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Posts Tagged ‘Texas Insects’

Guatemalan Cracker Butterfly

Posted in Botanicals, Butterflies, Natural Phenomena, Texas, tagged , on April 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

A sweaty-humid day and we seek the shelter of some towering oak trees. Whew!  It’s hot. Then I hear a cracking sound and am instantly alert … is a branch of the tree going to fall on my head? Moving hastily away and looking up, I can see no branch appearing to tilt or fall.  The cracking sound continues as I look around. A man walks by and smiles at us as he remarks “Don’t worry … it is only a Guatemalan Cracker butterfly.”

The cracking sound diminishes and he walks over to the trunk of the tree and points upward. Squinting at the spot I see nothing. He waves me over and says “It is so well camouflaged that it takes a while to see it.”

Guatemalan Cracker Butterfly

Guatemalan Cracker Butterfly

Lifting my binoculars I scan the spot and there it is! Above my head, resting on the bark, is a butterfly the size of an apple. “He is a rare one this far North in Texas. He belongs in Central America,” the man says and bids us goodbye.

D. L. points to the location of the butterfly

Once home I look up this strange gray butterfly and find that the cracking sound is from clapping his wings together to warn other male Crackers that this tree is HIS or to attract any female in the vicinity to his tree. Will wonders never cease … Crack away you marvelous butterfly trying to insure that your species will go on into the future. We wish you success.

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Roadrunner

Posted in Birding, Natural Phenomena, Texas Birds, tagged , , on March 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Roadrunner with eye patch clearly visible

Roadrunner with eye patch clearly visible

What do I know about the Roadrunner that I did not know yesterday?  Quite a bit … as seen in these photos this bird has a bare patch of skin behind each eye. I knew that … and usually the bit I have seen is bright blue. In these pic’s you can actually see that the patch is shaded blue anterior to red posterior.  Never saw that before!!

Close up

Close up

We had the treat of varied weather with short spells of pelting rain: light, misty rain, blinding sunshine and foggy horizons as we drove to Falcon Lake in Texas. Once there we saw a dozen or more Roadrunners.  They had their feathers fluffed up because it had rained but were out in full force in the sunshine seeking breakfast. Getting out to get a good shot i noticed the X tracks in the wet sand … with four toes they have two facing forward and two facing backward. It is called zygodactyl … who knew?

Eyepatch is visible even from this view

Eyepatch is visible even from this view

They live in arid scrub land and mate for life which is why we saw them in pairs searching for grasshoppers in the wet grass.

Roadrunner hunting for lunch

Roadrunner hunting for lunch

What a treat they were as they sped away from us. It was a stormy day harking back to my childhood when every day we lived WITH the weather not running indoors to escape it. Blessed rain to be appreciated and enjoyed.

Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper

Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper

This may be what the roadrunner will find to munch on! I was hunting an elusive butterfly when touching a leaf caused a strange insect to cautiously climb up a stalk of grass and stop … so I took his picture instead of the splendid butterfly I was chasing.  Then he suddenly hopped … UP! … and OVER! a full 4 feet away. What an incredible distance for such a little guy.  We chased him and every hop was 4 to 6 feet at a hop. WOW!  I looked him up and he is a Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper found in the deep South around ponds and wet areas. He turned out to be a she as males are brown and females are green.

Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper

Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper

Here my friend holds the blade of grass she was perched on. You can see she’s about as big as a toothpick and shaped just like one!

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Black Witch Moth

Posted in Natural Phenomena, tagged , , on October 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Early Morning Risers … dawn blankets the sky with apricot color as I trip, literally, down the steps to our little laundry room. Half asleep, I glance at the floor before I step in and there is a black blob. Catching my foot an instant before it lands on the blob, I lean over, bleary-eyed, and perceive a butterfly? a moth? some creature?  I rush in and wake D.L. who repeats my stumble down the steps and growls “What? What is it?” He stares in astonishment as I wave him back. “Don’t scare it … I want to take a photo of it.”

After a moment he says “But … But … it is dead!” Checking up close we touch the moth and it is dead so we pick it up and take it inside where I find a photo of the Black Witch Moth on the internet. There it says it is the largest moth north of Mexico at 5 to 6 inches. It is often mistaken for a bat.

One site says the Mayans called it Mah-Ha-Na which means “May I borrow your house” since they frequent indoor places. It is also considered a harbinger of death in Caribbean and South American folklore. Regardless, it is a lovely treasure and a remarkable start to our morning.

ENJOY !!

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