Nope, haven’t disappeared, just taking a small break. I’ve also been getting home later than normal during the week, and working hard on maintaining the yard on the weekends.

Here’s what new or changed as of July 27, 2010.

The Purple Martins have all fled the nest. They come by and sing in the mornings, but they no longer stay over night.
Lots of the young Cardinals and starting to get in their colored feathers, so they look a little ratty right now.
The Aphids and Milkweed bugs are really making their presence known on all the Milkweed. I’m spraying them off all the time.
We occasionally see a Giant Swallowtail laying eggs by the fruit trees.
We also have just barely seen any Gulf Fritilliaries.
A few Skipper Butterflies stop briefly on the nectar flowers from time to time.
Doves, Cardinals, and Bluejay’s spend the most time at the feeders.
Starting to see a few Frogs, but not as much as I would expect with all this rain. No sign of Michael Jane, the big Bullfrog in many months.
Lots of Dragonflies, all day and evening. Some are getting huge.
Hummingbirds. We have 3, two female and 1 male
Last, but not least Mosquitoes. They are all over the place with these rains and moist ground we’ve been having

I really need to get out somewhere and go shoot for a day. Everything seems to be non-stop lately. Perhaps I’ll revisit Houston Arboretum, or the park in Kingwood, or some place entirely new. Just need to get out somewhere with the camera and some time.

How about some of you reading the blog. Seeing lots of butterflies where you are?

Big Ant On Passionvine

It’s some type of Ant (obviously), but I’m not sure what kind.  He was just sitting on one of the Passionvine stems, like waiting to ambush something that would happen to come by.

Notice the little hairs on it’s head?

Mystery Eggs On Republic Of Texas Orange

I can’t think of a Butterfly that lays eggs like this, but I’m really not sure what they are.

Does anyone have any idea what type of eggs these are?

When I was letting the dogs out I noticed one of the baby Purple Martins on the pool decking just sitting there.  When I scooped him up, it was pretty clear something was wrong.

I called Leecy to come out and help me.  She tried to feed him some crushed, moist fruit, which it did eat, but the bird was really weak.

Leecy Feeding Purple Martin

If you look at the bird’s eye in the picture above, it appears it had some type of disease; we suspect Avian Pox.

I remember seeing this bird in the Martin House the other day.  I remember its eye look closed, but I just attributed it to the heat of the day.

In the two remaining pictures, you can see pretty clearly this bird was sick.

Left Side Of Purple Martin With Avian Pox

Right Side Of Purple Martin With Avian Pox

Although Leecy tried her best to rehydrate the bird and give it some food, in the end, the bird didn’t make it.

Leecy said a little prayer for the bird on his journey to the heavens.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only death today of the Purple Martin babies.

Because this baby likely had avian pox, I wanted to check on the remaining 3 birds.

I opened the one nest, and that bird looked fine and healthy.  I open the next door, and one baby was dead.  The other baby in the same room appeared to be okay.  So of the original 4, two of them passed away today.

On the bright side, this has been the most successful breeding season for the Purple Martins that visit us.  Of the 14 babies that we counted, all survived but 2 so far.  All but the remaining 2 have flying happily for a few weeks now.

They are starting to peek outside of their nest, and it looks like one of them actually moved down to another nest area.

There are a total of 4 babies, although only 3 of them can be seen in this shot.  The one in the middle looks a bit smaller than the other two.

Purple Martin Mother Feeding Three Babies

Gulf Fritillary On Coneflower And Bee Flying

Here’s another shot with the Gulf Fritillary on a Marigold.

Gulf Fritillary On Marigold

This last shot I really like as well.  We have lots of Purple Coneflower right now, all growing because Leecy saved the seeds from last year.

I like how the eye is drawn to the foreground Coneflower and Butterfly, but it appears as a nice pleasing background with all the other Coneflowers slightly blurred.

Gulf Fritillary On Field Of Purple Coneflowers

This particular Spicebush appeared to be younger than the one I saw last week who had the tattered wings.  It was really enjoying getting nectar from the Penta.

Spicebush Feeding On Penta

The shot below was done using a different technique than I normally use, but I like the result.  I like how I was able to blur the foreground Penta and focus on the Butterfly and Penta towards the back.

Spicebush Feeding On Multiple Pentas

The doorbell rings at 10pm.  It’s my neighbors young children asking if I can quickly come over because there is a snake in the backyard and the dogs are barking at it.

I grab my trusty snake tongs that I bought last year from Midwest Tongs.

Snake Tongs

As I enter my neighbors house I ask what is happening.  They tell me the dogs have been barking at this snake.  Then I hear, “oh, it got him.”

I figured I better hurry and get outside.  Now to put you in the scene, I’m wearing shorts, tennis shoes with no socks, a white shirt, and I’m carrying snake tongs.

I see the one dog pawing at it’s nose.  Not good, must have gotten bit.  I can’t even see the snake.  Everyone was too excited to tell me how small or large the snake was and it’s dark outside.  I swinging my flashlight from left to right, looking for some kind of snake, which at this point is all I know.  I take a couple more tiny steps and see this small brown thing in deep wet grass.  That’s him!

Bam!  I grab him with the snake tongs and lift it to the porch where I can see it better.  Broad Banded Water Snake (like the other day), nope.  Rattlesnake, uh not sure, no rattle, but coloration’s look similar.  Viper type head.  Check.  Okay, I don’t know what kind it is.  In the interest of safety (kids, dogs..even me), I decide this snake is too risky too release.  Leecy grabs the shovel and gives it a hair cut and places it in a box.

Now open the books on snakebites in dogs.  Number one suggestion, take the dog to the vet.  Also look for drooling, restlessness, diarrhea, swelling, and dilated pupils.  The dog looks fine, not excessively panting, pupils are fine, no problem in gait.  The mother asks if she can wait until morning.  We say it’s up to her, but watch the dog for symptoms over the next few hours.

We tell her we will go home to check our snake books and find out what kind of snake.

After review the different snake books, we guess that this is a Western Cottonmouth, but please correct me if I am wrong.

Oh, and for all you people asking why I have snake tongs, it’s because snakes scare me, but I can certainly appreciate them.  I also thought the only way I can safely catch them is with these tongs.  Sticks don’t work, and shovels don’t either for you snake killers.

So, without further delay, here are the pictures.  Is this a Western Cottonmouth?

Western Cottonmouth Striking

Western Cottonmouth Trying To Get Away

Western Cottonmouth Wrapping Around Snake Tongs

It was hopping all around the Purple Coneflowers getting nectar.  This is not an easy Butterfly to get pictures of, especially with their wings open!

Pearl Crescent Wings Open

Here’s a picture with the wings closed.  It was resting on the Spicebush plant.

Pearl Crescent Wings Closed

For some reason, this large Spicebush Caterpillar was feeding on the Spicebush in the middle of the afternoon.  It was really chewing on the leaves.  Once the female Spicebush Butterfly came around, it quickly crawled back inside the protection of a leaf.

On another but similar note, I have yet to find any Spicebush Chrysalises, although we had several large Caterpillars a couple of weeks ago.

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Feeding