Our screech owl's definitely back!

There she is!

Maybe we'll get little ones this spring after all!

They're HERE!

Just this minute spotted our first hummingbird of the season! A male black-chinned hummer was at the feeder that I JUST HUNG UP YESTERDAY! Talk about perfect timing! Cool!

March 2011 in our Wildscape

I am going to TRY and shoot photos once a month for a year.

Odds and little ends

Caught on one of our robins in the front yard...

Our volunteer Texas redbud is finally blooming....

And spotted some TINY spiderlings on the wedelia in the process of dispersing....

Peach blossoms!

Our two peach trees are in full bloom! Which makes the butterflies and bees happy....

Pipevine swallowtail, I think. 

What IS that?

This morning, I was chatting with Mom on the phone when I happened to notice an interesting insect crawling up the outside of our dining room window. Hmmmm. "I'll check your blog later and see what it was!" Mom said before we hung up.

By the time I returned with my camera, the insect had climbed up under the window's middle section. I unlocked the latches, opened the window and hung out while I snapped this photo. Gabe, one of our boy cats (whom I do not talk about on this blog because it's really not cool to have domestic cats in a Wildscape....but, OKAY, might as well confess to three), was heading toward me. Darn it! And double darn it–the insect flew off.

In the meantime, I'd been e-mailing with Dr. John Abbott, curator of Entomology at the Texas Natural Science Center (and author of the upcoming Texas Damselflies: A Field Guide) so I shot him the image and asked what he thought it might be. "Looks like a maybe a Tephritidae (true fruit flies)," he offered. "I thought maybe at first a Pyrgotidae."

Time to post the image at Bugguide.net and get some more input. "Looks like Delphinia picta (Ulidiiae) to me," commented Bjoern Rulik. 

By George, I agree! My mystery insect is a picture-winged fly!! Cool cool cool!

New-to-me moth and bug

Phigalia denticulata

I photographed these three critters while fetching the agriope spider sac on the porch today. Then I posted them to Bugguide.net for IDs.

This evening, I received a reply from Randy Hardy about the moth: "Small world (bug joke!). I'm Irene Cage's brother-in-law. Blanco must be warming up like Tucson is right now–love this time of year. Anyway, I THINK your moth is a Phigalia denticulata. Some nice pics of it at the Moth Photographers Group. Wait for the experts–I'm just learning. Have a great day!" Thanks, Randy!

A P.S. from Randy later:"I stick to moths mostly. We're lucky to have Maury Heiman, a moth expert from the Hill Country, here on BG. You might look through his photos HERE to help get IDs on moths (always fun to do the detective work!)."

The next two are bugs. No, really, BUGS. AIn the genus Brochymen–rough stink bugs. Cool, eh?

Brochymena chelonoides
(per Bugguide.net updated October 31, 2011)