{"id":16853,"date":"2026-06-04T10:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T15:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/?p=16853"},"modified":"2026-06-04T10:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T15:27:24","slug":"neighborhood-nature-pt-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2026\/06\/04\/neighborhood-nature-pt-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighborhood Nature (Pt. 27)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello again, and welcome to this latest peek into the varied wildlife with which we share our environs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven’t already focused on it, I’ll direct your attention to the photo at the top of the page showing a gray fox<\/a> (Urocyon cinereoargenteus<\/em>) that struck a very<\/em> short-lived pose in a flowerbed in our backyard. I was lucky to shoot the photo through a window before it disappeard around the corner of the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not all that unusual to see a fox in the daytime, but they’re most active at night, hunting for small prey. We seem to be on the regular route for this one (although I confess they pretty much all look alike to me); it, or its clone, often pass through our backyard in the late afternoon. We’ve also captured one on camera on our back deck in the wee hours of the morning the past few nights (is that a contradiction in terms?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Gray foxes are known as mesopredators<\/a><\/em>, meaning they are just below so-called apex predator<\/em><\/a> in the food chain. This species is in the Canidae<\/a><\/em> family, and an example of an apex predator in that family is the wolf, and by some definitions, the coyote (there’s not a hard and fast rule for the mesopredator classification).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, we’re still cautious about their presence, and watch for signs that might indicate rabies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you grew up (and still live) in an urban setting, you may never have had the weird pleasure of watching a dung beetle<\/a> (aka tumblebug<\/em> or roller<\/em>) hard at work. I aim to correct that deficit in your catalog of nature observations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debbie and I recently encountered this pair of unequally yoked [1<\/a>]<\/sup><\/strong> beetles during a run\/walk on the relatively new gravel path on the grounds of the relatively new Horsehoe Bay City Center<\/a>. As you can see in the video, while there is a pair of beetles occupying this small ball of … um … poop (trying to be family-friendly here, or at least on a junior high level), only one of them is working [insert your favorite TXDOT joke here<\/em>]. Perhaps the other one is on a lunch break, although that would mean that the ball would become progressively smaller because \u2014 wait for it \u2014 that’s what they eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several species of dung beetles in Texas, all of which are in the subfamily Scarabaeinae<\/a><\/em>, but I confess to not knowing the exact species of the ones in the video. You can learn more about the population in Texas via this webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We humans naturally (I hope!) recoil at the thought of subsisting on dung, but these beetles are considered beneficial because they reduce fecal material in nature, thereby reducing the habitat for even more disgusting flies. According to the above-linked article, in parts of Texas, they remove 80 percent<\/strong><\/em> of the cattle droppings, thereby significantly extending our planet’s life by reducing the methane-producing material that Al Gore assures us will eventually cause Earth to become a crispy hunk of barren dirt (I almost<\/em> typed that without LOLing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s another very interesting article<\/a> about the behaviors and ecological benefits of dung beetles, and the research that’s providing us with a better understanding of the species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One final superlative to lavish on the lowly beetle: it’s said to be the strongest organism on earth, relative to its body weight. It purportedly can pull up to 1,141 times its own weight in…something. That’s equivalent to an average human dragging roughly six double-decker buses. (If you’re skeptical about the strength claims, check out this website<\/a> that explains how measurements are taken.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let’s move on, shall we? How about another video of a hardworking team of insects that perhaps are a bit more appealing to the senses and sensibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, alert Gazette readers will recall that I wrote about a similar scene just a year ago<\/a>, and if you fall into that category, feel free to move along. But the following video differs from the previous one in a couple of ways. First, watch it with the sound turned up to get the full effect of the Western honeybees<\/a> (Apis mellifera<\/em>) luxuriating in the pollen of this magnolia blossom. Also, there were only a couple of bees in the previous post; they’re swarming here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more interesting aspect of this bee\/magnolia interaction is knowing that bees are not<\/em> the primary pollinators of magnolias. In fact, according to scientists, magnolias are one of the most ancient species of flowering plants<\/a>, and bees were not present when they first appeared (nor were butterflies and moths). Magnolias evolved to accommodate pollinators such as flightless beetles and flies, which are still the most common pollinators today. Bees are therefore considered to be secondary pollinators<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
Red shouldered longhorn beetle posing on our backyard fence railing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Footnotes…<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/strong> I apologize (albeit halfheartedly) for the gross misapplication of a term with Biblical origins<\/a>. I’m certain that the Apostle Paul did not intend for his admonition to the church in Corinth to apply to beetles that don’t seem to have the same affinity for the work for which they are best known. Nevertheless, watching the video of one beetle doing the work while the other enjoys (I assume) a carnival ride immediately brought that phrase to mind. If you’re surprised that my mind works that way…stick around…it’s probably going to get worse (or better, depending on your outlook). [Return<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In which we briefly discuss mesopredators, super strong beetles, and dumb pollinators. All with the utmost respect, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[66,1,25,28],"tags":[661,663,666,662,664],"class_list":["post-16853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plant-life","category-uncategorized","category-wildlife-inverts","category-wildlife-mammals","tag-dung-beetle","tag-gray-fox","tag-pollinator","tag-tumblebug","tag-western-honeybee","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/header_foxinflowerbed.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16853"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16872,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16853\/revisions\/16872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}