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
The old saying “Red sky in morning, sailors take warning” might be applicable with rain and snow forecasted this week. “A red sunrise can mean that a high pressure system (good weather) has already passed, thus indicating that a storm system (low pressure) may be moving to the east.” Looks like Denton is on fire…
I found this beetle shell at the base of Post Oak. I guess the head and the inners are yum parts. Goldeye lichen (Teloschistes exilis) with the outer layers of some seed. I actually found several of the same outer layer of this seed in several places as I was hunting for stuff with…
Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) is blooming so I will nominate that the common name be changed to Winter Beauty. It is not uncommon for me to see this flower blooming now. Perhaps for the last five years, it has started blooming in early January. This is definitely the earliest date I have seen it…
Red and green for Christmas day! Coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus). Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). Wild Plum. Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida). Blackberry leaf. . Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). Prickly Pear cactus and tuna. Post Oak (Quercus stellata). Unknown plant rosette. Moss with its sporophytes. Unknown leaf on a rosette. Live Oak (Quercus fusiformis) Plants still hanging on…
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…