Welcome to my nature blog! I love sharing my photos of North Texas! I will keep looking out and hope you do too.
Comments welcome. Thank you, Mary
With the rest of week with rain in the forecast, I just had to get out. And today was just beautiful out. So off to the grasslands we went! The leaves of Pin Clover (Erodium cicutarium) were this colorful red. And it was blooming. It is a non-native plant. According to Wikipedia “it is native…
Greenbriar (Smilax bona-nox) in the winter loses a lot of its leaves, but some hang on. Some are subtle. Others do the camo-like thing. Others are like a rainbow of colors. And then some hold onto there green. As a famous frog once said it is not easy being green and that is especially true…
This caught my eye in the driveway. A baby pine cone must have blown off in yesterday’s wind. It was about 15 mm (1/2″). So pretty. Closer yet. I wonder how far this fluffy down feather got blown yesterday? Leaf beetle (Chrysolina auripennis) was a surprising find today. Host plants for it are Beebalm (Monarda)…
Here are the rest of the photos from yesterday’s grasslands adventure. Not sure why this orange tack was there but sure was bright. Maybe a surveyor or a researcher or maybe someone just had time on their hands?? The tentacles look like a snake skeleton. Blackland Thistle (Cirsium engelmannii). Burl on Bur Oak. Crust fungus….
30 mph was our high wind gust this afternoon. That did not stop me from heading over to the grasslands. We were mostly in low areas so the wind was not bad. The bird highlight was when a we saw a Red-tailed Hawk come screaming overhead chasing a Cooper’s Hawk. Cooper’s quickly left the area….
I decided to do my-before-lunch walk at 9am this morning and on a whim I decided to make a list of birds. It had been a long time since I had used ebird. I was pleasantly surprised on the ease of entering the species than what it use to be, after getting out of the…
Signs give us information. Signs can tell humans information. A sign like this can give a warning and shows some shooting fool has been in the area. Signs are important sources of information for nature as well. This Post Oak leaf is a sign that a mammal is in heat. I’m sure the male critter…
The Eryngo looks like fish skeletons. Especially if you turn it on its side. Three earthstars! Not sure why this is red, blood or fungus? I don’t know. It is on a dead Live Oak. I found this cool white fungus when I turned over a fallen branch. Closer view. Black finger fungus. At least…
Four hours is how long the snow came down. We did our first walk about 11am. The wind was out of the west so Gracie only got snow mostly on one side of her. This big snow drift was at our back door LOL. It was the only place I saw any snow on the…
What was this larva doing out on this cold day? It was only in the lower 40’s, but at least the sun was out eh. Yesterday’s stinkhorn was breaking it ties to the grass. I found a second one near by today. It seems to be in rougher shape. Keep looking!