Cardinal With a Mohawk

This year's second batch of cardinals left the nest today! Hugh and I left the house unusually early so were not around to see, but the nest was empty when I got home, and so far I have spotted one of the three. This one is sitting in the butterfly bush that is next to the jasmine where the nest is. Part of the reason I am sometimes a rotten photographer is that I don't want to scare my subjects. I really need a new, better lens so I can get closer from farther away...

Wee Spider in Bathroom on Saturday

Another photo from last Saturday; another of those sort of bullet-shaped spiders about 1/4" long. I like this one's attractive markings.

Baby Bunting?

This little painted bunting was on the ground under the bird feeders this past Saturday. It seemed very small (a juvie?), but I've only ever seen two buntings before this one, so I'm unsure.

Red Wasp, Dead

On front porch on Wednesday. Once again, computer troubles hinder posting lately. Sigh.

Do Ants Sleep?

Ever?

Yet Another Spider

Also from Friday the 13th. I'm noticing that there are many tiny (little-fingernail-sized long, that being, in my case, about 1/3 or 1/4 of an inch) garden spiders of this general shape and makeup. I've just realized that this guy seems to be the very same type (or same one, for all I know) as this spider from a couple of weeks ago.

Texas Sotol in Bloom

Our Texas sotol is in bloom for the first time since 2004. Later I will photograph Hugh against it so we can monitor its progressive heights. I've meant to do this for the last week but keep forgetting. This photo was taken Friday June 13th.

The Other Spider in the Tub

When I found the brown recluse in the tub the other day, also in the tub were this spider, at the opposite end of the tub, and a daddy long legs, hanging out at the recluse end. We wonder what would have happened had all three been left in there to battle it out (or just ignore each other, which is a possibility, I suppose). I have learned that there are some spiders which eat brown recluses; European house spiders are one kind which do. I have asked for a spider book for my birthday.


A new hobby is trying to get photos of various types of spiders' eyes. Unfortunately, my macro lens isn't powerful enough to get much more detail than this. And maybe, just maybe, sometimes it's not the lens at fault, but the user.

Brown Recluses 2008: The Real No. 4

Found in the bathtub Wednesday morning, June 11th. I begin to think that under our (built-in) tub and kitchen cabinets is a seething mass of a nest of brown recluses. OK, well, I do not begin to think this—I have been thinking so for a while now.


So they're not my greatest recluse photos ever....but one senses that I may have more opportunities in future.

The Woodlets 2008 and What Happened

I am long overdue for talking about the fledging of the woodlets, which happened on Wednesday May 28th and which I, we, both Hugh and I, missed. I have meant to post about it ever since but time is at a premium; let it suffice to say that they were there that morning and then gone by evening. Damnation! I REALLY WANT TO SEE THE WOODLETS LEAVE THE NEST ONE OF THESE YEARS. Anyway, since then, we have seen Woodie forlornly—or so we thought!—hanging about the tree every day, checking the nest hole, going to the birdfeeder outside the bathroom window, and so on, sadly casting about for activities to fill his empty days, now that there are no woodlets to feed.

But yesterday, Sunday, as we sat inside working and movie-watching, Hugh suddenly gave a shout-out that there were two birds over on the Woodie tree, and what was going on? It turned out that one of the woodlets came back home, and there was fighting. The parent bird was chasing the little one away from the tree! He swooped at him and pecked his head! We don't know for certain that it was actually the dad's young...but highly likely, I think. Birds are very cruel, very cruel. Don't these photos just break your heart?

The Gorey Beetle, 2008

The first ironclad beetle of 2008! Unofficially known in these parts as the Gorey beetle, and also as My Very Special Spotted Bug. I recognized him this morning even though I was inside looking at his underneath as he crawled across the kitchen window screen. Possibly my very favorite bug ever, if it's possible that I can pick just one out of the millions.


To see the 2007 Gorey beetle, click here.

For two 2006 Gorey beetles and one 2005 Gorey beetle, click here.

It's so easy to think that they are all exactly the same until you really look at each one. I had a similar reaction to my toad photos earlier; I would have said that I know what a toad looks like, but I hadn't really ever noticed some things before, such as those ridges around the eyes and the extremely bumpy skin on its legs and how very gorgeous its eyes are, and how its inner eyelid (or the outer part of its eye?) is sort of green. Who knew?

The Toad On The Porch This Morning

The cats won't touch toads; they want nothing to do with them.

Hummingbirds

Cat Bite

Hamilton the Giant bit me Thursday at midnight, a fierce bite that broke the skin in two places. See his jaws and teeth, above, and his softball-sized head. Despite the immediate thorough cleaning I gave the wounds, I woke up at 6 a.m. Friday with my arm red, swollen and quite painful, so I went to the ER. I am still one-handed and infected, though I am happy to say that it is on the mend. Mrs Brown, here is one for your new hand collection! It was taken this morning; it's not nearly as gruesome as it was 24 hours ago. Wish I'd thought to take a photo then, but I was languishing.

Hank's Building

Or, The Opposite of the Woodpeckers' Nest

My friend Hank built this a week ago tonight. I think it's absolutely beautiful! He graduates from kindergarten tomorrow. Congratulations, HANK!!!

Brown Recluses 2008: Nos. 4 and 5....Or Just No. 3, As It Turns Out

What I wrote this morning:
Argh. Eff. This is really becoming quite disconcerting. I found another brown recluse in the sink today. It's tiny, but so what? I started wondering why I've found two of them in the sink and looked up at the cupboard over the sink, the one that is hardly ever opened. I have already had visions, or daymares if you will, of checking underneath the bottom drawers under the counters, of pulling them out to find recluse farms below. So I got the stepstool, placed it well away from the counter, climbed up, and carefully opened the cupboard to find...another recluse, a big one. At least it wasn't a whole farm of them. I need advice. And I need to import lots of jumping spiders, a natural predator of the brown recluse.

A photo of today's brown recluse:


What I've learned since then:
The big spider (in the first photo in this post, above) in the cupboard above the sink WAS a recluse, but the little guy in the sink (photos below) was not, nor was the spider in the post of 5.20.2008. Why? Today's photos show that this spider has spines on its legs, which recluses do not have, and the spider in the earlier post is the same kind as today's little one (obviously the same kind to the naked eye, if not so obvious in the pics). Which means we've had only three recluses this year, and not five. Small comfort, some might say, but I will take what comfort I can. See next post for what else I've learned about brown recluses!

A photo of today's other spider that is NOT a brown recluse, and which I've since learned is a striped lynx spider, Oxyopes salticus Hentz:

So, by the way, this is another really good reason not to kill any spider, even one you think is dangerous, because you might be wrong. Even the dangerous ones don't want to hurt you, or even be near you; they just want to live their little spider lives. So don't kill—just remove from human vicinity, if necessary.


I include this poorer photo because I like how it looks as though the little spider is wearing boxing gloves

Bunny

Tuesday a.m. upon leaving for work I saw this wee bunny in the drive behind the house. I went back for the camera and he hopped away into the grass, but then apparently decided I could no longer see him and stopped. Larger than a kitten, but barely.


Tiny, puffy, cottony tail just visible in this photo

Another Spider

Front and eyes

He also came visiting while I woodpecker-watched on Sunday. Size approximately the same as my little fingernail—1/4" long or so.


Side view


From the back


Front again

All About Woodie, Part II

Woodpecker tails are incredibly strong—or do I mean tailfeathers? In any case, you can see the tail's autonomy (for lack of a better word) in these two photos; the woodpeckers use the tail to brace themselves against trees as they peck. And did you know that the woodpecker tongue muscle is so long that it curls back around the orbital cavity?

A Painted Bunting

I'm starting to be embarrassed about the grimy windows. Last year on May 26th a bunting was spotted at the feeders; this year's bunting was seen this Thursday, May 22.