Swallowtail butterflies were the most common on the morning I was at Sweetfields Farm in Brooksville. The farm has a huge zinnia field and before picking some of them to take home I spent some time taking pictures of the butterflies.
A painted lady butterfly.
A fiery skipper.
Cloudless sulphur butterflies were also common but they rarely stay still for a few seconds.
A zebra swallowtail butterfly.
Gulf fritillary butterflies are common here but they look so pretty on pink.
A bella moth or also known as a rattlebox moth. I rarely see these.
A quick video of the butterflies flitting around in a smaller zinnia field near the sunflower maze. They were hard to catch since they were all constantly moving.
Lots of tiny critters as well.
Swallow tail kites are common around farm fields and cow pastures. There were several that were flying over the sunflower festival. Don’t look any further down if you don’t want to see nature doing it’s thing.
I was standing on the edge of the farm watching the kites fly high over the trees that bordered the farm. I noticed one kite had something in his talons that he was eating. Swallow tails eat while they are flying. I was bummed that I was having to take these into the sun since I couldn’t get any farther over due to the fence line.
When I got home and super cropped this up I could see his snack was a baby bird. Possibly a blue jay or mockingbird. He might have snatched it out of a nest. I usually see them eating dragonflies or lizards so it was a little disheartening to see what he had but it’s a circle of life. I did see this once before when Brett was with me and he calls them the “mean” birds now.
