-
A Glimpse of Comet Neowise C/2020 F3
Like many folks, we attempted to go and see Comet Neowise on its once every 6700 year fly by of Earth. Last Friday evening we drove out towards Waller and Hempstead and parked ourselves on the side of a narrow road adjacent to some cattle pastures. As dusk set in we listened to the coyotes come out as the cows mooed in the distance. It was a rather clear evening with some haze on the horizon to the west but most of the clouds dissipated as time went on. We stared at the sky from the back of the truck and saw nothing but stars. The Big Dipper came out…
-
These Are The Days
Back in March when the pandemic got going here Forest and I would have lunch in his treehouse. It was cooler then and much more doable. We’d eat lunch inside and then move to the back balcony to have a treat in our “treat spot” while we watched the turtles on the downed log in the pond. I honestly thought by May that we’d have transitioned him back to daycare and Chris and I would both be in the office full time. Oh, how naive we were! We haven’t had lunch in the treehouse in months, mostly because we’ve moved onto other things we do at lunch but it also…
-
Catchfly Prairie Gentian (Eustoma exaltatum)
I initially wrote the title of this post as calling this particular species as Texas bluebell. But upon further digging my lumping of all Eustoma sp. together as a Texas bluebell seems to be the wrong way to go. There are three primary species in the US, Catchfly Prairie Gentian Eustoma exaltatum, Texas Bluebell Eustoma grandiflorum, and Showy Prairie Gentian Eustoma russellianum. But then you dig a little further and depending on which site you read, some of these turn into a subspecies of E. exaltatum and other people will use the common name Texas bluebells for them all—and well, maybe it doesn’t actually matter, because common names are common…
-
The Beauty of Asclepias linearis (Slim milkweed)
This milkweed species has been on my radar to find since last year when I saw several folks post theirs for the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge. It is a more coastal species relegated to particular prairie habitats and of course, we had to seek those habitats out. When we went to San Bernard NWR last month I knew there was a great chance of seeing them there because there were several logged sightings on iNat. If all else failed and we couldn’t find a plant or two I would pull up the app and see if we could find one using that method. We lucked out by finding them in…
-
Goodbye to my 30s…
Last day of 29… Lady day of 39… My 30s were a ride. The first four years went smoothly enough but the next several were a rollercoaster. Having a kid and changing your life will do that, I suppose. I know that when I turned 30 everything seemed wide open for the decade. After having a rather adventurous 20s, from graduating college and moving to Florida and spending most of that time soaking in everything the state had to offer, my 30s were about winding all of that down and settling into life. I have spent plenty of this decade wistful for those years of my 20s. The mid and…
-
Sipping that Sweet, Sweet Nectar | Dun Skipper (Euphyes vestris)
In one of my recent posts I know I mentioned that it seemed that all lepidopterans had taken to a quiet spell around the yard, though we would have a friend visit on occasion. This dun skipper would be one of those friends to visit back on June 20th, however after our recent rain over the last week or so our lepidopteran friends have started slowly returning. I’ve found a few bean leaf rollers in the garden which means one of my favorite butterflies, the long-tailed skipper, should be making more appearances around here soon! Thankfully growing the echinacea within the fence has allowed them to bloom and with that,…
-
Egg to Caterpillar, Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) | Wildlife Wednesday
Over a month ago now, I noticed a giant swallowtail ovipositing on the rue. I had bought pots of rue a year or two ago just for this reason and to have another source of food for when they came through and found my citrus instead—it was a place to relocate them as necessary. But in this time I had yet to see any activity on the plant and thought that maybe nothing would come of it after all. But then as I took a break from pulling weeds, sweat rolling down my entire body, I saw an adult visiting and as soon as her abdomen curved I knew it…
-
June Blooms
Argentine Skies salvia June came and went. If parts of spring seemed to crawl by, June and the rest of summer are zooming by. Someone up north posted about noticing signs of fall migration beginning and I thought, NOOOOOO! But I too have noticed a slight change in the light already, life is shifting for the downward slant into another season. We’re still well in the height of summer but the movements are already in place. Black and Blue salvia Verbesina alternifolia, wingstem. I accidentally pulled a lot of these seedlings up earlier in the spring, mistaking them for their cousin frostweed, which I also have planted in the garden.…
-
The San Bernard Oak Trail | San Bernard NWR
Golden Silk Spider, Trichonephila clavipes Now that we’ve returned to being rather homebound for the next few weeks or so, I look back at our hikes in May and June with envy. Hopefully cases will get under control here in the next month and we can begin venturing out again. I have plenty back logged here to write about and will be trying to do more nature in the neighborhood again. Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus Seeing Turk’s cap hibiscus thriving and in bloom elsewhere makes me wistful for what was once in our yard. We once had a thriving set of plants around a sweetgum tree. They bloomed profusely and…
-
Halloween Pennants | Celithemis eponina
Halloween pennant dragonflies were a mainstay to my experience living in south Florida. They are very common and easy to spot, quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Kind of like red-winged blackbirds as they were similarly abundant in the Everglades. And then we moved and while both of those species are here in Texas, I don’t happen to live near their preferred habitat. While I do live near a pond and have plenty of dragonflies around here my most common species here are common whitetail and green darner dragonflies among some others. No Halloween pennants to grace my yard! This lovely male (see here for comparisons on sexes) was found…