Ode to a paper wasp

We spotted it a few days ago, a paper wasp (Polistes metricus), clinging to the leaves of a 'Hot Lips' salvia. James wanted to put it out of its misery. I said let's not. One of its black wings looked injured, wilted, curled up somehow. I also noticed a puncture wound on its red abdomen. Poor thing. We let it be, crawling along the leaves, and thought nothing more of it.

The next day, it still clung to the salvia. I was amazed and impressed that it still survived. But again, we walked on and forgot about the poor wasp's crippled state.

Then yesterday, as we toured the Wildscape, I leaned over the turk's cap and showed James a whitish powdery mildew that had collected across some of the leaves. We mulled over the residue awhile...then I spotted a paper wasp, clinging to the leaves.....

It was our crippled friend! Right away, I saw his injured wing...

...and the puncture wound, now healed, on his abdomen. But how could this be? The same paper wasp we'd seen three days before, here, crawling and clinging to the leaves of our turk's cap....

...that stands a good 30 or so feet away from the 'Hot Lips' salvia! We were stunned. Simply stunned. And awed by his tenacity, his will to live and survive, despite his wounds and hurts, his pains. What a testimony. What a strong will to preservere!

And thus, here I write, one short ode of honor to one amazing paper wasp.

Squash garden update

May 9

What a difference a few weeks makes in a garden! I took the photo above of my squash garden, then never got around to posting it. In April, I planted a bunch of squash and zuchinni seeds, then promptly forgot which row was which. We decided not to plant a full-fledged garden this year because of our drought. But I thought, what the heck, I'll plant some seeds and if they come up, great. If they don't, no big loss. Well, as you can see, a row DID come up, and it's yellow squash! More specifically, 'Early Prolific Straightneck' (Ferry-Morse). I've got at least four squash ready to pick ASAP. James says it's our best garden EVER, and all the plants came from seed!

May 22

Lemon Queen sunflowers

Meanwhile, the eight or 10 sunflower seeds I planted in a little row are also coming up. They're from the packet of Lemon Queen (Helianthus annuus) mailed out by the Great Sunflower Project. As soon as they start blooming, I can get going on counting bees that visit the flowers.

Arugula Rocket Salad

AND I picked up some free out-of-date vegetable seeds in Hamilton, Texas, several weeks ago. Again I thought, what the heck? I planted some out of both packets of lettuce. Some are coming up now but I don't know what they are: either Arugula Rocket Salad (Eruca sativa) or Arugula Wild Rocket Salad (Eruca vesicaria sativa). If I get any lettuce at all, I'll be thrilled!

The owl kids fledged!

Last night, while out on our evening rounds, we didn't see anyone roosting in the Owl Shack. James even did his "rap" call, and no one responded. We looked up in the oaks but didn't see anyone, not even the mom.

This evening, again we didn't see anyone in the box. They must have all fledged? I was looking up, searching the oak branches...when what did I see??!.....

"Look, James!!" There on a branch sat a little guy, looking down at us! One of our owl children! How wonderful! They fledged the nest!

In the meantime, we'd seen a woman walking along the street with two cute little girls. "Should we ask if they'd like to see a baby owl?" James suggested. I shrugged. Seemed like too much trouble to walk that far over to our back yard.

On their return trip back, James suggested the idea again. "Sure," I agree this time. So he hollered at the lady, and she walked over with the little girls. One was in her arms. She was able to see the baby owl high in the tree branches, but the oldest child couldn't. So I showed her some digital shots of the owl babies on my camera.

"Hey, is that another baby owl?" the lady asked, pointing up into the branches. I searched and saw the owl, too–the mother!

"Wow, you've got good eyes!" I told her, then I stuck out my hand. "I'm Sheryl." James introduced himself, too.

"I'm Bertha, and this is Serenity and Cielo, my granddaughters," the woman said. Cielo, the older girl, smiled shyly. "Only she says that Cielo's not her name any more," Bertha added. "It's Hannah Montana!"

"Well, you're a very pretty Hannah Montana," James said. The little girl smiled again.

Moral of this story: sharing wildlife in a Wildscape can create new neighborly ties.

Not to mention we are SO proud of our little fledglings!

Vulture visit

You just never know what a day will bring, my mother often says. And today the day brought vulture visitors.

First, a turkey vulture landed on a fence post across the street early this morning, then proceeded to open its wings and sun. Cool. I took several photos before it flew off. It returned later. Several times, in fact.

Later in the day, a black vulture joined the fence post gathering. A third vulture did, too (I didn't get his/her picture...they are rather shy creatures).

Believe it or not, turkey and black vultures are cool birds. For more information, read my article, "Scary Scavengers," that appeared in the October 2005 issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife. Did you know that vultures are extra clean birds? Consider all the dead stuff they eat, and that's plain amazing.

First firefly of the summer!

Yes, we spotted our first firefly for the season just a while ago! Which meant I had to boot up my computer (I try not to turn it on on Sundays) so I could access the Firefly Watch citizen science project and submit our observations.

As volunteer participants, now we need to watch our habitat once a week for 10 minutes, then submit the data.

Yesterday, I planted my sunflower seeds for the Great Sunflower Project. That's another citizen science project that monitors bee populations. Check it out! And don't forget to send photos of ladybugs you see in your garden to the Lost Ladybug Project.

The owl whisperer

Can you stand another post and more photos of our screech owl family?

This evening, we spotted what we think is a third baby child. This one is much smaller than the other two. I didn't get a photo then so we returned later, set out lawn chairs, and waited. And waited and waited. No baby owls appeared at the top of the nest box.

In the meantime, James spotted the mother (or dad?) roosting not far away from the nest box, higher up in the live oak branches. He/she really blends in with the foliage.

I told James that he needed to try calling up a baby owl with his "rap" calls. So he got to moving and sputtering....

It worked! Up came a baby owl!!!

I laughed and laughed. Is that amazing or what?

My husband, the owl whisperer!

More photos of our owl kiddos

We're seeing the baby eastern screech owls more now. Earlier this afternoon, I went inside to write while James worked on planting coral honeysuckle. Sure enough, he summoned me back outside. Both owlets were roosting!

"They like rap!" James announced, then proceeded to make sputtering noises and gyrating moves. I laughed and shook my head. But he was right! The other owlet, intrigued with whatever that guy on the ground was doing, joined its sibling. Both of them stared at us, thoroughly entertained, no doubt.


Then something caught their attention. We thought maybe Mom was on her way with food....

This one was really straining to see. But Mom didn't come (after dark last night, we did see her or the father drop by for a feeding).


So back to work for both of us. It's really hard to get anything else done when there are baby owls to be entertained!