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 don’t think anyone has anything on north Texas’ sunrises. Spring Beauty colors! The variation of color ranges from almost white… To these deeper shades. And the yellow at the base of the petals vary too. What lies beneath the bark on this dead Hackberry tree? This is the bark moved back to the…
The sky had a lot of contrails today. It was cold this morning with a low of 23. However there was not much frost on the ground. Glad there was no wind and plenty of sunshine at noon! By the afternoon it was not so blue. At sunset the sky was full of many different…
Turban Lichen (Cladonia peziziformis) was still hanging on. It was there when we were there back in the summer. Purple Cliff-brake (Pellaea atropurpurea), mosses, and Turban lichens. Hanging roots and a hole in the side of the ditch. This nostoc was laying on the ground. It was partial dry and wet. The black part is…
That’s how far Gracie went on the grasslands yesterday. Humans went only 2+ miles in the three and half hours. A good part of the day was in the gullies and the creek bed. The side of some of the gullies were this red sandy/clay loam. Roots and red sandy/clay loam were beautiful! From the…
This caught my eye in the driveway. A baby pine cone must have blown off in yesterday’s wind. It was about 15 mm (1/2″). So pretty. Closer yet. I wonder how far this fluffy down feather got blown yesterday? Leaf beetle (Chrysolina auripennis) was a surprising find today. Host plants for it are Beebalm (Monarda)…
What was this larva doing out on this cold day? It was only in the lower 40’s, but at least the sun was out eh. Yesterday’s stinkhorn was breaking it ties to the grass. I found a second one near by today. It seems to be in rougher shape. Keep looking!
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…
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…
Pleasant day eh! Wispy cirrus clouds form between 16,500 and 45,000 feet. The ant and the Darkling Beetle (maybe Eleodes tricostata). Both went their separate ways. This ground beetle was making a meal of the leftover pecan. Maybe in the Pterostichus genus. Milkweed fluff. Gayfeather (Liatris mucronata) standing tall! Not sure what plant this is,…
Yeah, for the sunshine I say but of course grateful for the rain we got. The wood of a dead Live Oak (Quercus fusiformis). Kinda of an oxymoron, eh. A few scales left on the armadillo tail. Snake skin in our garden pond. The Loggerhead Shrike has a new item on its menu…the field cricket…