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
I hope everyone gets time to celebrate nature this holiday season. These are the last of the photos from Tuesday’s adventure. First big petrified wood! But wait…there was second big chunk of petrified wood further along! I like this photo because of the rainbow glare surrounding the sandstone. The honeycomb rocks were cool in the…
Crustose lichen with moss. Some crustose lichens have their fruiting bodies embedded in the thallus (the pale white-green warty crust in this case) that are called apothecia. The apothecia can either be cup or disk-like. There are many variations to thallus and fruiting bodies which can be pretty confusing. Another pareidolia…wood debris that looked…
Spent another afternoon on the grasslands. Such a beautiful day out. In fact I found enough interesting stuff to save some for tomorrow’s post 🙂 For most of the afternoon, I was down in the dry creek bed. I love seeing the different layers of the soil. Mushrooms always have been amazing to me, pushing…
Yesterday afternoon, Gracie and I went over to Unit 55/Rucker’s Pond. It was a so pretty out. Here is some of what we saw. Woodsia fern (Woodsia obtusa) The fruticose lichen that is shrubby-like is Ramalina celastri. The other lichens are foliose lichens. There was this cool Post Oak limb that made for the perfect bench. Mosses shone…
Underside of a blackberry leaf. Love that red midrib and veins. Blackjack leaf also had red veins but it showed better on the top of the leaf. Chittamwood (Sideroxylon lanuginosum ssp. oblongifolium) red veins on the underside of the leaf. This my first shot with just the phone tonight. I’m wondering now if the little…
In case you have not heard, on Dec 21th the great conjunction of 2020 will take place. Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer to one another and brighter than they have in 800 years in the night sky. This occurrence is called the Christmas kiss. You are supposed to look for it about hour after…
In case you missed it this morning. I had to take Gracie out for her business earlier than usual and was treated to this sunrise. I can’t resist taking a photo when it is this pretty. This sap on the Common Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) was so black and shiny. We had trimmed the tree in the…
Gracie see something! Looking up. Looking straight at it. It is more visible now but still behind the tree. I hoping she stays put. I told her too. This was a Honey Locust tree with BIG thorns. Gracie gets closer and the squirrel finally goes up the tree. No harm for either. This…
Bird poop on the Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). This one is about 6 mm (1/4″). So it is pretty small and sorta look like a caterpillar don’t you think? This bird poop is about 15mm (1/2″). It has a bit more color. The Giant Swallowtail caterpillar is one that mimics bird droppings. Adult moths…
From a distance the majority of trees’ bark appear more gray to black like this willow or oak trees than brown in my opinion. Yes, I can see some browns in them too, but the overall appearance to me is grayish. So why do most kids color them brown? I have a theory that…