Bunny and Friends

Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Donna Lewis

More good stuff outside. Grab your camera and go look.

I had just put out some bird seeds for the squirrels and the Doves. I put some for them on the ground to keep them from crowding the bird feeders.

I don’t know if you are aware of it, but White-tail bunnies (cottontails) like bird seed!  I was surprised also. But they do. They come every day now. I had a hard time getting a photo though, because they wanted to run if I got too close. Sometimes there is a fight between everyone wanting the seeds, including Doves, Cardinals, Blue Jays, squirrels, and many others.

Also, on our front porch is a nest full of baby Phoebes just about ready to leave the nest.

Here’s one of their parents watching them dutifully from our doggie yard.

Then while on my walk, I found a Red-eared Slider laying eggs down by our front gate.

What a Spring and Summer we are having. The rains have produced abundant field grass and insects.  Eat up my friends. And please, eat all the mosquitoes you can!

Remember who’s out there.

Beautiful Moth

Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall1 Comment

by Donna Lewis

I found this beautiful moth (Antheraea  polyphemus), on our kitchen window.  I took two photos outside and one from inside the house.  It was 5 inches across.

A beauty for sure.  It didn’t like me taking its photo, so it took off right after the last shot.

It’s host plants are ash, birch, grape, pine, maple and other woody plants.

It has two broods per year but it is rarely seen, because it is on trees and hidden from birds.

You just need to always be looking out for Mother Nature’s gifts.

Remember who we garden for.

Native Texas Flower Bed Improving

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By Carolyn Henderson

Progress is being made on the flower bed the chapter voted to develop into a native Texas plot. If faces Travis Street, so those of us who are in downtown Cameron regularly have paid attention to the ongoing battle with the non-planted plants running rampant in it. 

The bed after weeding

Some might call them weeds. But, some of them are native wild flowers that tend to be invasive – in that they overrun everything else around them. For example, Persimmons are coming up repetitively all over that bed, and they are very hard to get up.

Luckily, almost everything we planted has survived and is growing. We plan to plant more things in the  fall with the hopes of all of ours overrunning all he uninvited plants. We could put poison on the interlopers, but we don’t want to risk what we did plant. Mulch is on order to be put down this week.

The photos are from work done today. Jackie Thornton and Liz Lewis, both regulars at the plot, as well as Connie Anderle and Linda Jo Conn did a lot of work on the bed today. We also had an unexpected volunteer – Ed Guerrero – who is a master weed puller. I’m pretty sure we would not have gotten the whole thing done without him.

The weed pullers

Past contributors to the project have been Catherine Johnson, Phyllis Shuffield, and Pamela Neeley. If you can pull a weed, you can volunteer. When we are done, we all go have lunch to celebrate winning this battle against those unwanted invaders.

Wildscape Facelift

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by Catherine Johnson

The Wildscape had a major facelift thanks to the Reks and employee Brandon. 

Upcoming events include a full moon gathering to observe moths and nature at night.  The improved space will be easier for people to walk thru each month learning about the Master Naturalist program. 

Birds have built nests in the mailboxes and the Mason bees are active. 

The pictures include our State grass, Sideoats Grama. It is a short clump grass that provides nutrition for wildlife and erosion control. It is drought tolerant, with oat-like seeds and orange and purple flowers.

Honeysuckle
sideoats grama
Gray hairstreak
There are lots of chickens at this chicken farm!