I was up at 5:30am with Gracie this morning. I had hoped to see a shooting star or two. But no luck 🙁
So though I didn’t see any shooting stars, I did see the moon as it set.
Since it was dark when I took Gracie out, I grabbed my UV light. The praying mantis was fluorescing!
So did the katydid. In fact, the grasshoppers and the hornworms were as well.
Next a beautiful Checkered Setwing was out in my patch of Greeneyes. However, it preferred perching on the dead stem. Dragonflies will often point their abdomens in the air to help with cooling.
Pokeberry (Phytolacca americana) is a favorite of the birds!
It is easy to see why, with their juicy berries. I do not begrudge them for leaving the purple poop on our concrete. When I was a kid, we used the berries for painting our faces. However, one brother decided to eat them and of course he had to have his stomach pumped.
A rather fat spiny lizard!
It was a treat to get close enough to see that it was shedding its skin. Lizards, unlike snakes, flakes off in multiple pieces.
Hope more than a few of y’all got some of the rain yesterday. Rain amounts around here ranged from barely wet (.1″) to 1.25″. Here we got the .24″ and was very thankful.
Looks like that lizard is growing a new tail. Cool.
I was thinking it might too
I agree – new tail in progress.