So first I spotted this cool black-and-red insect on a sorrelvine in the Meadow. Then I saw another one. And another one. Pretty soon, I realized what was happening! Some gal was ready to mate, and so were several males. Later, I learned that these insects are sawflies, specifically Ceratulus spectabilis. When I found yellowish larva on the same vine, at first I thought butterfly. Not! It's the larval stage of the same sawfly species! Aren't nature's puzzles so cool in how they fit together?

 

Two new additions

Welcome to our Wildscape, little Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii). She was gifted to us (along with many others, which went to the Blanco County Master Gardeners for their spring plant sale) by my friend Carol. She said squirrels in her yard planted them. Anyway, James planted the sapling in our back yard. Yay!

Awhile ago, I planted this wavyleaf twinevine (Funastrum crispum), a milkweed that James dug up from our rural property. Sure hoping it makes it!

 

Meadow mowed July 13

Bexar Audubon Society of South Central Texas

Last week, James and I drove into San Antonio so I could give my "Spiders of Central Texas" presentation to members of the Bexar Audubon Society of South Central Texas. It was a fun evening, and we met some nice folks. The program was also live streamed. It's archived here.

Patsy Inglet gave me a wonderful introduction.

I've always wanted to capture the moment that audience members see a pivotal moment in one of Otto Jurgen's "peacock spider" videos. So I did!

Our first bat...

Boy, was I surprised two mornings ago when I opened our back porch screened door. Something fell and hit my head, then plopped on the concrete porch. I looked down. At first, I thought it was mud. Then I thought frog. Then I looked closer.....BAT! It had been sleeping between the top of the door and door frame. I fetched a cloth napkin and picked him up gently. Then we put it in a large plastic critter box. I noticed a lot of ugly red insects on his legs. Definitely parasites. Could it be sick or injured? I called Wildlife Rescue in Kendalia, and Amber called me back. She assured me that the bugs were normal and to put the bat on a vertical tree or fence post. If he wasn't gone by in the morning, call her back.

So we took him out to a big live oak in our back yard. I set him above a little alcove with the napkin. He tucked into the alcove, snoozed there all day and was gone by dark. 

Then yesterday evening, James said, "Sweetheart, come see who's back!" It was our bat, sleeping behind the orange water bucket that we keep out to collect air conditioner condensation (bottom photo). Using a cloth napkin, I moved him back to his oak alcove. Of course, he was gone this morning. No sign of him yet today.

 

Naturally, I had to sleuth and find out what species of bat our friend is. Not to mention those ugly bugs. My first thought was Mexican free-tailed bat, but I was wrong. This is likely an evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis), a young male. And those ugly bugs? I counted legs...six. Probably a true bug....a bed bug? Close! Those are bat bugs in the same genus as bed bugs, Cimex. Who knew? Bat bugs! I got off as many as I could from our little friend.

 

Cicada calls NOT

A few days ago, my Blanco friend Irene Cage texted me the video above. I was surprised. For years, I've heard that rattling at night in the trees and always assumed they were cicadas. NOT. Those are indeed katydids in the trees, probably in the genus Paracyrtophyllus. Here are two iNaturalist recordings I made after Irene shared her cool video with me. With her permission, I've shared her video here.

From sad to glad

Earlier this month, our Texas native wedelia (Wedelia acapulcensis var. hispida) looked AWFUL. We had recently transplanted it from the back yard into a new bed in the front yard. Anyway, a closer look at the leaves will reveal why the wedelia looks so sad...

Caterpillars! Lots of hungry caterpillars. Which made me really, really happy. These are bordered patch larvae (Chlosyne lacinia). Plus I knew the plant would rebound from their skeletonizing of the leaves.

Adult

Look at how glad the wedelia is now!

I took this photo yesterday. Doesn't the wedelia look even better now? Isn't Nature amazing?