Small Hoodoo

     Small hoodoo at the edge of a pond and cow path in a wheat field. 

Bellies of Cedar Waxwings

     I appreciate gazing up at cedar waxwings at the end of the day when they roost on a nearby branch.

Bindweed Clumps

       Spring is when I give myself more time to arrive at places, for I take time to stop to make images of the flowers, to look at them, to admire their colors, to marvel at nature. Just think: We humans are part of nature! 

       Today I accompanied Paul and two young men to a wheat field. There, they picked up stones, and they placed them in a trailer. In picking up the stones, the young men encountered a copperhead snake, several scorpions and other arachnids, and a wood rat. 

       "Don't kill anything. Don't kill anything," Paul told the young men.

       I admired in Paul his respect for other living things. 

       "We don't live long enough," said Paul, "So we don't see the consequences of our actions." 

       Look ahead at our descendants and what they will find during their lifetimes. I hope it is healthy.

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.