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
We took a hiking and driving tour yesterday in Montague and Cooke counties. Today’s post will be the hiking part on the Garnett Preserve. This is now owned and managed by the Thomsen Foundation. Always a delight to visit this wonderful preserve with 469 species of plants. The Redbuds are just spectacular! This is a…
More good stuff 🙂 Pussy toes (Antennaria parlinnii)! Did you think it was going to be a kitty cat? 😉 This was a favorite plant that Shirley liked to show me in Cooke County. It was certainly easier to see there since it was on the roadside. Pussy Toes (Antennaria parlinnii) are in the Asteraceae…
The Redbuds are going like gangbusters! The creek was much wider than other creeks we have been going to lately. Ground-plum (Astragalus crassicarpus) is an interesting plant. It has fruit that resembles a small plum. The flowers are really pretty. This plant is a legume. Never tire of the roots along the banks! There was…
We found a new plant for the grasslands. I never would have thought I would find this orchid in our area. This is super cool! I drove home like a mad woman! Why, because the petals were not suppose to stay on for only a couple of hours. And of course we had no idea…
I hear this banging coming from the dining room. What is Jim up to I wondered? It was not Jim but our feathered friend looks to be back. Grrrr. I hope he does not do it too much or we will be putting up the screens and outside shade. A cardinal attacked the windows for…
Do you remember I found these cocoons on the grasslands last week? I left half of them in the prairie. They were tiny and bright yellow! Well, they hatched! They opened each cocoon with this perfect round lid. Here’s what they looked like. There were about 2-3mm long not including legs or antenna. Amazing how…
Rain drops made this interesting pattern on sandy loam in our woods. Colorful inside of a grasshopper leg. The color jump out as I walked along the path! A Mexican plum flower blown off in the storm yesterday. Petals have already dropped. The sepals look like a starfish! Ten-petal Anemone with a small bee….
Perfect day to finish a book Claire loaned me. The book is Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species by Sean B. Carroll. It was a great read on evolution and the scientists who help bring the amazing story to life. We managed to not walk in the rain today,…
Paula saw the first of season Scissortail Flycatcher! This was up in Norman, OK. They got spring before us LOL. But I believe I heard one on this afternoon walk, but could not see it. Yeah Paula! Yesterday, Kathy (down in Fredericksburg) had multiple flocks of Sandhill Cranes go over. I also saw my FOS…