There were a couple of interesting things going on around our house this afternoon. I’ll introduce them in reverse order, because the earliest one involves a snake and we’ll save it for last. We’ve been blessed with an abundance of hummingbird moths (aka Hemaris thysbe, the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth or Common Clearwing Moth or Hawk… Continue reading Sunday Afternoon Nature
Category: Wildlife – Insects
Random Thursday: The Truly Random Edition
Happy Thursday, y’all! Today is National Chocolate Day. And is it a coincidence that it’s also National Internal Medicine Day, as well as National First Responders Day? I think not; you should take comfort in knowing that if you overindulge in the food of the gods, *someone* has your back. Or insides. Or…whatever. The Horseshoe… Continue reading Random Thursday: The Truly Random Edition
Snapshot Saturday…
…because Foto Friday was already spoken for. Plus, I’m a procrastinator. Here are some pictures I took. Where’s a pair of Wayfarers when you need them? The green tree frogs have been numerous lately (or perhaps there’s just one and he/she is someone ubiquitous). But it’s a bit rare to see one in the bright… Continue reading Snapshot Saturday…
Random Thursday: Word Guacamole
¡Hola, amigos¡ ¿Qué pasa? Hoy es el día nacional de guacamole, y es la hora a celebrar. (It’s also Mexico’s Independence Day. Coincidence? I think not.) We’ve got a lot of territory to cover, so let’s lean into it (as “they” say in H.R.). I’m sure most of you are itching to know what’s going… Continue reading Random Thursday: Word Guacamole
The Incompetent Arachnid & the Cunning Coleopteran
All I have to say about the title of this post is…Roget let me down yet again. For the past couple of months I’ve been observing a female yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia; a type of orb weaver) just outside one of our garage windows. During that time, it’s grown from a half-inch “wingspan” juvenile into… Continue reading The Incompetent Arachnid & the Cunning Coleopteran
Random Thursday: Spreading jam on the toast of life
Sorry; I don’t know what the post title means either. Howdy, buckaroos, and happy Thursday to you. Today is, of course, International Bow Day, so feel free to take a bow, look for a [rain]bow, grab a bow (arrows are optional), and hye thyself to the nearest boat bow. Oh, and today is also when… Continue reading Random Thursday: Spreading jam on the toast of life
Neighborhood Nature (Pt. 7)
Howdy, y’all! Today is National Intern Day and also National Chili Dog and National Chicken Wing Day, so we’ve sent the Gazette’s army of interns out for a junk food scavenger hunt. Fingers crossed that tomorrow is National Antacid Day. Boy, there’s a lot going on nowadays in the Wonderful World of Nature, so let’s… Continue reading Neighborhood Nature (Pt. 7)
The Miracle of Metamorphosis: Black Swallowtail Butterflies in the Making
Debbie and I have been monitoring the life cycle of black swallowtail butterflies, and it’s a pretty fascinating process. But, first… I started writing this accompanied by the dulcet tones of a just-now-repaired clothes dryer, and it’s a good feeling to know that we won’t need to employ the makeshift fan-in-garage approach (which, I will… Continue reading The Miracle of Metamorphosis: Black Swallowtail Butterflies in the Making
As The Worm Dangles
Imagine, if you will, a pair of drunken-yet-paradoxically-overcaffeinated zombies staggering along a tree-lined cart path on a golf course. That mental picture is not far from the reality of my and Debbie’s morning runs lately. You see, we are well into the Season of Dangling Worms here in the Texas Hill Country, and the act… Continue reading As The Worm Dangles
Caterpillar Complaints and Captures
Alert Gazette readers will recall my lament from last spring regarding an infestation of walnut caterpillars and their fecal flotsam. Well…lucky us. It turns out that these creatures make twice annual appearances — spring AND fall — and we’re now in the middle of their curtain call. This is also the time of year that… Continue reading Caterpillar Complaints and Captures