It’s been about six weeks since I discovered the active red-shouldered hawk nest in a live oak tree adjacent to our property. At that time, the female raptor appeared to be spending her time incubating eggs, an assumption that was confirmed a few weeks later. Up until now, I’ve had to rely on my drone… Continue reading Checking in on the hawk family
Category: Texas Hill Country
Central Texas Flatworms
I was on our front walkway this morning and noticed what I thought was a really skinny earthworm inching its way across the pavers. Upon closer inspection, I decided it wasn’t an earthworm but I had no clue as to what it was. Its distinguishing feature was a flat, paddle-like head with what appeared to… Continue reading Central Texas Flatworms
Better Believe It’s A Beaver
Alert Gazette readers will recall that two years ago, I documented my observation of what I was convinced was a beaver swimming in the creek behind our house. I was, unfortunately, unable to provide photographic evidence of the encounter, owing to a combination of my ineptitude and the vagaries of an older phone (but mostly… Continue reading Better Believe It’s A Beaver
Neighborhood Nature (Pt. 3)
This is the third in an ongoing series of posts about the fascinating details of nature in our figurative Texas Hill Country back yard. Part 1 is here and Part 2 here. Sure, birds and [some] reptiles are cute and cuddly, and [most] insects are not, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not attractive, even… Continue reading Neighborhood Nature (Pt. 3)
Neighborhood Nature (Pt. 2)
This is the second in a possibly endless series of posts about the fascinating details of nature in our figurative Texas Hill Country back yard. Part 1 is here. I hope your weather has been as nice as ours over the past few days. Cool mornings and warm afternoons mean that we get to spend… Continue reading Neighborhood Nature (Pt. 2)
The wonders of a suburban wilderness: corvids and frog spit
For the past few weeks, we’ve listened to the conversations (and monologues) of crows, originating from somewhere to the southwest of our house. They don’t sound close, but their calls can carry long distances. And every now and then we could hear something crow-like, almost like the pleading of a young bird. But I’m far… Continue reading The wonders of a suburban wilderness: corvids and frog spit
Neighborhood Nature
Something in the half acre vacant lot next door to ours caught my eye a couple of days ago. lt turned out to be a really pretty and unusual mushroom…toadstool…ground-dwelling fungus. I’m not a mycologist and I have no skill whatsoever in identifying these organisms, but I do find them fascinating. We’ve had a very… Continue reading Neighborhood Nature
Armadillos R Us: A Trapping Update
Update (4/2/2020): Add one more to the armadillo count below; another one became an involuntary guest early this morning. And, yes, succeeded in waking me up at 3:30 a.m. in the process. People have been clamoring* for a trapping update from Casa Fire Ant, and I respond to nothing if not clamoring. Here’s a snapshot… Continue reading Armadillos R Us: A Trapping Update
Springtime in the Hill Country (Pictures!)
Spring in this part of Texas is not really a season. If the year was a play, spring in Central Texas would be intermission…a pause between the dead brownness of winter, and the oppressive heat and mosquito swarms of summer. But that pause is, as they say, refreshing, because a lot happens during that brief… Continue reading Springtime in the Hill Country (Pictures!)
The musical prowess of The Saddle Sores
I was looking at the event calendar for one of our favorite dance halls and saw a band on the schedule that I wasn’t familiar with. The band goes by the somewhat off-putting name of The Saddle Sores. Their publicity photo was intriguing so I found some of their music online, and followed a few… Continue reading The musical prowess of The Saddle Sores