One BIGGGGGG grub!

Take a look what someone brought me today!! One big grub! Jason Bailey, who lives in our neighborhood, told on the phone that he'd found the biggest grub he'd EVER seen in his mulch pile. Could he bring it to me for identification? Well, sure!

When he handed the plastic cup to me, and I peeked inside–OH MY STARS OVER BLANCO! I'd never ever seen anything that big (and ugly) either! Before I actually saw it, I'd already guessed it to be an ox beetle larva (Strategus aloeus). I was right. I've found them in our Wildscape before and have blogged about the species in the past.

After James got home, I showed him the cup. He peered inside, then jumped WAY back!! "What's THAT?!" he exclaimed. "It's HUGE!" Yep, I grinned, it sure is.

I shot some charming portraits and even handled it, using a glove. I could have sworn I felt it trying to gnaw on the glove. "Ewwwww, it IS big!" I squealed to James. I'm not usually squeamish about insects, bugs and spiders. But this one made me shudder a little. Yuck. Then I dug a little hole in our compost pile and dropped it there. I'm not sure when it'll pupate into an adult beetle (next spring probably), but it'll definitely look a lot better when it does.

Blessings to my readers...

I'd like to share my article
the November issue of Guideposts
in the hopes that it will help
someone in some way....
"A Mother's Thankful Prayers."

Blooms

Fall aster

White mistflower
(It just busted out in blooms yesterday.)

Butterfly weed

Toad relocation Part 2

Home again

Two days ago (see Tuesday, Oct. 19 post), I moved a big, fat toad to the sanctuary, where I thought he'd be much happier. In the sanctuary, I keep two shallow plates filled with water, just for toads. Key word: I. Yes, I thought he'd be happier. Evidently the toad did NOT agree because he went right back to the yucky corner where the air conditioner drain drips!

What I didn't mention is the sanctuary is clear across the back yard, a pretty long journey by webbed foot, I'd think. But this toad didn't care. He trekked right back to his corner, where I spotted him just a while ago. I just had to laugh. Now that's a determined toad!

And you know, I could SWEAR I moved him over to the sanctuary a few months ago, too....

Jumping spider portrait

I couldn't resist shooting some evening photos of this jumping spider. I found her on a lawn chair in the back yard. She's a beautiful lady but was very sluggish. She didn't act interested when I swayed a finger at her and barely moved when I tried to pick her up. But she'll be immortalized now within the pixels of these digital images.....

This butterfly needs glasses

It's mid October, and the Gulf fritillary mamas are still visiting our passionflower vines and depositing eggs! I happened to notice that one laid an egg on the chain-link fence! (The photo above's not great but at least you get the picture.) She needs to get her eyes checked! Maybe she's the same one who chose the chewed up branch below for another egg drop. Oh, well, it's cool that we still have caterpillars, hanging out in our Wildscape, especially this late in the season.

Agatha's back!

We didn't get any

photos to document

today's exciting observation

(she ducked back down),

but we DID spot

an eastern screech owl,

roosting in our Owl Shack

this afternoon!!!

 

 

UPDATE, FEBRUARY 5, 2011–Columnists Gary and Kathy Clark wrote about eastern screech owls in today's San Antonio Express-News. Check out their article, "Eastern screech owls are difficult to ignore."