New bird!

So we were sitting in the Meadow, watching out for whatever might happen this evening, and we spotted a yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)!!

Bee swarm

Now you see them. Now you don't!

I was surveying the front Wildscape a while ago and kept hearing a low, droning sound. I looked in among the crape myrtle branches. Nothing. I around the butterfly bush. Nothing. Then I looked up. A cloud of bees spiraled over the street, in and around the live oak branches up high. I walked around to get a better look. Oh, my! LOTS of bees! And they apparently were going into a hole in the live oak. I went inside to get my camera, wondering if I should contact anyone. I'd just read a newspaper article this morning about dogs that were stung and killed by bees outside of San Antonio. I know and understand that we need bees in our yards. I WANT them here! But I also don't want anyone to get hurt either, and these bees were swarming right over a city street.

I returned outside just a few minutes later with my camera, and the swarm was GONE. Just a few bees buzzed around the hole. Hmmm. I'm going to keep an eye on them today.

A new antlion adult..or is it?

While we were sitting outside in the meadow this evening, watching for martins, listening to a loud mockingbird and just enjoying the peace, James noticed something moving in the grass. I scooped it up for a better look and watched it flex its wings. I was perplexed at first, then I recalled my recent research on antlions (Myrmeleon sp.) See how the tips of the antenna are clubbed? I checked photos via Bugguide.net for antlion adults, which I originally thought this was. Well, the antennae of antlion adults are mucher shorter. So now I've decided this must be an owlfly (named for their big, bulging eyes), which are related to antlions.

Either way, welcome to the world!

Another martin visited!

YES YES YES! I was in the front yard and heard a martin. So I dashed over to the Meadow, and–sure enough–there was a martin circling our house! James and I watched it, then it flew off. Later, while we sat in the Meadow this evening, I spotted what turned out to be a martin, sitting on the utility line. It sat there for quite some time. The it flew away. No matter! Another martin visited our house! There's always hope!

First monarch of the season

I'd noticed the monarch earlier in the afternoon. When I spotted it again after supper, I fetched my camera and managed to get a few shots, though not very good. I cropped one photo (see bottom) so you can see the small matching dots on the black veins of the lower pair of wings. So that means this monarch is a male.

Too many grackles

I was outside just now, handpicking those sophora worms off the little mountain laurel (I nabbed about eight and relocated them far away). Around me, I could hear lots of common grackles, cackling in the live oaks. I've really begun to worry about them staying. Usually, they show up when the tent caterpillars start becoming a nuisance in February. The grackles arrive, eat the worms, then disappear. This year, we hardly had any caterpillars. They showed up any way, and they won't leave! They splash out the water in our bird baths and shove away the other birds at our feeder. I'm going to contact some biologists and ask their opinions. I keep thinking about the hordes of grackles that live in San Antonio and San Marcos. I'd HATE to think of them getting out of control like that here in our neighborhood.

Bad caterpillars!

I noticed something not quite right with our little volunteer mountain laurel in the Meadow. So I looked closer and found these caterpillars. Seem to be BAD caterpillars. I've got an ID request posted on Bugguide.net. I'd like to see what the experts say and suggest before I forcibly remove them.


UPDATE May 27, 2010–Ken Wolgemuth at Bugguide.net identified these as sophora worms or more specifically genista broom (Uresiphita reversalis) moth caterpillars. According to the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension Home Horticulture department, this species can harm young mountain laurels, their primary host species. If the tree is larger, it can rebound. Ours is young or at least fairly small. So sounds like I'm gonna be doing some caterpillar pickin' today!