Editor’s note: The Editorial Board here at the Gazette has grudgingly come to accept that rudimentary animations in the form of gifs — pronounced with a soft “g” — must be tolerated, much as one tolerates the annoying-but-inescapable social behavior of toddlers and politicians. That said, the Board has put strict limits on the use… Continue reading Neighborhood Nature (Pt. 5)
Category: Wildlife – Snakes
Home is Where the Nature Is
It’s been an interesting week or two around Casa Fire Ant, as we’ve had the opportunity to observe some rather unique natural phenomena without getting very far from home. Or, without even getting out of the house. Let’s start with that last thing, how about? I was sitting in the office working on some complex… Continue reading Home is Where the Nature Is
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
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!)
Snake Karma
Late last month we were confronted with the sad sight of three nestlings that had apparently fallen from their nest attached to a stone column about ten feet above our back porch. Two of the baby birds were already deceased and the third would soon be. There was no sign of a disturbance in the… Continue reading Snake Karma
There’s never an ophiologist around when you need one
Alert Gazette readers will recall our encounter with a cottonmouth (aka water moccasin) last fall. Then, a couple of months ago we discovered a four-foot-long blotched water snake [Update: which I now know is more correctly known as a plain-bellied water snake] in our courtyard. The latter encounter taught me that distinguishing between the poisonous… Continue reading There’s never an ophiologist around when you need one
Clash of Species – Woodpeckers vs Snakes
Earlier this spring, an oak tree across the street from our house attracted the attention of a pair of golden-fronted woodpeckers*. The tree’s trunk has a hollowed-out place about twenty feet off the ground and the opening faces our front windows; I can see it from my usual seat in the living room. Since April,… Continue reading Clash of Species – Woodpeckers vs Snakes
Snake Mistake
“Eric…come quick!” I was sitting in the office late yesterday afternoon when I heard MLB‘s overly excited summons from somewhere in the middle of the house. I ran out to find her staring out the living room windows at something in the front courtyard. “Oh, man. That’s a water moccasin. Keep an eye on him… Continue reading Snake Mistake
A “Relaxing” Weekend – Pt. 3: Paranoid Hiking
[Part 1] [Part 2] Trigger Warning: Here there be dragons. Or, at least, serpents. Elizabeth, you’ve been warned. Having survived the Great Coax Caper and the Putrid Possum Pestilence, we were looking forward to a relaxing hike on the newly-christened Horseshoe Creek Trail with The Nephew, his wife, and their dog Sophie. (I briefly introduced… Continue reading A “Relaxing” Weekend – Pt. 3: Paranoid Hiking
Nocturnal Neighborhood Visitor
Debbie went outside just before 10:00 p.m. last night to look at the “Supermoon” and came back to report that two women were in the street in front of our house watching what they feared might be a “baby rattlesnake.” I grabbed a flashlight – which proved unnecessary because the reptile was directly under our… Continue reading Nocturnal Neighborhood Visitor