The sky was clear blue with only a few clouds. And goodness was it ever pleasant this morning at 58.6 degrees. Perfect!
A Great Egret flew overhead. Also seen flying over were a Red-bellied Woodpecker, cardinals, swallows, and mockingbirds.
Our Flat-topped Goldenrod (Solidago nitida) is blooming! Viewed from ground level.
Love the Prairie Parsley (Polytaenia nuttallii) even though it was totally bare!
Thistles are pretty done as well.
However, this grasshopper found the thistle was a nice resting spot. I wonder if its reception was a bit off with the bent antenna?
Arkansas Yucca (Yucca arkansana).
A few seeds still remained in the pod!
Western Ironweed (Vernonia baldwinii) with green leaves. On further down the hill, I could see another ironweed that had one flower left.
The seed pods of the Honey Locust were hanging from above!
A Hackberry tree with its gnarly bark, lichens, and the home to many a creature. Today I saw ants and soon the birds will be eating the ripening berries.
Well not literally looking upwards here. Though a crab spider thought its day was looking up with this catch. Actually, I saw it grab the bee. The flower is the Common Sunflower (Helianthus annus).
The day was looking up likewise for a Green Lynx spider! It also nabbed a bee as I watched! Pretty awesome for me and the spider! Not so much for the bee. 😉
The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know.
8 Comments
How fun with those two spiders.
Our hackberry berries are ripe according to the birds. The trees have been swarming with birds. At least half a dozen mockingbirds, white-winged doves, bewick’s wren although it might have just been searching for bugs as it was more up and down the trunk, titmice and some other species that has eluded me 3 times now. It is driving me crazy that I can never see them through the foliage and as soon as I get closer they fly off while all the rest stay. They are very chattery and sound like a whole herd of whatever it is. I will try again tomorrow but it is very frustrating. While watching all the activity in a single hackberry tree a spiny lizard was perched along the trunk, head down and arched with front legs as long as it could get. It never moved the whole time I was there. Wished I had photographed it since it took on such an interesting posture.
Love those yucca seed pods with how the seeds sit stacked and organized.
Kathy, If you could borrow a smartphone (Gary’s;-) and have Gary download the Merlin app you might get an idea about what the chattering birds are. However, you must be careful when using the app because it often will get it wrong. I am also amazed of the efficiency of a plant’s arrangements of the seeds and the different strategies the plants employ.
Sometimes i think seed heads are prettier than the flowers. Love that you found more spiders. And the skeleton with sickle is gruesome. Ive always wondered if the people were able to utilize all the bison they ran off cliffs. Birds flying so far is kinda mind blowing. Thanks for all.
How fun with those two spiders.
Our hackberry berries are ripe according to the birds. The trees have been swarming with birds. At least half a dozen mockingbirds, white-winged doves, bewick’s wren although it might have just been searching for bugs as it was more up and down the trunk, titmice and some other species that has eluded me 3 times now. It is driving me crazy that I can never see them through the foliage and as soon as I get closer they fly off while all the rest stay. They are very chattery and sound like a whole herd of whatever it is. I will try again tomorrow but it is very frustrating. While watching all the activity in a single hackberry tree a spiny lizard was perched along the trunk, head down and arched with front legs as long as it could get. It never moved the whole time I was there. Wished I had photographed it since it took on such an interesting posture.
Love those yucca seed pods with how the seeds sit stacked and organized.
Kathy, If you could borrow a smartphone (Gary’s;-) and have Gary download the Merlin app you might get an idea about what the chattering birds are. However, you must be careful when using the app because it often will get it wrong. I am also amazed of the efficiency of a plant’s arrangements of the seeds and the different strategies the plants employ.
Sometimes i think seed heads are prettier than the flowers. Love that you found more spiders. And the skeleton with sickle is gruesome. Ive always wondered if the people were able to utilize all the bison they ran off cliffs. Birds flying so far is kinda mind blowing. Thanks for all.
The seed heads as you say, certainly can stand toe to toe with the fresh flower for beauty. Poor girl with the sickle. 🙁 I have not heard about the bison and cliffs if they were able to use all that they killed. So I googled it…. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_jump , http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntecoindian/essays/buffalob.htm , and this one … https://allaboutbison.com/buffalo-jumps/ (the last link is long and I did not read all of it)
So they did kill more than they could use. Left for other critters.
Guess other critters would have thought it was a windfall. And with millions of bison at the time it seemed like a good and safer plan.
My iron weed (seeds from the ones at your house) are still green leaves but mostly going to seed except a single flower still purple
All the ironweed here have gone to seed for several weeks. Yeah, for the home ironweed!