Garden Walk: White-throated Sparrow and Turkey

       Of all things, I came upon one wild bird that would 1) remain within range of my long lens, and 2) pose for my camera. Another wild bird, a turkey, responded to my presence in characteristic fashion, by jumping up and flying away. The turkey, though, did give me a long look, as if curious and attempting to determine what I was; and having decided, flew away.
        Thanks to Paul and Nila, I have interesting walks in my garden, more so than usual. The native plants they planted attract varied wild birds and insects.

White-throated sparrow in a wisteria vine.

Turkey in my oak tree.

Nikon D7000, ISO800, f5.6 1/200sec, aperture priority, Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6.

Bindweed

Purple Ground Cherry

     According to Grevata Ajilvsgi, in her book Wildflowers of Texas, the purple ground cherry, shown below, "performs well in extreme drought." The cracked soil around it complements the image.
   

Mexican Gold Poppy

      

Locoweed Thriving

     The one little locoweed plant I've watched for a couple of weeks thrives in its sunny spot on the cliff.

Monarch Butterflies on Lantana

     I am delighted to say that I saw eight to ten monarch butterflies within fifty feet of where I stood in Archer County.
     Press on, Monarchs!

Pink Funnel-Lilly

Androstephium breviflorum

Pink Funnel-lilly after a rain over Archer County, Texas.

Swallowtail Pipevine

       MyMrMallory spotted it first, then I, and eyes as wide as saucers, stared at it. He stopped the truck, and I still amazed by the beauty of this butterfly, jaw dropped, composed myself, then raised my camera to take its picture. 

   

Buckeye

The tree that Charlie planted two years ago flowers every spring.

Soon to Bloom . . .

. . . and I wait with enthusiasm . . .

Poppy-Mallow After a Rain

Puccoons for Ysabel

I dedicate this photograph I took yesterday to Ysabel. 

Asteraceae, a Yellow One

       I've discovered, of late, that flowers take more time to research, much more time than birds. Thousands of one family of flowers may exist, leading to thousands of pages to peruse, delightfully, and time-consumingly! Below, I show a drop-covered daisy in my garden after a rain fall, a whopping (for these parts) one-and-a-half inch of moisture. 

       

          Now, back to the books to discover which astereceae this one is.

Sphinx Moth

The native plants that Paul introduced to my garden already bloomed and attracted insects and birds.

Bluebonnets, Scissortails, and Checkerspots

      Spotted my first Scissortail flycatcher. I also spotted bluebonnets in a large area, larger than last year, of bluebonnets, so early in the year.

Milkvetch.

Checkerspot on a daisy, with a bluebonnet in the background.

Locoweed

Astralagus mollissimus

Puccoon

               (Lithospernum incisum) The Lady Bird Johnson center. 

     Interestingly, the puccoon waits until late in its season to produce seed from a second flower, this one tiny and not easily seen. I learned this bit of information from Anne, with whom I gave a lecture at garden club about wildflowers. Intrigued, and seizing upon any reason to view flowers, I traipsed back to the countryside in search of the puccoon. I returned with the images below.

Puccoon growing in cactus.

Puccoons growing around rocks with lichen. 

       Puccoons grow in sunlight, very little water, and in sandy or clay soils. The image below shows the environment where the puccoons thrive at this time, March, while other plants remain dormant.

Daisies Out and About

      I haven't wasted too much time traipsing to the countryside in search of flowers. In early spring, it helps to hop out of the car and wander away a bit from the road. Tiny flowers emerge unseen, otherwise. The flowers I found this morning do not grow more than an inch, and some barely a half-inch across.

Above, the Blackfoot and Huisache daisies. Cattle and deer like the taste of them. 

Stork's-bill.

A horse named Festus (I think) munching on native grasses (and daisies, if any, yum). 

In the background, the mesquite has not yet awakened from its winter slumber. 

Cowboy Jordan

        Jordan's skill at lassoing cattle appears flawless. 

      This last image, particularly, shows the finesse Jordan needs to lasso a calf. He waits for the un-suspecting calf to step with its back hoof inside the loop Jordan has placed on the ground. All the while, his horse collaborates, a partner just as skilled in cattle-catching.

Coneflower

     "It's a purple coneflower," said Charles as I walked in the door. He showed me his textbook in which he had found the name of the flower that baffled us until he looked inside this book in particular. The flower can have purple or white petals, his Hortus Third explained, and lives in Texas.

     And here is a picture by Yertle8 on Amazon of Charles' authorative texbook, a five-inch thick book, highly recommended for those of us interested in plants.