Butterfly and Wildlife Gardening And Photography In Houston Texas
Category Archives: Wildlife There sure are a lot of birds I’ve never seen out here before. We’re staying at Country Inn and Cottages out in Fredericksburg, Texas. The one bird I saw today that I was unable to get a picture of was a Summer Tanager. Maybe I’ll get lucky and get a picture tomorrow. A very common… I didn’t realize the impact of the drought on the Wildflowers. The Wildflowers, normally in full bloom right now, are pretty much either non-existent or have very limited blooms. In terms of photography and my vacation, time to move to plan B. Since the Wildflower photography opportunities are so limited, I’m going to focus on… You wouldn’t believe all the Deer out here. There are both White Tailed Deer and Axis Deer. Leecy and I brought the corn from home that we originally were feeding the Squirrels in hopes that they would leave the bird feeders alone. It didn’t work, so we quit feeding them. Out where we are staying,…  Before I start getting the emails, no animals (or reptiles) were harmed during this photo shoot (the Snake was released into the woods after I took a few pictures). Leecy was helping me in the garden this morning and saw a small Garter Snake, at the same time I was hunting a Broad Banded Water… When Leecy got home today all of the baby Carolina Chickadees were gone. That’s the good news. The bad news is I’m a total idiot. I’ve had that Wingscapes BirdCam trained on the nest for 14 days now. I haven’t bothered checking the BirdCam the last couple of days since I could see the birds…  It won’t be long now. I think if we didn’t have this little cold front, these little birds would probably be leaving the nest tomorrow. Of course I did say I thought they would leave the nest by this weekend and I was wrong about that. Look how far they’ve come. It’s amazing how fast…  Our Sassafras tree is really putting out some nice, soft leaves. I was casually checking the leaves to see if any Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars were feeding. I then saw this small insect, but I have no idea what it is It was definitely eating the leaf, but I don’t even know where to look to…  It was a cloudy, overcast, somewhat windy day, so not the best day to take pictures. Leecy pointed out this Carpenter Bee (I think that’s what it is, not a Bumblebee) flying around the Wildflowers. I wasn’t really expecting much from the pictures, but I’m actually quite pleased with how they turned out. While I…  It won’t be long now! Those Carolina Chickadee babies look like real birds, Carolina Chickadees even. There’s 4 birds in that nest, so they are starting to run out of room to be comfortable. It was just a few days ago that they were just little pink masses with a tuft of hair. I finally…  Leecy made a new bird-type feeder. I think she said it was for the Tufted Titmouse (she’s taking a nap so I can’t ask). I have no idea if they will eat off of this thing, but I do know we’ve had two of them gorging on the meal worms I “thought” I was leaving…  I was watering the grass today and saw something quite unusual in the bottom of the pool. This is an adult Small Mouth Salamander, that is roughly 5.5 inches (14 centimeters). I almost never see them unless I’m digging a whole in some moist soil, or when they happen to get caught in the pool… I haven’t posted anything about our Purple Martins lately, so I thought I would try something new for them. I was complaining yesterday that I need a new video camera since my current one is so old. Then it dawned on me, why not use the videocam capabilities of my Canon 7D? I decided to…  I now have a new appreciation for human mothers if the job is similar to what a mother Carolina Chickadee goes through. The babies look like Carolina Chickadees now, their eyes are open, they seem to have most of their feathers, and they are now constantly tweeting for the parents to bring them food. I…  Well it’s now day nine for the 4 Carolina Chickadee babies. They still look really healthy, and not only do they no longer look like aliens, they are starting to actually resemble Carolina Chickadees. Before I share a picture and a video I have a disclaimer. I really need a new video camera. The one…  Today is day seven for the Carolina Chickadee babies. They are starting to look like real birds now and not some type of alien. All of them are starting to get some feathers, and I believe they are starting to make little tweeting sounds when they get hungry. Since this is day seven, it would… |
|