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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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Saturday Things
+This little 16 year old isn’t doing too well at the moment. He spent a few hours at the vet yesterday getting blood work and x-rays done on his abdomen. He’s dropping a little weight and hasn’t been wanting to eat and his behavior is very different over this last week. I’m waiting for some more blood results and the x-ray results but it may be a bowel obstruction of some sort. Which at 16—might be the C word. We aren’t ready for this yet! Our spry little kitten was going to live forever! Samson will be gone six years in August and it still seems like last year. So,…
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A Bee & A Butterfly | Wildlife Wednesday
June has proven to be incredibly busy for work so any of the intermittent downtime I had in April and May has gone *poof*! Which is one reason my writing here has tapered off once again. I did want to share two little nature bits from the yard yesterday evening that I took with my phone. I still feel a little bit traitorous when taking “good” photos with my phone. Like, I should really go get the point and shoot at least, right? And yet there’s that convenience factor of shooting on my phone so I can easily upload and share and that wins out. The photos from my phone…
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Watson Native Plant Preserve | Part II
Catching up on the last bits of our trip to east Texas last month as I am going to have more photos again soon because we trekked back over there today to see snowy orchids in bloom and to walk around a tupelo swamp. I still have photos from a trip to San Bernard NWR a few weekends ago to process as well, so more is coming! New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americanus – This is a plant I’ve heard a lot about from gardeners in the northeast but I had never come across it before. Lovely little plant—I wonder if deer like it? Swamp Titi, Cyrilla racemiflora – The flowers…
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Life Lately | Mid-June 2020
Thinking: I’m cranky. People are idiots. It starts at the leadership, for one. Let’s open everything up! No, you don’t need a mask! Who needs masks? We won’t force our citizens to care for their fellow citizens. Nope, no way! And what happens? Increasing COVID-19 cases across many states, including Texas. Recording breaking numbers this month, multiple days in a row. Spikes here, spikes there, everywhere a spike! Spike for you, and you, and you! I went to the grocery store again this month for our big trip and it was nearly the opposite of how it was three weeks prior. Three weeks prior 70% were wearing masks. This time,…
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Seward to Anchorage by Alaska Rail
There were multiple ways we could disembark the cruise ship when we reached Seward, Alaska. We could disembark on our own and figure out our own way to Anchorage or wherever we wanted to go, we could take a bus to the airport or to another drop off destination in downtown Anchorage, or we could ride the Alaska Rail into Anchorage to the airport. Chris did the research and said that the latter sounded like a really cool trip and that it would be worth doing, despite about a four hour ride on the train to Anchorage. Plus, it meant disembarking first! We woke very early so that we could…
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The Sundew Trail | Big Thicket National Preserve
Rhynchosia sp. The Sundew Trail was our last stop during our East Texas adventures back over Memorial Day weekend. It seems like it was last weekend and also about three months ago. I don’t recall having hiked the entire Sundew Trail in previous visits but I will say that I think I enjoyed it more than the Pitcher Plant Trail! Swamp Darner, Epiaeschna hero Dragonflies and damselflies are two insects that I am slowly (very) trying to learn a bit better. They aren’t nearly as showy as butterflies but they are just as curious and interesting to watch. Forest started going along the boardwalk section of the trails and calling…