Wordless Wednesday: Even the Lizards Are Social Distancing

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(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

What I think was a young Cooper's Hawk stopped by recently to visit our garden gnome.

I think he was actually checking out the action around our bird feeder.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

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Photo for Wednesday: Great Horned Owl

Travis County TX

October 2017

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Photo For Wednesday: Nap Time

Looks like Baby Deer is getting an earful from Mom. Maybe a nap-time story?

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Shadow Shot Sunday: Creepy Crawly in the Shadows

I was out looking for shadows recently, and found this small tarantula lurking in the leafy shadows on the side of the house.

Here's a close-up view (sorry it's a little grainy). Even though he wasn't very big and he (or she?) was way up near the roof, I definitely kept my distance.

Happy Sunday, everyone! And have a wonderful week. And watch out for spiders!

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Photo for Wednesday: Rock Squirrel

Doing his best Meerkat

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Wordless Wednesday: Greater Roadrunner

Travis County, TX

May 2016

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Wordless Wednesday: Robber Fly and Lunch

Robber Fly and moth

Travis County TX

April 2016

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Wordless Wednesday: Mr. Mockingbird

Keeping an eye on me

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Saturday Snapshot: Daddy Long Legs

With all the wet weather we've had this spring, the bug population around here has zoomed. I'm not a real insect enthusiast, but I do like taking photos of some of the more interesting critters, and this caught my eye yesterday. Now I know that technically spiders aren't really "bugs" (and the hubby tells me that daddy long legs aren't like other spiders -- more like ticks), but all these creepy-crawlies seem pretty much the same to me.

At first, I thought "Tarantula!"

We have several of these clumps (or clusters) of daddy long leg spiders (or do you call them granddaddy long legs?) under the eaves of our house. At first, it just looks like one big spider, but as you get closer, you realize it's a bunch of individuals making up a huge clot of thingies (sort of like the Borg in Star Trek).

Togetherness, spider-style

And every now and then, one spider will make a break for it and go it alone. I'm wondering if it comes back to the bunch after reconnoitering or if it's on its own for good.

Leaving the nest

Saturday Snapshot is now hosted by Melinda @ West Metro Mommy Reads.

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Texas Hawk

Travis County TX, October 2013

Possibly Red-tailed Hawk?

Taking off

Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by 

Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer:

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Tarantula Hawk Wasp and Dinner

The tarantula hawk is a large wasp (about 2 inches long) that hunts tarantulas. The wasps don't actually eat the spiders, but they feed them to their larvae. Only the females hunt, so I'm supposing this is a mom.

We watched this one spend most of a day hunting down this fairly small tarantula -- well, it was small for a tarantula, but still bigger than the wasp, about three inches or so.  Once she got it and had it under control, she dragged it all the way across our yard, across the driveway, across the sidewalk, and out of view.

She didn't do a lot of flying, but then I guess her victim was a little heavy. The tarantula was still alive during all this, and struggling to get away, but apparently the tarantula hawk's sting is one of the most powerful stings around, so the spider didn't really have a chance. And although they're supposed to be pretty docile, the wasps have been known to sting humans when they think the human is threatening. Needless to say, THIS human stayed well away from the hawk and the spider, and used her telephoto to grab these shots.

(Click on photos to enlarge. Sorry that the lightbox feature doesn't seem to be working on these. Blogger moves in mysterious ways.)

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Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer:

Blue Monday: Miscellaneous Blues

Blue Monday is hosted weekly by Smiling Sally.
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OK, first of all -- here's a shot from a few days ago. It's a photo of a Western Scrub-Jay in a tree across the way from our property. We've had bunches of them around here this year, and they can make an awful racket. But they're really very pretty birds. I've been trying to get some pictures of them for a long time, but they don't stay still very long. They really are a lovely blue, but they're also kind of nasty critters.

Blue Bird of Happiness?

I'm a little disoriented this morning. I keep thinking I've forgotten something. Today is shaping up to be pretty quiet around here. For the last month or so we've been unbelievably busy with medical and dental adventures, household chores and just general everyday chaos.  For some reason, we managed to get all sorts of STUFF planned for October and early November. And all that PLANNED stuff added to the UNEXPECTED STUFF that came up -- well, it left us with very little free time. So it's sort of nice to have a whole day with NO plans.

But, even though I don't have anything planned for today, I AM waiting for something -- and here's a hint:

It's a case for an iPad Mini-3 -- I've got the case, but not the pad yet!

I know it's a little hard to tell, but this case is a very dark blue. The color is a little easier to see on the inside:

The case is made of really soft leather, and it's waiting to be filled by the new iPad Mini I'm expecting to arrive later today. It's sort of an early Christmas gift from me to me. We bought one of the original iPads back when they first came out, and it's been great. But it's very heavy and doesn't have all the nifty bells and whistles the new models have, so I decided to splurge a bit.

(The hubby just checked on the tracking, and it's out for delivery. Very exciting!)

OK, that's about it for today. Just one more blue thingie. We've actually had some pretty substantial rain lately -- not quite enough to break the drought here in central Texas, but great for the lawns and gardens anyway. And right after a good rain, we usually find a bunch of these have sprung up everywhere:

Not sure what they are -- probably some sort of noxious weed that we should be pulling up as soon as it shows. But they look very sweet around the patio, and they usually only last a day. They come and go with the rain.

Blue Monday: Butterfly Watch

Blue Monday is hosted weekly by Smiling Sally.
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Wow, can you believe September is almost over? I find that very hard to accept. Not that it's my favorite month -- it definitely is not that. I'm not really fond of the month. Probably because it's my birth month (yet another year older, sigh), but also because it marks the official end of my favorite time of year and the official beginning of autumn. Not that I don't like the fall; but if fall is here, that also means winter is right around the corner. And that's something I don't even like to think about. Especially after the winter we had last year. Brrrrrr!

OK, enough of that. How did I get off on winter? What I really meant to say is: Wow, we actually had some rain last week! And over the weekend, we were inundated with just about every kind of insect you can think of. Including dozens of butterflies! For a while on Saturday I was playing hide-and-seek with a huge Tiger Swallowtail that was flitting around our sage bushes. Every time I managed to get the camera aimed and focused, the lovely butterfly would flutter off to another branch, and I'd end up with another blurry peekaboo shot much like this:

Hiding in the blossoms

But after many tries, I finally managed to get a couple of decent shots. This isn't the best, but it does allow you to see the lovely blue spots on its lower wings:

I believe the blue spots mean this was a female

And this was my favorite: wings spread, with a bright blue Texas sky in the background:

Tiger Swallowtail in Texas Sage bush