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 Well, not really frosting on the cake BUT frosting on the plants this morning!  It got down to 27 degrees at my house. Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) is a favorite plant of mine. It attracts beaucoup (which is French for a lot- I didn’t remember that it was French) of insects while it is blooming. And…

 Cold front definitely blew in last night! Was 27 degrees this morning at my house and made it to 49. Glad it was sunny. Someone had a meal…Mourning Dove feathers. This blackish lichen is called a jelly lichen. When it is dry, it is blackish. When wet, it is rubbery and slightly greenish. Part of…

Eggs of the Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth (Malacosoma americanaover) overwinter on wild plum trees (Prunus). Same kind of eggs as above. The eggs are so pretty and glossy. Backside of an old Praying Mantis egg casing with a foliose lichen growing on it on the wild plum tree. The Loggerhead Shrike uses the wild plum…

 We got a little wet this afternoon. So far .1 inch. I ain’t complaining; brings out the color in so much. I believe this is probably a Firedot lichen (Caloplaca species) and a Xanthoria species  (the yellowish one) on a old fence post. Bristle grass (Setaria species) with Little Bluestem grass (Schizachyrium scoparium). Closeup. I am not sure if this…

This Leaf beetle (Chrysolina auripennis) was just moving along just fine. Its antenna has a beaded look. Then a big ole predator (me) nudged him. Its antenna and legs pulled into a protection mode. I flipped him and could see how small it had made itself. Pretty cool! I did flip it up right when…

 I hope everyone is having a safe and happy Thanksgiving. 🙂 Pareidolia – The perception of apparently significant patterns or recognizable images in random or accidental arrangement of shapes and lines. For example, when you look at the clouds and you might see dragons, dogs, monsters, people and so on. I have a donkey on…

 I had my FOS (First of season) Brown Creeper this afternoon. Always exciting to see one in our woods. One time years ago when I was out with Claire at Unit 55 (Rucker’s), we saw a Brown Creeper. It was doing it usual business going up the tree hunting for its next meal. While we…

Foggy and drizzly this morning. It did clear up around 2pm here. Nothing in the rain gauge for November yet.  Update: Getting rain at 7:11pm. By 8pm we got .47 inch. Yeah! Seed head, possibly a Sleepy Daisy (Xanthisma texanum var drummondii). The damp weather brings out the green in these lichens.  Red Paper Wasp’s…

Blackburn’s Earth-boring Beetles (Geotrupes blackburnii) were out again on this cool morning. Most of the beetles (Geotrupes blackburnii) were on their backs. Waiting for it to warm up. Fungus on a downed Hackberry tree. Update: It is called carbon balls, cramp balls, or King Alfred’s cakes (Daldinia concentrica) fungus home Closer view. Sorta looks like…

  Slick as snot, figurative (meaning neato) and literally. Jim was pushing trees and this was left in the dirt. From a distance, I thought the white was going to be piece of pottery or glass because this was where an old house once stood. Imagine my surprise when I saw the rest of it…