sunny

garden plant passionflower
vines and wait for the
butterflies to arrive!
Passionflower vines are the
only host plant that these
butterflies will lay their eggs
on. Their eggs are yellow
and the caterpillars that
hatch out are very pretty
too - bright orange with
black spines. The scientific
name for this butterfly is
Agraulis vanillae.

habitats, they frequent roadsides, fields, open woodlands, pastures, yards,
and parks. They can be found in most butterfly gardens, including those in
more urban settings. If you want to attract these pretty butterflies to your

· The largest butterfly in the world is the female Queen Alexandra Birdwing
butterfly (Ornithoptera alexandrae). It lives in New Guinea and has a
wingspan up to 12 1/2 inches; the male is much smaller than the female. At
the other end of the scale, the smallest is the Western Pygmy blue
(Brephidium exilis) from Africa, with a wingspan of .62 inch.

· The fastest butterflies (some skippers) can fly at about
30 miles per hour. Slow flying butterflies fly about 5 miles
per hour. Speed varies but the poisonous species tend
to be slower than non-poisonous species.

· A butterfly's antennae, palps, legs, and
many other parts of the body are
studded with sense receptors that are used to
smell! The sense of smell is used for finding food
(usually flower nectar), and for finding mates
(the female smelling the male's pheromones).

· Butterfly fossils are rare. The earliest butterfly fossils are from the early
Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago.