Red Spider Lilies, Yellow Butterflies & Red-Shouldered Hawk All Herald Autumn In South Carolina

Red Spider Lilies and Yellow Butterflies are common in the
Carolinas during the beginning of the autumn months following
the fall equinox.

As the month of September comes to an end here in upstate South Carolina, autumn begins to make its presence known. Although most of the trees have yet to change into their glorious red, yellow, and orange fall colors, some leaves have already begun to fall. Yet there are already other signs that signal that the autumn season has finally officially arrived.

This afternoon while I was cutting my lawn -- for what will thankfully be one of the last times for this year -- I had to leave one little patch of my yard uncut to preserve the newly sprouted Red Spider Lilies (Lycoris radiata) that sprout up every late September and early October here.

The Red Spider Lily -- named so because of its beautiful bright red color and stamens that look like spider legs -- are also referred to along the eastern coastal areas of the United States as Hurricane lilies because they often bloom after first fall hurricanes.

Outside of the American Southland, the Red Spider Lily is often commonly called the Schoolhouse Lily because it blooms when school has started. Other names for this fall flower include: Red Magic Lily, Corpse Flower, Resurrection Lily, and the Equinox Flower.

Like the dreaded Kudzu vine, the Red Spider Lily is not native to the South, but rather comes from eastern Asia. Its believed that one Captain William Willis Roberts (1822-1875), a Southern-born botanist from New Bern, North Carolina and friend of explorer Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S Navy, first introduced the plant to America sometime around 1854; bringing three bulbs home from Japan and gifting them to his young sister-in-law, Lavinia Ellis Cole Roberts (1833-1923), for her extensive New Bern garden.

Captain William W. Roberts served in the United States Navy from 1839-1860 when he resigned following the secession of North Carolina at the start of the War Between the States (1861-1865) and took a commission in the Confederate States Navy (CSN) serving as a Lieutenant on three ships -- CSS Charleston, CSS Albemarle, and the CSS Torpedo -- from 1861-1865. Today his grave, located in his native New Bern, North Carolina, has Red Spider Lilies that grow every autumn around his grave marker, a beautiful tribute to the man who introduced this plant to America.

Like the Kudzu vine, the Red Spider Lily is Just about every yard in my small Southern town has at least one patch of wild Red Spider Lilies that pop up out of the blue this time of year. Sadly they don't last more than a couple weeks, or so. That's what makes this surprise flower so interesting and precious to see every year here in Dixie.

The following are the photos I took of the small patch of Red Spider Lilies under the tree in my front yard:

Y'all might have noticed the small, yellow-green butterfly in the last two photos above -- the last one capturing the little beauty in flight.

This beautiful yellow butterfly is the Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) common to most of this part of the eastern United States and America from Argentina to southern Ontario, Canada, especially in late summer and early fall.

In addition to capturing this lovely lady in flight (you can tell by the markings on the wings she's a female) I was about to get a great close-up of her on one of the lilies. 

As I finished giving my front lawn its first official sheering of the autumn season, in addition to the cries of my feral cats for their food, I also heard another cry coming from the trees across the road in my neighbor's back yard. I retrieved my camera and located the source of the crying -- a female Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)perched high on a branch.

An extremely vocal bird, this apex predatory bird is well known in the Eastern United States and Appalachia all year around. 

I managed to capture a few great (mostly clear) shots of this lovely beauty as well.

Please let me know what y'all thought of this post below, and as always have a wonderful Dixie Day, and y'all come back now, you hear!