Snakes, wildflowers and insects

Texas blind snake (Leptotyphlops dulcis)

Last Saturday, James put in a new flower bed in the back yard while I potted up volunteers to give away. When he was moving rocks, he came upon several Texas blind snakes, hiding within a rock's holes. I snapped some photos, then we released them beneath the turk's cap, where they quickly slithered into the mulch and leaf debris. Don't worry–they're completely harmless!  

(Thanks to reader Blake Hendon for correcting the ID of this snake!!!)

Bee (Anthophora sp.) resting on an 'Indigo Spires' leaf.

Queens and monarchs are enjoying the blue mistflowers.

Wildflowers in our meadow:

Silver-leaf nightshade with a colorful beetle

Silver dwarf morning-glory (Evolvulus sericeus)

Texas bindweed

Fineleaf four-nerved daisy (Tetraneuris linearifolia var. linearifolia)

Mother's Day bouquet

Just had to share....James picked this pretty arrangement of flowers from our Wildscape in honor of Mother's Day last Sunday. My mother, Marcelle, and my daughter, Lindsey, shared the day with us. (He also cooked a roast for us!)

Pipevine cuties

Pipevine swallowtail larva

These kids get big and chubby!

Three years ago, I admired a slew of cute caterpillars chomping on vines at the Natural Gardener nursery in Austin. Instantly, I fell in love. "I want some of those!" I exclaimed. So we bought three pipevine plants and put them beneath the live oaks in our meadow. 

Like I said, that was three years ago. The plants flourished and even survived the drought. The deer didn't eat them either. But neither did any caterpillars. Until last week May 9), that is! Out of the blue, I spotted not one but five pipevine (Battus philenor) larvae!

Can you find four caterpillars in this photo?

Then last Saturday, I went outside to check on them. Oh, my, were they OK? Several just lay on the ground, not moving. Were they sick? Apparently not. I did a quick search and found an article, Life styles of the scaled and beautiful: Pipevine swallowtail, written by Jim Brock that mentions this behavior: "Scientists have determined that pipevine plants contain chemicals that when ingested by the caterpillars make them poisonous. It is supposed to provide the caterpillar protection from predators. Perhaps this is why one often finds the caterpillars resting out in the open. There is no need for concealment if one is normally left alone."

Brock mentions a possible second reason: "Many of their host pipevine plants have small leaves and are unable to provide enough food for even a single caterpillar. So the caterpillar must fend for itself and locate other plants in order to survive" 

Well, I'm here to report that our caterpillars still had plenty of pipevine leaves to eat so that's not a reason why they were out lounging around.

Maybe they needed time to digest all they'd eaten!

Alas, yesterday (Sunday), I discovered one fatality among our caterpillars yesterday. It was all shriveled up like old rubber or latex. I don't think any of us stepped on it; we're always very careful. But like James suggested, I guess we'd better keep off to the side and not step around the pipevine plants any more. 

UPDATE MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012 – I checked the nursery late this afternoon, and everybody's GONE. So guess the larvae took off to make their chrysalises.

May 2012 in our Wildscape

Week Eleven: Wildflowers and digital cameras

Judy and Marvin Bloomquist (far left and middle) welcomed us to their home near Kingsland for our last Master Naturalist class.

I use a digital camera a lot when blogging about our Texas Wildscape. In 2008, I started Window on a Texas Wildscape as a way to document what we’d planted in our yard and the changes we saw season by season, year by year.

Little did I know that I’d branch out to citizen scientist contributions (Lost Ladybug Project), reporting a new butterfly species in our county (Falcade orangetip) and capturing insect behaviors and infestations (Phaedon desotonis that ravaged our greenthread).

Week 11 (and our last class) of our Texas Master Naturalist training with the Highland Lakes chapter covered wildflowers and using the digital camera as a tool in the field.

We met at Marvin and Judy Bloomquist’s home, which crowns a high hill northeast of Kingsland. The couple, who both belong to our Highland Lakes chapter, have counted close to 200 species of flowering plants on their 268-acre ranch. Since forecasts predicted storms, we began our morning with wildflower walks led by Marvin and Joan Mukherjee.

 

Pat, Barbara and I joined the walk led by Joan Mukherjee, who's also a member of our chapter.

Kay held up a Drummond's skullcap that's gone to seed.

Joan showed us a Brazos rockcress that'd gone to seed.

Fred pondered the Brazos rockcress for a while.

Half an hour into our walks, light drizzle started.

Like I said, Fred pondered the Brazos rockcress for a while.

Celia, Barbara and Pat got a close-up look at a common sunflower.

Once the thunder rumbled and raindrops got bigger, then we headed inside for our classroom instruction. Our first session: “Wildflowers 101” presented by Joan. “Any time you want to learn about plants, you want to learn the families,” she stressed.

"This is my Bible!" Joan said of her hefty volume, Shinners and Mahler's Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas.

During our hour-long class, Joan passed around plants and discussed characteristics related to plant families, such as Composite (sunflower) and Solanaceae (nightshade).

Pete looks over a wildflower field guide before our next class begins.

Once the thunder rumbled and raindrops got bigger, then we headed inside for our classroom instruction. Our first session: “Wildflowers 101” presented by Joan. “Any time you want to learn about plants, you want to learn the families,” she stressed.

After Joan’s presentation, Marvin talked about using a digital camera as part of our Master Naturalist studies. Over the years, he’s photographed and cataloged thousands of images taken of wildflowers and plants found on his property. 

Marvin discussed aperture setting and shutter speeds, which he adjusts on his Lumix digital camera to achieve desired effects.

A standing ovation, please, for our training program coordinator, Sammy Childers! During our final wrap-up session, Pat, a fellow classmates, said, "Wayne (another classmate) made a comment that this was the best $135 (for tuition etc) he'd ever spent, and I absolutely agree." ME, TOO! Our official graduation celebration will be Sunday, May 27.