See the blistering heat of July on this map from NASA. Looking at this map really brings it home to how hot July was. And now that it is August and showing no sign of letting up, of course driving tours are the now the preferred method for exploring. In fact, we saw 109 degrees on the car thermometer yesterday. Yikes! So glad it was not that hot today (98.2 here). I bet you will agree, it was still plenty warm.
Ok, this is not nature. However, we encounter lots of neat things on our driving tours. Kevin Roach is the chainsaw artist. And you can see his work in various places around the Wise County. And we meet some of the nicest people as well. This one is now Barbie’s. We had a lovely chat with Barbie. So if you are driving to Cottonwood Lake, wave when you go by. Barbie will have second horse sculpture in her pasture in a week or so. Thanks Barbie! It was wonderful meeting you!
After our visit with Barbie, we started the driving tour again. Ten feet tall, the Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) was a beauty! Many species of birds will be thankful for its seeds as well.
We were not its only visitor, an American Bumblebee came too. So others came as well. However, I could not tell you what they were except to say other smaller bees.
Moving on to Montague County, our first stop was to hunt further for the Thurber’s Pilostyles. The Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) blended in with the woody stems of the Black Dalea! The short wings means it is a female. Unlike the female, the male can fly.
Lying on the ground with the mantis were this year’s Bladderpod (Physaria) seed pods. I suspected that the species is Engelmann’s Bladderpod (P. engelmannii) based on the gravelly ground where it was located. The center membrane in the seed pod was so interesting that I had to bring it home for a closer look. 🙂
The membranes looked like magic wands don’t you think?
Small seed pods!
A closer look at the membrane!
Only bringing one seed pod home, I carefully pried it apart. So there must be a reason why a membrane separate the two halves. It is like siblings that need separate rooms? LOL. So if you got a theory, please share.
One side seemed to have an additional undeveloped seed.
Kevin roach has done some nice chain saw carvings. Some not so much so. Love the lizard whisperer. Good luck to her.
I didn’t realize female Carolina mantids can’t fly. Cool bladderpod photos.
Love the bladderpod! Looks like a little space ray gun from sci Fi!