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Monday, April 30, 2012

Red Admiral Butterfly

It's been a little harder coming back than I thought it was going to be. It's a busy job being me right now. I got all of my things from Michigan, but I've only barely begun unpacking them. The great new format of Nature Center Magazine is also keeping me a little busier than I thought it would. I also have to make time to go out and actually have these everyday adventures that I love talking about so much.

I'm sure you've guessed from the title what kind of butterfly I have here today for you. That's right, it's a red admiral butterfly, the first I've ever seen. I found this at the beginning of the trail at Five Ridge Prairie Preserve. I happened to see another one a few days later right in my backyard.

The really good news is that I made it back to Five Ridge and got to see very many new things I'll be bringing you in the next several days. I'm beginning to love that place very much. I can go on short hikes there if I want, and I can also go there for very long hikes. Flat land or hills. Forest or prairie. It has everything.

That's not the only good place I've been in the past few days though. There are nature parks all around me where I live now. Being here is a dream come true for me. Any nature lover would be in heaven living here. I used to think all there was here were cows. I was so very wrong, but we have those too.

Just wait 'til I tell you about my slightly terrifying adventure with Isabella. It came close to being a nightmare, but we both got out of it fine. It ended up as only amusing though. I'll bring that one to you as soon as I can.

A question before I go today. I recently signed up for a Google+ account. Google+ is like Facebook, which I don't have. My question is, what is it for? I read that I could use it to help promote my blogs, but it seems like I would have to write in it as if it were another blog. I don't want to do that. I already have blogs and I think I like blogging more than stuff like Google+. Am I missing something? Is there something fun there that I'm just not seeing, or are things like Google+ and Facebook just extra work?
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13 comments:

  1. betchaiApril 30, 2012 at 8:53 PM

    I am not very familiar with google+ though I am in it, I still am a lost how to use it. I find Facebook not really very helpful in promoting my blog if I base it from my google analytics and blogger stats, both stats show I have very limited traffic coming in from Facebook, compared to traffic coming in from search engines. But I still continue to share my links in my Facebook for the purpose of sharing it to some family and friends who are interested in finding out what is going on with me, other than that, I don't really find Facebook more purposeful than blogging. Fun and distracting, yes, but having a sense of purpose for me, no. I stick with blogging to spend my free time more purposely.

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  2. AnonymousMay 1, 2012 at 12:27 AM

    Very nice shots of the Admiral!

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  3. SparkleMay 1, 2012 at 3:32 AM

    I have a page on Google+ and my human has a profile, but we rarely look at it. I'm more active on Facebook and Twitter, where there are very big communities of blogging kitties! So I can't help you there. I think I will just admire your red admiral butterfly (I have heard that butterflies are tasty but have never experienced that for myself), and wait for your next adventure.

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  4. Icy BCMay 1, 2012 at 5:13 AM

    I have asked these question about G+ last week too as I found it incredibly annoying when I returned comment and ran into G+ profile. It's just extra work for me, and useless as far as traffic goes. Facebook too, is time consuming..

    Beautiful butterfly, Ratty!

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  5. Nina LiakosMay 1, 2012 at 6:44 AM

    I just saw a Red Admiral a couple of days ago. They are pretty common here in Maryland, as are Tiger Swallowtails, Black Swallowtails, and (to a lesser extent) Monarchs. Your photo is great, very detailed.
    I think Google Plus is just a place to announce new posts to contacts who aren't already subscribers. I suspect you don't have too many of those, not yet anyway. Like betchai, I am on G+ but never do anything with it, at least not on purpose. I just kind of found myself part of it one day because I use so many google products, I guess.

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  6. rainfield61May 1, 2012 at 7:34 AM

    I enjoy very much with what I am having now. I'll not go over to G+ in the near future as I do not have much time for trial and error.

    Life is simple.

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  7. john bainMay 1, 2012 at 2:08 PM

    I'm signed in to google + Ratty, but I have no idea how to use it. I share my blog to facebook and twitter, and think it helps.
    We get Red Admirals here in England. I'm not sure but I think they cross the Atlantic. I know that the Painted Lady butterfly does. Seems incredible to me!

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  8. AnnMay 1, 2012 at 4:46 PM

    I have google + but frankly I don't get the point of it so I don't use it.

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  9. SharkbytesMay 1, 2012 at 6:22 PM

    Hi Ratty!- The Red Admirals have been everywhere this spring. I've never seen so many! I thought I would like G+, but all my friends are at FB, and I can feed my blog into FB, so more people might come read the posts. I haven't been on G+ much lately.

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  10. Out on the prairieMay 2, 2012 at 12:11 AM

    Those butterflys have been thick this year, I think they follow willow bloom.

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  11. allotments4youMay 2, 2012 at 3:05 AM

    You were lucky to see a red admiral butterfly...with our current weather we haven't seen any butterflies yet this year.

    As for facebook, I have an account but I only use it to stay in touch with friends and family who live away from me...I don't do anything with my blog on there although it does have a link to my blog on it. If you wanted to see I guess you could always sign up and then delete it, if it's not for you.I've never heard of Google+ though so can't help you out with that one.

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  12. JohnMay 4, 2012 at 10:56 AM

    I've only seen one red admiral here this year... I haven't seen any recently since it's rained every day for the last month. :-(

    Google+ - link your blog to G+ with rel=author. Link your G+ back to your blog. Fill out the form on Google and your avatar will show up next to your blog in the search results.

    In my experience, this improves CTR by about 25%

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  13. bemused26May 10, 2012 at 8:22 AM

    Hi Ratty- can't help with Google+ I'm afraid! I love Facebook though and I kind of use twitter a bit. Mostly I just share my posts or other peoples posts.

    I love butterflies. You got some great shots of this Red Admiral- nice one!

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