A toilet bowl tale

Well, this story begins in a....uh.....bathroom. Ours. I had just made use of the facility when I glanced into the toilet bowl and spotted....what is that? Oh, my, it was ALIVE! An earwing? Not a second to waste so I dipped my fingers in the water and saved the interesting-looking, winged insect that you see above.

"Sorry!" I told the bedraggled creature. "I didn't know you were there. Or else I'd have gotten you out FIRST."

I turned on the sink faucet and drizzled water over it. Poor thing. I won't go into detail, but you can surmise why I was bathing it. 

A few minutes later, the insect preened itself for several long moments. I took photos while it did so.

Then it stayed still for more photos. Yes, a few times I wondered if it might sting or bite me. But it didn't. I've uploaded pictures and asked the experts at Bugguide.net for help in identifying my friend, which has been tentatively placed in the ants, bees, wasps and sawflies order (Hymenoptera). Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, after our photo session, I released the insect outside, and off it went....to live another day. Hopefully.

UPDATE November 29, 2015–John S. Ascher with Bugguide.net identified my watery friend as a cockroach wasp (Ampulex ferruginea). There are only six photos on Bugguide.net of this particular species, and half are now mine. Cool!

"Adults capture cockroach nymphs to feed the larvae...," states the Ampulicidae (cockroach wasp family) page. Another page states that the "female wasp disables the prey's escape reflexes, takes hold of one of the roach's antennae and leads it like a dog on a leash into her burrow." For more info, check out "How to make a zombie cockroach." So interesting!

Anicent ocean

It IS hard to believe and imagine that an ocean eons ago covered this part of Texas. I never really paid much mind to the thought until recently. For the second time, a few weeks ago we toured the Gorge at Canyon Lake, where fossils galore and dinosaur tracks were uncovered by the incredible force of floodwaters that ravaged through a valley beneath the dam's spillway in July 2002. Marine fossils that are similar to the ones revealed within the Gorge can also found on our own property northwest of Blanco. Like the sea urchin (above) that I found last Sunday afternoon. Cool, eh?

Here's a couple of photos of the area where I found fossils embedded within the limestone. Photos of them follow.....

 

Earth-boring scarab beetle

Take a look at this cutie! I happened to spot it while out at our land last Sunday afternoon. Via entomologist Mike Quinn's Travis County Beetle Survey page, I was able to identify my little friend as an earth-boring scarab beetle (Bolbocerosoma lepidissimum).  According to Bugguide.net, this family of beetles "spend most of their lives in burrows one to four feet down, often under dung or carrion....Larvae feed on dung or carrion. Adults feed on dung or fungi, or do not feed at all."

Ecology students come over to learn

Our joint idea finally happened! Science teacher Pam Meier from the Blanco Middle School had been wanting to bring her Ecology students to our Wildcape, which we'd decided would be a great way to get kids outside and learn about native flora and fauna. After all, it's just a short walk over from the school to our house. So this morning, she and her 15 students came over, and we all spent the class period in our Wildscape. James did, too. He'd actually made other plans but agreed to stay long enough to shoot a few photos for me. Which he did. But then he ended up staying for the entire class because he enjoyed spending time with the teens, too.

Abe, one of our cat kids (which I don't very often include on this blog because the Texas Wildscape program frowns on outdoor cats), was very hospitable. One student even wanted to take him home with her. (Please do, but you have to take his brother, Gabe, too!)

We primarily talked about monarchs and their milkweed host plants, such as antelope horns and zizotes milkweed. We had all hoped to see more monarchs migrating through, but the cool morning temperatures kept the numbers down to only about two. At least everyone got to see one!

The students will return next Tuesday, weather permitting. Before they left, I gave them some omework: Find a native plant (something that hasn't been planted by someone) in your yard or near your home and take a photo of it. Then let's identify them next week and learn a little about each plant's biology.

More rains...

Since last Saturday, we've had more than 5 inches of rain! Last weekend, we received around 6 inches. After months of NO RAIN, relief comes in buckets. Parts of the back yard were bone bare. Now look! Tiny seedlings have burst open.

Trapdoor spider!

What a handsome fellow, eh? Meet a wafer trapdoor spider child, found last week by Alyssa at her Blanco home. Two years ago, she shared a tarantula juvenile that she'd found with me, and I posted a photo of of him/her here. Heavy rains seem to bring these spiders out.

First monarchs!