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
Today’s theme may stump you or knot. The Wizard of Oz was a pretty frightening movie to me when I was a kid. I always thought the Fighting Trees in the movie were pretty scary. Imagine now if you were in the forest with the following characters that were the pets of the Fighting Trees……
Not only was it calm at 11 am, but it was overcast and gray too. Gracie the anemometer, on the job! No data is valid data! Indiangrass not moving a millimeter. Not often does the bristlegrass stand still for a photo. Giant Ragweed looks frosty but it is not. It is just the hirsute or…
The last part of Tuesday’s grassland hike… Several of these plants were by the creek’s edge. I think it is probably Cursed Crowfoot or Celery-leaved Buttercup (Ranunculus sceleratus) by the shape of its leaves. Wow, the shelf fungus on this downed tree was amazingly crowded. Wasp nest slime mold (Metatrichia vesparia) is tiny, but worth the…
Before I start in with the grasslands, I saw these “zipper” clouds today around noon (that is a name I just made up). The sky was clear by 3 pm. Continuing on with Tuesday’s grasslands outing… Does this remind you of the Plague doctor? We were in the safety zone, right. A heart shape or…
It was a lovely day on the grasslands yesterday. This big patch of Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron) was awesome. Until this year, I had not notice it anywhere except on creek banks and ravine banks. Interesting partially dead tree. The tree was trying to repair itself it looked like. I thought that was different in the…
Yesterday late in the afternoon we went to Lake Bridgeport. It had been awhile. Here’s what we saw. I wish the Killdeer would hang out at the house again. They have not nested at our house in a long time. Glad to see they were still at the lake! White Pelicans way across the lake….
Arkansas Yucca seedpod (Yucca arkansana). Vine twists up the Hackberry tree. Crustose fungus doing its job! Close up. Bedstraw (Galium aparine) has started to pop out. It is an annual. I have read that it was used in bedding. The plant will cling to you with its hairs. I have found several species of caterpillars…
I am not a night person. My Dad was. He worked the night shift my whole childhood at the St. Louis airport. But a lot goes on while I sleep. Sometimes I hear the night shift calling when I go to bed or when I get up early. A wildlife camera can let you get…
Kansas is the name of an American rock band. In 1977 they release a song called “Dust in the Wind”. The song seems appropriate today I think. At 11:18 am there were still clouds lingering but the wind had already started to gust as Gracie, the anemometer shows. At 1:24 pm the clouds were gone…
I don’t think anyone has anything on north Texas’ sunrises. Spring Beauty colors! The variation of color ranges from almost white… To these deeper shades. And the yellow at the base of the petals vary too. What lies beneath the bark on this dead Hackberry tree? This is the bark moved back to the…