Nectar. Narciso, Portuguese for any plant of the genus Narcissus.

A photo from earlier this Spring showing a flower fly feeding on the nectar of a Narcissus flower of the “Bridal Crown” variety. This double daffodil variety produces long-lasting flowers with a delightful scent. They’re gone now and I miss them already.

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© Nightjar, all rights reserved.

Lichen. Líquen.

Only slightly different spellings in English and Portuguese to refer to this fascinating symbiotic relationship between fungi and photosynthetic microorganisms (cyanobacteria or algae). As far as I was able to determine, this moss-like lichen belongs to the genus Cladonia.

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Keyhole.

This is quite possibly be the only non-nature photo you are going to see for this round, but it was the one I immediately thought of for the letter K. It was taken last year as part of a larger project that I did for the local amateur theatre group. No, I have no talent whatsoever for theatre, but they apparently thought I could help them with the photography part and invited me. I was completely out of my element, but I think in the end they were happy with the result and it was lots of fun to work with them!

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© Nightjar, all rights reserved.

Jealousy. Jardim, Portuguese for garden.

I hope I’m not the only one thinking that the wasp in the background is clearly coveting the fig that the butterfly is feeding on, in my garden’s fig tree. This is of course an excuse to show you this gorgeous and unmistakable butterfly, Charaxes jasius (foxy emperor). It’s a large butterfly that occurs in the Mediterranean region and in Africa. The adults can often be seen during summer sucking the liquids out of overripe fruits. The common Portuguese name for this butterfly is “borboleta-do-medronheiro”, which means “butterfly of the strawberry tree” referring to the larvae’s main host plant.

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© Nightjar, all rights reserved.