Yes, all kinds of native grasses, flowers, and animals are up and getting ready for the new year. Love is in the air. So, you need to be alert and watch where you put your hands and feet.
Animals do not understand boundaries. If you live in the country or the city, the entire earth is in their hood.
Yesterday, I was putting my truck up under the carport. I stepped out and put my foot down to see a snake about two inches from my foot. I know to be still and look at the head to first ascertain if it is a poisonous snake. But even so, the alarm button went off in my head as soon as my mind said SNAKE! I think that is natural.
Luckily, during a talk for our Master Naturalist group, I knew this snake to be a non-poisonous Eastern Hognose snake. A short but stocky very nonaggressive snake that eats mostly frogs. Since I like frogs, I hate that part.
This snake has a neat way of self-preservation. If it senses danger, it rolls over in a tight coil, hangs its tongue out and throws up.
The other thing it will do is hiss and spread its head up like a tiny Cobra. A very interesting small snake common in Central Texas.
I asked Dr. Paul Crump to correctly identify this snake for me.
The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with nature. –
Well, it’s past due time for another Sheenanigans so I’ll lump several together!
Last night, I took the Big Hairy Beast (aka Newton, the dog) out for his bedtime constitutional. We were standing on the porch, and both heard a rustling in the Popcorn rosebush (Big Hairy Beast is on a leash because with the slightest movement he’s off! He LOVES to chase the neighbors’ guineas!) I do digress. I didn’t smell a skunk, so everything was OK. Anyway, he rousted out this creature with a LONG skinny tail. At first, I thought it was an opossum. They have a mouth full of sharp little teeth and a nasty disposition and hiss and growl if they are not happy!
The Big Hairy Beast
Seems the Bit Hairy Beast was after Army, the armadillo. Well, armadillos are pretty quick at times and he was chugging right at me – I screeched before I realized it was Army. He charged right over my FOOT and between my legs, then crashed into Fred, the Rock, next to one of the tree trunks that support the porch. Army bounced back, dead canna leaves were flying, and Big Hairy Beast’s teeth clanked against Army’s shell. Army felt his way around Fred, the Rock, and dashed behind some more rose bushes, heading to the HUGE hole he had dug at various times (I expect the rose bush to fall into it any day). Big Hairy Beast hit the end of his leash and couldn’t go any farther.
Army’s hole
Fred, the Rock, is a big sandstone rock we found at Lake Texoma, and we rock-napped him when we lived in Oklahoma. When we moved back to Texas, my daughter had a hissy fit until we agreed to move Fred with us! Uncle Grump lived under Fred, the Rock – he was a very large gray toad with a light stripe down his back – the brand name escapes me right now. Uncle Grump was really grumpy that we took his rock, but now there are several of his relatives living around it down here!
Fred, the Rock
Several weeks ago, I opened our front door, and there was Oooh-Yuk, the six-foot-long Texas rat snake! He has a very neat diamond design on his sides – no, he’s NOT a diamond-backed rattlesnake! In looking at him, I had the idea that his skin would make someone a very nice belt! Ooh-Yuk looked at me and slithered around five inches. I slammed the door and went hunting for Wes to get his gun. Couldn’t find him, so Oooh-Yuk gets to live a little longer. If I catch him trying to rob bird eggs or baby birds, he WILL be a dead Oooh-Yuk, like a couple of his relatives! Yeah, yeah I know! I’m a Texas Master Naturalist and he’s a “good” snake. Unfortunately, I STILL think the only “good” snake is a dead one! So Sorry!
Ooh-Yuk
Oh yes, if you want some “fun” and action try kicking the top off a fire ant nest! Be sure to jump back after that! Fire ants do like to get even with you! Nasty things!
Ol’ Mother Nature decided to shake her fist at everyone last week. I don’t know about y’all, but we had several large limbs fall out of our trees or at least break and split down the tree trunks. Some fell across our lane from both directions so we couldn’t get out very easily. You should see the pile of trimmings we have tractored out to the burn piles! Son, Brian, came out today and did quite a bit more trimming for us. The chainsaw is a very alluring piece of equipment for him.
It was icy!
While Brian worked outside, our daughter-in-law Christina, worked inside on some light bulbs I needed changing, Seems like I have acquired a bad relationship with ladders and nine-foot ceilings! Somehow it seems easier to ask the younger generation for help sometimes. Grandsons Eli and Oliver raided the candy jar and drinks from the refrigerator.
See y’all again sometime when I get around to more Sweet Sheenanigans!
I see some pretty cool things on my walks around my ranch. I think part of my poor posture comes from looking down all the time, in case I see something. But that’s a small price to pay. I’ve been doing a lot more aural observation lately, and that’s come in really handy when I’m looking for new species to add to my collection on iNaturalist. I have almost 600 species identified since I started, 62% of my 1600+ observations are research grade. I’m trying to get a good picture of what can be found in this little piece of the Earth.
Yesterday and today I’ve put my listening skills to a test. I can’t take a picture of something if I can’t find it, and sounds often lead me to something interesting. For example, I went to check the mail, which is a third of a mile walk from my house. I often stop to observe in the pond and arroyo I go by. That’s hard right now since the pond is being dug up to make it deeper if it ever rains, and our gate emits an annoying beep that I once accidentally identified as a South American bird via an app. But yesterday I was alarmed to hear what sounded like someone talking in the stream. It sort of sounded like, “Help, help!” So I put down my mail and went searching.
I followed the eerie sounds and got closer to where our “spring” starts. I didn’t want to get my feet wet, so I was careful. At one point it seemed like I was right on top of whatever it was, but I couldn’t see anything, so I stomped my feet. That caused something to move and gave me a focus for my eyes. Finally I saw something.
Is it a water hose?
Now I know why my friend’s orange and black water hose spooks the horses. That Western Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis proximus) sure looked like a garden hose. I was not inclined to grab it to get a better photo. But what was the sound?
I knew right away that it was a cricket frog, since that’s the kind of frogs I hear all the time from that location (I learned how they sound from one of our Chapter Meetings). I guess it’s now a former cricket frog, thanks to the circle of life. So, my aural observation skills clued me in without even having to see the frog. I was happy to learn from reading about these ribbon snakes that they hang out on the edges of wet areas (check) and primarily eat…of all things…cricket frogs! I also learned that the one we have here at the ranch is the orangestripe subspecies, T. proximus proximus, which is why it didn’t look like the one in the main photo on iNat, which had originally confused me.
Coachwhip
By the way, I am only seeing ribbon snakes and coachwhips lately. I haven’t seen a rattlesnake or a rat snake in a month or two (the hens are glad about that). The coachwhip in this picture climbed into my son’s cabin and was hanging out on the ceiling. Luckily, he’s had pet snakes before, so he just knocked it into a laundry basket and took it outside (then sealed the hole the snake came in).
Back to my observations. Today was the same story. I was putting mail in the box to be picked up, this time. I kept hearing a sharp chirp, and it wasn’t the broken gate. It was coming from the black willow trees on our dam, which no, I’m not cutting down, because they are native and feed lots of things. I looked and looked, trying to home in on where the chirps were coming from. To the bird’s credit, it didn’t stop chirping until it began making tapping sounds. Aha. Now I knew to stop looking in the branches and look at the trunks of the trees instead.
Sure enough, there was a perky little ladder-backed woodpecker (Dryobates scalaris), pecking away and chirping during rests. There are a lot of woodpeckers around here (they like the grapevines to hide in and are especially fond of the telephone pole across the road), but I mostly see larger ones. Neither I nor the bulldozer grinding away behind this bird deterred it one bit from its mission.
Wood pecking
I’m glad I keep listening when I go outside. I might have missed both of these interesting observations and new species!
Early in the morning on Saturday, August 14, I was looking for my friend the Gulf Coast Toad that I say hi to on most mornings. She is a big girl that lives under the faucet where I had put a flat rock for her to hollow out her house. It is always damp so she likes it there.
I like frogs and toads. They are gentle and sweet. I didn’t see her pop her head out to see me this morning. Instead another head with a yellow mouth outline looked up at me. Oh no, I think something got my friend, I thought.
I could only see about an inch of its head. It looked like a lizard of some kind. Well, I am not afraid of lizards so I decided to take a photo of it. You can see the first photo I took, before anyone poked their head out.
The hole under discussion
So I tossed a little rock in the hole to encourage it to come out for me so I could take a photo. I leaned down pretty close to the hole. Woo boy!!! Something came out alright, but it wasn’t a lizard.
You don’t see any second photo because I jumped back as fast as I could. It was a black snake with a yellow mouth and belly. It shot out that hole and came at me really fast!!
I must admit it scared me. I am surprised I could move that fast. After looking through my snake guide I learned that it was a Yellowbelly (or plain belly), a non venomous water snake. The guide also said it was a vigorous biter. I am glad I didn’t find out how vigorous.
Becoming a Master Naturalist has truly changed my life for the better. One thing that’s enriched my life is using iNaturalist. I’ve learned so much about the world around me, in particular right where I live. Our property is north of Cameron and has woods, pastures, a creek, springs, and an arroyo. That means there’s lots to see! I thought I’d share some of the summer life from this year.
First off, I’ve learned to look down and look for anything on a leaf that doesn’t look like a leaf. However, this beetle wasn’t hard to spot. It’s teeny tiny, but was so shiny it caught my eye. I think I now have a favorite beetle, and have plenty here for it to eat!
A beautiful jewel
The Mottled Tortoise Beetle is a member of the Leaf Beetle family. It is found on morning glory flowers, leaves, and vines as well as milkweed plants. Their spiny, flat larvae look more like little dark centipedes and they eat these plants while they grow and develop into rounder, shiny adults. Though they may punch holes into the leaves of the plants, they rarely cause enough harm to damage or kill the plant unless it is young or a seedling. They are not considered an agricultural pest or threat.
This week, I’m supposed to have been looking for moths, for this year’s National Moth Week collection. However, I’ve only located two. One is bright and cheery, plus it was on my car, which made it easy to see, while the other is one of those common brown ones that will soon be legion if the chickens don’t eat more of the armyworm moth caterpillars. I spotted it, because it was something that didn’t look like a leaf, but was on one of our tomatoes (which got damaged thanks to herbicide drift from the cotton across the road, grr.)
Media moth
Perhaps a cabbage looper moth, or an armyworm moth…
Moths of Hermits’ Rest
I’m always on the lookout for things that are blooming, because one of my goals when I retire is to compare when I have uploaded flowers over different years to see if they change. That’s why I keep recording observations on the ranch, even though it doesn’t count for Master Naturalist hours unless it’s part of an approved project (so, the beetle doesn’t count, but the moths do). I’m just curious about my local ecosystem and don’t need awards to motivate me at this point!
Tie vine, food for the mottled tortoise beetle
Scarlet toothcup (Ammannia coccinea) with tiny flowers
Snake apples, also known as Lindheimer’s Globeberry (plus two of our zillions of grasshoppers). It’s in the cucumber family!
Ironweed (Vernonia sp.) – some are edible!
Finally found a passionflower. We mostly have vines.
Ruellia, which I always get wrong. This is R. nudiflora, violet ruellia.
Plants of Hermits’ Rest
Most of the flowers I’ve been finding are in the pink to purple family, except those snake apples. I just learned they can also be called globeberries. Huh.
Of course, there are lots and lots of insects, particularly the differential grasshoppers who are dominating every moment of my outdoor life. Chickens like them a lot, though. The spiders have been interesting this year, though, and I’ve seen some new ones. I’ll also share the deep black beetle and one of the snakes that has been eating the eggs my hens produce. They seem to have gotten smarter and stopped hanging around in the hen house, which makes them easier to find and dispose of.
The reflected sky makes this one more interesting than its millions of brethren
Phiddipus texanus
Furrow orbweaver
Black caterpillar hunter beetle, hopefully heading out to eat armyworm moth caterpillars
Rat snake (chicken snake), deceased
Insects and reptiles of Hermits’ Rest
So, what’s thriving over where you live? Have you seen any of these species? We love it when you share your experiences on our blog! Contact me at ecrmnpresident at gmail.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 