Look Again

When I first came around a curve in the trail and saw this butterfly on the flowers I was certain it was a Pearl Crescent on White Boneset (Eupatorium serotinum). It wasn't until I got close enough to begin taking the photographs that I realized it is actually a Phaon Crescent on White Mistflower (Ageratina havanensis):

The differences between the two crescent butterflies and between the two plants are obvious on close inspection, but if I had casually walked by, they are similar enough I would not have realized what I had actually seen.

The larval host plant for the Phaon Crescent is Frogfruit.

This set of photographs was taken on the Salado Creek Greenway trail at the Lady Bird Johnson Park Trailhead on Monday, November 11, 2013.

Somewhat More Than a Trickle

Monday, March 11, 2013

Salado Creek Greenway, Oakwell Trailhead downstream

Today's photos:

The primary reason I walked this section of the Salado Creek Greenway today was to see how much, if any, water was flowing in the creek following Saturday night's rain. As can be seen in the series of photos of the Great Egret, the water in the creek isn't particularly deep, but there is something of a substantial flow remaining about a day and a half after the rain.

I have only included two photos of the Dewberry flowers here, but that isn't a fair representation of how abundant dewberry is in the ground cover along this section of the creek. I had noticed some patches of dewberry here on previous walks, but now that it is blooming, it is obvious the dewberry is one of the more prevalent plants. There are white dewberry flowers everywhere along the creek right now.

• The first two photos are the Dewberry flowers. There is a Honey Bee on one of the flowers in the first photo. The honey bees were almost as abundant as the flowers. Dewberry is in the Rose Family. The thorns (more correctly referred to as prickles) can be seen on the stems below the flowers in the first photo.
• The third photo is Baby Blue-eyes. They are one of the most common wildflowers blooming here right now.
• The fourth through ninth photos are a Great Egret that has been attracted to the creek by the flowing water.
• The tenth photo is a Phaon Crescent butterfly.

Land of the Spanish Dagger

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Medina River Natural Area, El Chaparral > Nogales >
Lower Rio Medina > El Camino Trails

Today's photos:

After a morning of leading a tour at the Medina River Natural Area, the best option for a walk today to take photos for a blog post was to go one more time around the trail loop in the early afternoon. This is just a small sample of what I encountered. Once again, I took so many photos, it will take a while to sort through all of them.

• The first photo is Spanish Dagger Yucca with a large stand of Prickly Pear cactus in the foreground and a Honey Mesquite tree immediately behind the yucca.
• The second and third photo are close ups of the Spanish Dagger Yucca flowers. The small green insect with the black spots just to the right of center is a Spotted Cucumber Beetle.
• The fourth photo is a close up of Texas Persimmon leaves. This particular tree has just set its new leaves and has done so earlier than most of the other persimmon trees in the area.
• The fifth, sixth and seventh photo are a Phaon Crescent butterfly getting a drink of water from between the rocks on the edge of the river. Phaon Crescents are very similar to Pearl Crescents except the Phaons have a yellow-orange stripe on the forewing.
• The eighth photo is a Texas Rose-bellied Lizard looking out over a low mound of soil. It wasn't much interested in posing for a photo. I was only able to take this one before it disappeared.
• The ninth photo is a Purple Leatherflower, also known as purple clematis, that hasn't quite fully opened yet.
• The tenth photo is a close up of Box Elder seeds still on the tree from the Fall. Anyone who knows much about tree seeds will immediately recognize that the box elder is in the maple family.