The close of October 2014

Scenes from the last week of October.

The Sea Purslane is blooming along the wetlands trails.  The tiny flowers are extra cute if you bend down to get a closer look.

Sesuvium portulacastrum

Also, the Gulf Fritillaries continue adding their impressive colors to the scenery.

The Gulf fritillary likes lantana.

Gulf fritillary

I love snapping pics of these orange ones.

The natural beauties pause so you can get a nice shot. And the patterns on both sides of their wings are completely different so it makes the butterflies really pop in the landscape.

Clouded Skippers like our St. Augustine

The three white dots are identifiers.

If you see a little brown butterfly flying low to the ground in your yard, it is most likely a Clouded Skipper.

The one-inch butterfly is the most abundant blackish-brown skipper in the Houston area, according to the Tvetens' Butterflies of Houston & Southeast Texas.

The little skipper likes to lay its eggs on St. Augustine grass, which makes is a year-round resident in our area.  It is most active February through November.

When a trail is littered with cash

Cash on the trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 When I spotted the $5 and $1 bills on the trail, it seemed like a test.

You are not supposed to pick up anything at a nature center and put it in your pocket. Yet it is a good practice to pick up litter.

I glanced around. Nobody was around. And, thankfully, no body either.

However some pelicans were watching me. Was this a pelican prank, I wondered.

Was a string attached to the cash so the money could be yanked out of my reach if I tried to pick up the money?

I took a chance the pelicans were not punking me and picked up the money. The bills were dirty and extra crisp from drying in the sun, but they were real.

I glanced at the pelicans, but they didn't react when I stuffed in cash in my pocket to be recycled properly.

Pelican police watch me.

A Sunday drive through Palo Duro Canyon

It was about 65F degrees on this October morning — a perfect day to visit Palo Duro Canyon State Park. 

Along the road we saw campers, cyclists and cars parked at trailheads. However it didn't seem very crowded for a Sunday morning.

There are six water crossings that can limit access to some areas of the park.

Rocks along the roadside beckon you to get out of the car and climb.

Some have the urge to climb higher than others.

Next time I will bring my camera and wear proper shoes. I shot this pics with my iPhone.

I spotted a big rock near the Chinaberry stop that looked like a good hike.

Or maybe I'll try the 5.75-mile roundtrip hike to the Lighthouse, the rock formation on the canyon's brochures. It's a popular trail that bikers and horses also use.

Hummingbirds at rest

Sometimes it is easier to get a photo of a hummingbird while it is sitting around.

This one was trying to sneak around another hummingbird sitting atop the feeder.

On guard.

Not humming. Just watching.

Shaking off some raindrops.

Eyeballing a Red Saddlebags dragonfly

The Red Saddlebags Dragonfly has a standout color.  But I still see more Blue Dashers around my yard.

This one circled and circled before finally landing long enough for me to snap a pic.

Grass spider works its funnel web

That's a very impressive funnel you made, little spider.

 In the morning dew it was easy to spot a couple of funnel webs in the grass.

I snapped this pic with my iPhone, but if you look closely, you can see the grass spider patrolling near the funnel.

Little big-eyed skippers flash a bit of orange

Little orange skippers are tough for me to identify.

My guess: At least one of these is a Fiery Skipper. And could there be a Least Skipper in the mix?