On the fence

On the fence

 Are you on the fence? I’m not and I have voted BUT this is not about that. The following is about stuff on the fence, my barbwire fence! The Loggerhead Shrike was quite busy storing its cache on the fence. This beetle was still twitching so it was very fresh. Maybe the Loggerhead Shrike’s poop?…

Did you guess…

Did you guess…

 Armadillo? That is what it was. It had died about a month ago. Gracie did try to gnaw on it then. It was not stinky enough to roll in at that time. But she decided to bring the tail over to the path yesterday. Only thing left of it now is the tail and the…

Make your guess

Make your guess

Can you guess what this came from? I will give another hint at the bottom of the post. Someone had a meal last night. Imagine someone having a cup of coffee and conversations around the table? We often find pottery and glass shards on our place where there was once an old homestead.  The unmistakable…

More

More

 Yesterday’s finds were great. The orchids were the highlight of the day’s adventure, but certainly not all. The following are some of the other highlights. It just blows me away that the remains of these creatures lived some 145-100 millions years ago and that most all of our area was under the sea. Mussels and…

Great day in the field

Great day in the field

 It was cloudy start on the grasslands this morning. The prairie was looking good!  Our first exciting find of the day was the Nodding Ladies-tresses (Spiranthes cernua). Closeup.  This species of orchid a lot times is self-pollinating  (another word for it is androgyny) and the flower never opens. Update: Oct 25, 2020  I have since learned…

Easy shots

Easy shots

This cool and cloudy day meant the insects were not moving much so easy shots.  American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) was right where I left it when I returned four hours later. And again it was still on the gayfeather at 3pm. Harvestman (Leiobunum vittatum) was cooperative as well.  Pearl Crescent (Phycoides tharos) Common Meadow…

Blue-faced Meadowhawk

Blue-faced Meadowhawk

The Blue-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum ambiguum) is a colorful fellow. The male sports the blue eyes and the red with black rings on the abdomen. The female has brown over gray eyes and the abdomen is tan with blackish incomplete rings mostly. A delightful find!    This Crab Spider (Thomisidae) waiting for a meal on Eryngo (Eryngium…

Where’s the lizard?

Where’s the lizard?

This Texas Spiny Lizard decided it was warm enough this afternoon to be out and about. Closeup Five-banded Thynnid wasp (Myzinum quinquecinctum) on the Fall Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) Cardinal feather weirdly stuck on the tree in this upright position.   Mint-loving Pyrausta  (Pyrausta acrionalis) Found this little guy (1cm or 3/8in.) hiding by my backdoor…

Cool day

Cool day

 Not so windy today and such a wonderful temperature.  The Nodding Ladies-tresses (Spiranthes cernua) have started to bloom. Love the way it spirals around the stem.  Two-striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus) impaled by a Loggerhead Shrike. The shrike is also known as the Butcher bird. The shrike will come back later for its cache. I have…