thenectarbar's Identifications

After a month of no rain, we got 1/2 inch of productive rain that soaked into the ground. This tiny yellow flower popped up across the yard, on a very narrow leaved trailing vine. Based on the choices from the Taxon, I suggest spreading sida.

This observation is a volunteer vine on a traffic island that is blooming in 100 degree F heat. White bloom with a dark pink center. the bloom is very open, as a morning glory. Abundant foliage is growing several feet behind the bloom, with 6? lobed leaves growing on individual stems. In the backgrounders, there appears to be a pale green smooth skinned fruit lying on the ground beneath the foliage. The site is the Hwy 281 N exit to Hildebrand Ave. The adjacent surfaces are all bare dirt or concrete, though the embankment down hill is vegetated. The Taxon suggest Alamo Vine.

a large leafed plant with opposite leaf arrangement, and a pair of blooms emerging from the top. This plant is almost 3 feet tall, but will grow to 6 feet or so. the stem is rough textured. This plant is host plant for a bordered patch butterfly, but I did not see any caterpillars.

This volunteer thornless legume has numerous ripening seed pods (brown and narrow, with brown seeds) which all appear to all be opening today. I am submitting this observation, because I was able to photograph several seed pods as they opened, before they hurled their seeds. When they open, they begin as straight columns, but there must be some mechanical launching of the seeds, because the empty seed pods often have a twisted form. Seeing the seed pods in the compartment, just before they are launched, is new to me. I note that we have had lots of spring rain through June, but are now entering the parched heat of summer. Note the leaves in the photos are contracted and narrow, compare that with the observation I submitted in late April, where the leaves are wide open.

This shapely butterfly appeared under the eaves of the roof this morning. It is hanging upside down, so I have rotated the photo to orient the body in a more recognizable view. this is a flash photo, but I can see one tiny white marking about midway on the lower wing, if that helps the identification. Also two black triangles on the rear edge of the lower wing.

My cat killed it. The fur is uniformly grey and it doesn't have a white belly. These warm summer nights make it comfortable for the critters to stay active, including the cat. As a footnote, I took the mouse and placed it outside under a box, near ants, to let the ants clean the skeleton, but it was gone the next day, apparently feeding another predator before the ants could make any progress.

After a month of no rain, we got 1/2 inch of productive rain that soaked into the ground. This tiny yellow flower popped up across the yard, on a very narrow leaved trailing vine. Based on the choices from the Taxon, I suggest spreading sida.

A patch of frog fruit is growing well in the rain garden, underneath the shade of the live oak. A tiny flying grey blur was zipping and swooping through the blooms, with wings moving too fast to photograph. On occasion, for a few seconds, the butterfly would land on a bloom and reveal the grey pattern on the underside of its wings. It always kept its wings upright and I never saw the top of its wings. The lower wing outer border has two prominent rings of black and teal, with a lower irregular shape of the same color combination. The lower wing also has a pair of dark markings closer to the body. The butterfly eyes are large and black, and the antenna are striped white and black. There are so many blues shown in Kaufman Field guide, including a southwest variant of the Ceraunus Blue. The Taxon proposed that species, so I will agree.

This observation is a volunteer vine on a traffic island that is blooming in 100 degree F heat. White bloom with a dark pink center. the bloom is very open, as a morning glory. Abundant foliage is growing several feet behind the bloom, with 6? lobed leaves growing on individual stems. In the backgrounders, there appears to be a pale green smooth skinned fruit lying on the ground beneath the foliage. The site is the Hwy 281 N exit to Hildebrand Ave. The adjacent surfaces are all bare dirt or concrete, though the embankment down hill is vegetated. The Taxon suggest Alamo Vine.

This observation is a small dark butterfly which I have not seen this year. Not sure what it is, but it remained on the pruned stem for minutes. Early morning, the butterfly is in full view, but inactive. Many more butterflies became active a couple of hours later. Update on 9/14. Based on the ranges shown and the illustrations in Kaufman field guide, page 280 and 281, I'm suggesting that this is a Horace's duskywing. the forewing has the tiny white spots arrayed in the pattern shown. It lacks the white edges shown for the funereal duskywing

This observation is a dark butterfly flying around the rain gauge, which has a bright orange top. The animal is resting on a metal support. The lower wings are extended. I have not seen this animal here before. The taxon suggests white striped Longtail, and I will agree.