Giant water bug

No, I didn't find this odd-looking critter! But a Blanco friend of mine did and texted me the photo, asking if I could ID it. A little sleuthing turned up a giant water bug (Lethocerus americanus). Looks sorta like a roach, right? But it's not. As its common name implies, this is a true bug. If you want to know, hop on over here to learn more.

Notes to myself

A couple of evenings ago, we visited Blanco State Park so I could catch some gambusia (mosquitofish) for our stock tank pond. It needs some new genetics. Turns out, JAMES netted all the new residents, not me. Thank you, James!

Screenshot from James' video

Some cool new faces in the gardens

As usual, I just happened to look in the right place at the right time. This time, it was down at a mealy sage leaf in the front yard. Something bright yellow caught my eye. I snapped one photo, then –– silly me –– I touched her. Whoosh! Up her drag line she zipped, way high in the wafer ash tree. Luckily, I got one decent shot. Anyone care to guess at this spider's common name? (Answer at the bottom of this post.)

 

Now meet a piglet bug. A what, you say? Me, too! I spotted this tiny critter on my rubber flip flop and nearly blew off getting any pictures. I mean, it was TINY. But I did. Good thing, too. Turns out I found a piglet bug, more precisely this one: Bruchomorpha nodosa. And that's all I know.

 This morning, I was walking down our driveway when I spotted.....A TIGER BEETLE! My first ever! I knew what it was right away. They're fast fliers, but I got some great shots. This one is a limestone tiger beetle (Cicindela politula). According to Bugguide.net, they occur in "limestone or calcareous clay and, in particular, dirt roads, bare areas, and trails near this type of substrate."

ANSWER: Butterfly orbweaver (Araneus pegnia). As soon as I got a close up look at this spider, I said, "That looks like a butterfly!" Hence, its cool common name.

 

Native natives....

Texas Flies, Oh My!

Last Wednesday, for the first time I presented my brand new program – "Texas Flies, Oh My - An Introduction" – to my fellow members of the Highland Lakes chapter of Texas Master Naturalists. I was rarin' to go! (I even wore a special T-shirt fand adopted a special friend or the occasion. See below.) I had so much fun talking about and sharing photos of our diverse flies. You'd be amazed!

Note to myself — rain lilies

For the past week, I've been harvesting LOTS of rain lily seeds from neighbor JJ's yard. She has a huge population of them in her fenced back yard and has kindly given me free rein in picking them. FUN, FUN, FUN! I'm spreading the seeds mostly in The Meadow. To be precise, these are Brazos rain-lilies (Zephyranthes chlorosolen), formerly known as evening rain lily (Cooperia drummondii). 

 

Note: We also have another rain lily species, which has a larger bloom: Drummond's rain lily (Zephyranthes drummondii), formerly known as Hill Country rain lily (Cooperia pedunculata).

Sawflies!

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?

Purple leatherflower

Our purple leatherflower (Clematis pitcheri) is so beautiful right now!

 

Madrone update

Here's a photo update on our Texas madrone (Arbutus xalapensis), gifted to us in March 2017 by Mike Prochoroff at The Madrone Way. Doesn't she look great?! Mike thought so.

"Looking very, very healthy!" he texted me. "...you make me feel like I have accomplished to a certain extent what I never thought I could do. Thanks!"