Up and Down the Road in Texas

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Robin

At home I write a lot of blogs about my walks Across the Road. Here at my daughter’s place in the Texas Hill Country my walks are Up the Road or Down the Road. These are photos taken from walks in both directions.

This was Up the Road the first morning I was here. It had rained heavily during the night.

I tried to clean my glasses a couple of times thinking that I must have rubbed greasy fingers on them. Then I realized that the glasses were fogging up due to the humidity and temperature. Well, that’s annoying.

Juniper berries, although everyone in the west calls these “cedar trees”.

I have identified this plant as either Snow-on-the-Mountain or Snow-on-the-Prairie, a Euphorbia species. I read that it is an annual that is poisonous to livestock. Here is an excerpt from Texas A&M Extension: “The white sap of these plants has long been used to blister the skin or as an intestinal purgative. In most cases, livestock are poisoned by an acrid principle that severely irritates the mouth and gastrointestinal tract. This plant rarely causes death. Experimental feedings of this plant in Texas have shown that 100 ounces produces severe scours and weight loss in cattle, the latter persisting for several months.”

Gorgeous oak trees are seen where the juniper (cedar) has been cleared.

I have not tried to ID the rest of these flowers. I’m just enjoying them.

black-swallowtail

My granddaughter and I saw many of these large Black Swallowtails this morning.

Life and Death on a Milkweed Plant

Posted on August 28, 2016 by Robin

While mowing the pasture the other day I saw a fluttering monarch butterfly.

I thought, “Cool, I’m watching this butterfly emerge from the chrysalis.” However, as I watched I realized that for some reason the butterfly had been stuck in this position and now was hopelessly damaged. I helped it out of the chrysalis but its wings were damaged and all it could do was flutter, but not fly.

I continued mowing.

There were plenty more milkweed plants that were teeming with life. That’s the Common Buckeye Butterfly and the Alfalfa Butterfly (see my last post).

Here is what the seed pods have inside when they are ripe. (Spinning, anyone?)

I identified this one in Bug Guide.net as the Small Milkweed Bug (also the Common Milkweed Bug, Lygaeus kalmii). It’s surprising how many similar looking bugs you find when you google “red and black bug in CA”.

Small milkweed bug or Common milkweed bug, Lygaeus kalmii

I had to look closely to see the identifying markings. The Guide says: “Adults suck nectar from flowers of various herbaceous plants, and also feed on milkweed seeds(?). Also reported to be scavengers and predators, especially in spring when milkweed seeds are scarce. They have been reported feeding on honey bees, monarch caterpillars and pupae, and dogbane beetles, among others.”

Here is more life, but I’m not going to try and specifically ID this one.

And the circle continues…

Monarch caterpillar on milkweed

The other photos were from a couple of weeks ago and I just saw this monarch caterpillar a few days ago on another milkweed.

Birds and Butterflies

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Robin

Last week it was impossible to go to town or walk Across the Road without running into butterflies. The orange sulphur butterfly (Colias eurytheme also known as the alfalfa butterfly and in its larval stages as the alfalfa caterpillar), I found out by googling, is widespread in North America and can be a significant alfalfa pest in high densities.

The alfalfa field just south of where I walk had been cut, the sunflowers harvested, and butterflies were doubling and tripling up on field bindweed flowers and any other weedy flowers they could find.

I thought that I’d be able to get photos of butterflies in flight. Do you know how hard that is? Not possible, at least by me.

But speaking of things that fly, I did get some bird photos. I don’t usually see great blue herons in the trees.

The snowy egret is dwared by two great egrets.

Great egret in flight.

On my way home I spotted these cattle egrets which I photographed from the road.

Seen on the Farm

Posted on July 3, 2016 by Robin

This one isn’t actually on OUR farm. I love this sunflower crop that is Across the Road.

Sunflower

I took the rest of these photos here.

Monarch caterpillar

Monarch caterpillar on narrow-leaf milkweed.

Alfalfa butterfly. The caterpillars are considered pests in fields of alfalfa. They also consume other legumes (like clover and trefoil in my pasture).

I still don’t know what this one is. Previously I tentatively identified one in a better photo as a forage looper moth. Maybe? Do you know how hard it is to chase a butterfly/moth that doesn’t want to be photographed? CA Red dragonfly

California Red Dragonfly. While we’re looking at insects here are nasty ones that supposedly the dragonflies eat.

We were doing pretty well keeping the pasture mosquitoes at bay. I guess it was the last irrigation followed by a heat wave that brought them on to this degree. This morning in the pasture I was covered head to foot–overalls and a hooded sweatshirt with the hood tied around my face. I could still hear them buzzing.

paper wasp-2

While on the subject of nasty buzzing things in the barn last year’s paper wasp nests are active again. I guess I need to find the wasp spray.

Black widow

Same subject. Different pest. This is another black widow on the hay. You have to be careful pulling bales of hay away from the wall or off the floor.

brewers blackbird nest

Also in the barn but no stings or bites (except maybe when the parents dive-bomb the dogs). This is another nest of Brewer’s blackbirds. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago…

Brewer's blackbird nest

…and this one a little later. These birds have left the nest now.

Sheep going to pasture in the morning.

These are some of the new sheep. That’s Bronagh who seems to take the lead. They are out with the rest of the flock now and are as anxious to come to the fence for grain when I rattle the bucket as the other sheep.

Sunday Morning in the Pasture

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Robin

I switched lenses this morning to get a different view of What’s In The Pasture.

The sheep followed me to the horse pasture gate but I didn’t let them out there.

Instead I climbed on the gate to get a photo of the neighbor’s alfalfa being cut. hawk hunting

This hawk was flying over the field hopeful that breakfast would be flushed out from the alfalfa harvest.

Western kingbird

Western Kingbird on the powerline at the south end of the pasture. Swainson's hawk

Swainson’s hawk over our pasture.

Buckeye butterfly

Buckeye butterfly. I read that adults live for a little over a week and that plantain is one of the plants where they lay eggs. There is plenty of that in the pasture right now. I’ll have to go inspect those for eggs and caterpillars.

Forage looper moth-m

This might be a Forage Looper Moth–that is the closest ID I got from browsing the internet for look-alike moths and butterflies.

Johnson grass

Johnson grass. This grass is taller than me and is growing at the south end of the pasture. We try to get rid of it when we find it because it is very competitive and the sheep won’t eat the coarse leaves and stems. From the internet: “Under certain conditions, the leaves of johnsongrass (and sorghum) can produce toxic amounts of hydrocyanic acid, which can poison livestock when ingested.” Medusahead-dry

The medusahead is drying out.

I moved the fence and the sheep were ready to go out for breakfast.

Stalking Butterflies

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Robin

I took my camera with me to change the pasture fence this morning. I shouldn’t do that if I have things to do. I get distracted by things like dew drops and butterflies and flowers. I didn’t realize how many different butterflies are here because I usually pay more attention to warm-blooded creatures. I thought I’d google “butterflies of Solano County” so that I could identify these. There are dozens on the list (without photos) so I guess I’ll just enjoy them without names. I also didn’t know how hard it is to sneak up on a butterfly before it flits away. How do they know? It’s easier to take photos of flowers.