Wildlife Wednesday May 2019

It's Wildlife Wednesday and time to share my wildlife sightings from the last month or so.  Wildlife Wednesday is hosted by Tina at "My gardener says...." as a meme to share wildlife sightings from the garden on the first Wednesday of each month.

My monthly gif is a Giant Swallowtail enjoying 360 degrees of a Verberna Bonariensis bloom.

From our golf course correspondent we have mating monarchs in full public view!  A couple weeks ago I spotted a monarch caterpillar racing away from the garden after most of the milkweed had been consumed.  Today I saw a fresh monarch butterfly enjoying my garden.  I'd like to think those two events are connected.  San Antonio is a Monarch Champion City and we are proud to host these beautiful butterflies twice a year.

A softshell turtle on the edge of a creek along the golf course.  I don't know enough about turtles to venture a more specific guess as to whether this is a smooth or spiny softshell.  Looks pretty smooth to me.  I quit researching when turtle soup came up over and over.  These guys eat plenty of insects so carry on.

That's the round up of wildlife from my garden (and the golf course where my husband spends much time) over the last month or so.  Hey, I'm happy he enjoys observing wildlife along with his favorite pastime.  To share wildlife from your garden or see what other bloggers have shared be sure to check out the comments section in Tina's blog.  Tina has a fascinating take on "Lizard Brain" for you today.

Wildlife Wednesday May 2018

It's the first Wednesday of May and that means Wildlife Wednesday hosted by Tina at "My Gardener Says...." as an opportunity to share wildlife in our gardens.

Male Green Anole (Anole carolinensis) puffing his dewlap which is meant to impress a mate or express dominance in the case of feeling threatened.  Both males and females have the dewlap and the female has a brown stripe down the back.

Mockingbirds have been serenading the garden daily from high in the trees.

Inspired by Sue at My Wild Australia last month here's a bit of its awesome mimicry in an audio file:



Alternately you can go to this link:

Mockingbird song - Click to open

That is the same bird throughout the audio.  Worth a whole minute to experience the full range of sounds once those vocal pipes get warmed up.  Mockingbirds are so amusing and have been known to imitate car alarms, phones, and other noises from suburban life.  They also love an audience and I've seen them repeatedly checking to make sure I'm still listening while out gardening.

Wolf Spider with egg sac crawling around a wheelbarrow.

A green-legged spider created a very large web.  I didn't get a close enough look to positively identify but it is probably not a green lynx spider which typically creates a linear or trip wire style web.

Red Paper Wasp carefully getting water.

A beneficial garden visitor if they don't bother these Monarch Butterfly caterpillars enjoying tropical milkweed.

This crew polished off the milkweeds in no time and I spotted a few Monarch Butterflies floating about the garden a few weeks later so it all worked out well.  The plants are recovering in time for another round.

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar spotted yesterday probably looking for a place to attach and pupate.

Live Oak trees are beautiful but the fallen leaves are messy and impossible to remove.

I like to think all this leaf litter brings me such garden scenes as a happy Giant Swallowtail enjoying Prairie Verbena.

Be sure to visit Tina at "My Gardener Says...." to read her owl's tale and warning about how using poisons outdoors negatively affects wildlife.  Then check out the comments for more Wildlife Wednesday posts from garden bloggers.

Wildlife Wednesday November 2016: A month of butterflies

Our butterfly season is in full swing.  At the beginning of October I posted a recommended list of native butterfly nectar plants from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center which I also grow in my garden.  As it turns out the butterflies voted with their wings and declared the Crucita or Blue Mistflower (Chromolaena odorata) the undisputed champion of native butterfly plants.  In fact, of all the plants on the vaunted list, only my Gregg's Mistflower attracted a significant number of butterflies.  Meanwhile, our Central Texas gardening community on Facebook has been brimming with stunning butterfly videos that are the envy of our friends in other parts of the country.  Some of you have already seen most of these photos and videos on my Facebook page, but I'm posting again for Wildlife Wednesday to share with readers who might not have seen them.  Wildlife Wednesday is hosted on the first Wednesday of each month by Tina at "My Gardener says...".  Tina features Blue Mistflower and many of the same butterflies this month too but I don't think she'll mind.  We live in the same region, about 70 miles apart so it's to be expected from time to time.

Of course I have them in motion.  A Fall bloomer just in time for butterfly season, it's been hopping like this for 10 days and still going even as the flowers fade.

Like Gregg's Mistflower on steroids, Chromolaena odorata is at least 11' tall, six feet wide and covered head-to-toe with butterflies.

Blue Mistflower is just so amazing as a butterfly nectar plant, especially attractive to Monarchs and Queens.  I counted 10 or more Monarch butterflies at a time on this one plant and I have two in the garden.

Let's take a closer look at some of my other butterfly visitors in October.

Bordered Patch

Common mestra was a new one for me this year.   Usually found farther south along the border, it seems they made their way as far north as Austin according to my blogger friends.



Unmistakable Gulf Fritillary so bright in the sunlight I can see it from the house 40 feet away.

 Locally prolific Queens moved over from Gregg's mistflower for a few days too.

Giant Swallowtail is a favorite of mine.

 

Mating Queen Butterflies on the Blue Mistflower

Meanwhile, Black Swallowtails prefer Gomphrena 'Fireworks'.

Be sure to check out "My Gardener Says..." for more Wildlife Wednesday.

Wildlife Wednesday April 2016

Wildlife Wednesday sponsored by Tina at "My Gardener Says...." provides an opportunity to review wildlife garden visitors from the past few weeks.  The first Wednesday of each month reminds me it's time to survey photos for wildlife to share on today's Wildlife Wednesday post.

Blooming Damianita attracts more than admiring comments from human visitors.  A Common Buckeye butterfly has been enjoying nectar.

When closed they are nearly invisible except when Damianita's bright yellow is the background.

Mexican Bird of Paradise also has its share of visitors like this solitary bee.

A bee photobombing my iris photo

Another bee insists on posing in the yellow Opuntia 'Santa Rita' flowers.

Buttlerflies this month include Giant Swallowtail on Gomprena 'Fireworks' which attracts a surprising number of butterflies considering it's not a native plant.

 Black Swallowtail on Larkspur

Just love the combination of colors.

An Anole has claimed the Agave ovatifolia.

A Mockingbird serenaded me as I parked my car near the Warrior Family Support Center where I volunteer each week.

Usually they will turn to ham it up for the camera but this one was playing shy.

Guess she likes the new swing as much as we do.

Take a picture next time!

Come back and bring the whole family!

We haven't seen fawns yet but they should begin arriving soon.

Not that we need more deer.  The herd is getting quite large again.

For more on wildlife from blogger's gardens head on over to "My Gardener Says..." and check out the comments section for links.

Wildlife Wednesday June 2015

Our record-setting spring rains have brought out the wildlife in numbers I haven't experienced in the seven years since I began gardening on our piece of the suburbs.  Presenting just a few of the wildlife visitors over the last few weeks for Wildlife Wednesday hosted by Tina at "My Gardener Says..."

Every visit to the garden these days brings on a rustle of scurrying, slithering, and flitting.  We've been seeing more snakes than usual with the Checkered Garter Snake most often spotted.

Garden Visitors: Buttterflies Autumn 2013

I didn't start out to create a butterfly garden--it just happened.  As much as we enjoy the circle garden in the backyard it seems the butterflies appreciate it even more since the native plants which do best in that spot are also popular with the butterflies.  While we have butterflies much of the year, the fall and spring migrations bring many different species through San Antonio on their way to and from Mexico.  Are butterflies multilingual?  Maybe another discussion.

They are so much fun to watch and try to identify.  Thanks to the internet I've been working on my ID skills so I can share my itinerate visitors from the last few weeks.

Monarch left and Gulf Fritillary on the right.

Gardening on the Rocks: What's new in my own garden?

It's been a while since I posted about my own garden and there have been recent changes that are beginning to pay off.  The biggest change is the wheel garden, which is bigger and better.  We've had several good rains so it's also been a good spring generally for the garden.

We built the circle garden last year to cover a bare spot in the yard.  At the time I limited the size of each wedge for ease of working and the amount of soil and other materials available.