Montague County drive about

Rough-winged swallows were our first stop along the side of the road.  We also had first of season American kestrels.  Other birds of the day were Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, doves, Loggerhead Shrikes, roadrunner, red-shouldered hawk, vultures, White-eyed vireo and one mad-at-us Carolina wren. 

Then as we parked by a creek in the road near a house, this fellow comes along to check on the suspicious characters near his house. We explained what we were doing and had a nice chat. Then Tony suggests we check out his field and so we did!  Found lots of good stuff. Most of what we found follows. Thanks Tony for sharing your wonderful place!  We meet the nicest people along the roads.

Eastern Pondhawk male

Eastern Pondhawk female

Cricket frog

Backswimmers (family Notonectidae)

Bullfrog. There were a bunch of them.

This one still had a tail

Can a grasshopper dog paddle? Yes 😉

Bindweed (Convolvulus equitans) and Texas Vervain (Verbena halei)

Yellow puff (Neptunia lutea)

Nits n lice (Hypericum drummondii) Looks like little pinwheels eh

Petrified wood

Scarlet pea (Indigofera miniata)

Disk water-hyssop (Bacopa rotundifolia)

Agalinis heterrophylla  flower is sessile, right up again the stem.

Agalinis homalantha with a bee. This was a really dark pink. Not always the case. Usually see them a lighter pink like the other agalinis above. This species pedicels (stalk the holds the flower to the stem)  are up to inch long.

Marsh Fleabane (Pluchea odorata)

Bitterweed (Helenium amarum var anarum)

Camphorweed (Heterrotheca subaxillaris) with curled under petals

Green milkweed (Asclepsis viridis) was still blooming

The monarch found a Butterfly Milkweed

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa ssp interior)  closeup

A big Thiers’ Lepidella (Amanita thiersii)

Close up of its gills and you can make out the skirt on the stem

Just loved these little brown jobs.

Seed pod of Illinois Bundleflower (Desmanthus illnoensis)

Bagworm on the Illinois Bundleflower, never seen one on this plant before.

Trailing Wild Bean (Strophostyles helvula)  Pink when fresh and turns yellow as it gets older

Texas Buckeye (Aesculus arguta) seeds, this is on the Garnett Preserve. This is the one that has the yellow flowers. Absolutely the most beautiful piece of land.

Texas Buckeye seed pod

Update correction:  I got confused and called above Mexican Buckeye. Aesculus arguta was updated to A. glabra va arguta in 2012 on Plant List – http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2624507 .Common names for Aesculus arguta includes calling it Texas Buckeye, White Buckeye, or Western Buckeye.  The other buckeye Ungnadia speciosa (which is the common one in our area) with pinkish flowers is also referred to as Texas buckeye or Mexican buckeye… .  So this is why scientific names are used. Thank you Kathy Saucier pointing the error out! I fixed it. 

Stiff Sunflower (Helianthus pauciflorus)

A closeup of a different Stiff Sunflower

Overall shot of a Stiff Sunflower