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’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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Our high wind gust yesterday was 32mph! So maybe a rock in the pocket might have kept someone from blowin’ away? What I have always called tickleweed was blowing up against the fences. On the way to town, I saw a six strand barbwire fence covered in the tickleweeds. This photo was from yesterday when the…
Every day, twice a day, the local Canada Geese fly by first one way, then back. The flock has grown from just two in the spring to about 35 now. Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii) Meshweb weaver spider and insect prey A hundred is my guesstimate of the millipedes on my backporch. Closeup Corn Earworm (Helicoverpa zea)…
Today, we went back to find the head waters of this unnamed creek we had been exploring for the last few weeks. You know, the same one in “up a creek” post, but ran out of time to continue that day. Success today! Barely got going and came across several of these beautiful Lecanora species…
I was surprised to see this Wilson’s wood-nymph moth (Xerociris wilsonii) caterpillar was still out. The two that I collected on Sept. 28, 2020 have already pupated and were from the same area. I had fed the ones I caught for only two days before they had pupated. A mess of Meshweb Weavers (Dictynidae) spider webs. Sky…
The suds were interesting. And yes, I did some work today. LOL Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) managed to get wet so it was cooperative for a closeup. side view Beet Webworm moth (Spoladea recurvalis) dining on Frostweed (Verbesina virginica). There are tons of Millipede (Diplopoda) species world wide. This one may be in…