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
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)…
Here are the rest of the photos from yesterday’s grasslands adventure. Not sure why this orange tack was there but sure was bright. Maybe a surveyor or a researcher or maybe someone just had time on their hands?? The tentacles look like a snake skeleton. Blackland Thistle (Cirsium engelmannii). Burl on Bur Oak. Crust fungus….
The Eryngo looks like fish skeletons. Especially if you turn it on its side. Three earthstars! Not sure why this is red, blood or fungus? I don’t know. It is on a dead Live Oak. I found this cool white fungus when I turned over a fallen branch. Closer view. Black finger fungus. At least…
Poor girl hit our sliding door. Jim got the first photo. This is a female Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker. You can see that she does not have a mustache like the males. The mustache is black (for a yellow-shafted) that starts at the base of the beak and runs under the cheek. She has the yellow-shafts…
It is always a great day when I get to go to the grasslands. And today was no exception with the perfect weather! This plant was my goal to see today! It is called Big-root Cymopterus (Vesper macrorhizus or the old name Cymopterus macrorhizus). Only one was found blooming today and it was pretty small….
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…
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…
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,…
On October 27, 2017 we had sleet (at least at my house). Glad it is not a repeat performance today. Thirty-three degrees is the lowest we have had today. That is cold enough for me. Sure makes Gracie frisky. Drips on honeysuckle vine. Drips on Frostweed (Verbesina virginica). Drips on the grasshopper (might be Chortophaga…
It was a birdy day. Saw some very nice birds! Some of my “first of season” birds were dark-eyed junco, white-crowned sparrows, and red-shafted northern flickers. Also saw chipping sparrows, vesper sparrows, cardinals, blue jays, red-tailed hawks, mourning doves, meadowlarks,black vultures and turkey vultures. Got a great look at the Red-shouldered Hawk. Meadowlark Multiple Loggerhead…