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
Yesterday, I said that I might be able to find an answer on the little white bug on the Maximillian Sunflower. I think I got it. Here it is again so you don’t have to go back to previous post. It is an Ensign Scale (Ortheziidae). Family was as close as I could get. There…
Every year the Native Plant Society of Texas recognizes organizations and individuals. The Shirley Lusk Memorial, honors a citizen scientist for collecting and preserving Texas native plants for public education by providing outstanding contribution of herbarium voucher specimens. Jeff Quayle is recognized this year for his collection of over 1000 herbarium specimens stored at the…
Today I found this Praying Mantis. I have learned new words and parts of the Praying Mantis that I have never really looked at before. So I’m sharing some of this new knowledge that I have gleaned from the world wide web and my books. Greek for mantis means ‘soothsayer, prophet’. There are 12 species…
Shield-backed katydid (Tettigoniinae family) hanging out on the gayfeather (Liatris mucronata). Green June Beetle (Cotinis nitida) found on the trail dead. I placed it on the Russula species mushroom for a better photo. Underside is even more pretty. Buffalo Gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima) blooms again. This afternoon after it warmed up, the Spotted Cucumber beetles…
Normally in 2020, this would be a bad place to be “up a creek”, BUT today…well, we went up a creek and it was wonderful on the LBJ National Grasslands. Also of note, I saw 100+ White Pelicans, 100+ Monarchs (most at the grasslands), and one Yellow-shafted Flicker today. House Wrens started showing a week…
The morning started off with some cool clouds. Just love the patterns. Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva aurea) Five-banded Thynnid Wasp (Myzinum quinquecinctum) This is a Wilson’s wood-nymph moth (Xerociris wilsonii) caterpillar. It is the 30th record in the US and a new record for Wise County. Last year, Jeanne found one on her place in Montague…
Yesterday, Jeanne brought me a walkingstick bug to take photos of it. I was missing a closeup in my photo collection. First thing I noticed when I got home and looked in the container was that the bug had bent itself midway in the body at a 45 degree angle. I wondered, could a walkingstick…
Something played in our sandy trail last night. This larva was hanging by a thread. It was so tiny and I didn’t have my loupe to count its prolegs. I suspect it is some sort of beetle larva. Really tiny! It would have been very camouflaged on this Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) if it had…
Visibility was 1/8 mile this morning. Great morning to see the meshweb weavers (Dictynidae) webs. They make a plain framework of an irregular mess over foliage, flowers, and dead stalks of plants. This ant hill made me think a rock formation in the Southwest. They had a side entrance so not many of the ants…
I wondered if this Bull Snake (Pituophis catenifer) had recently shed its skin. It looked bright. Some say the Bull Snake is called a Bull Snake because of the ridge between the eyes. This maybe the best look I have had of that feature. Turn the sound up. It had finally had enough of me….