Bodacious Jumping Spider

A white smiling face on velvety black is what I spotted. Then I was stunned by flashes of green from the spider's real face.  Those were not his eight, laser-sharp eyes glinting at me, but his shiny, emerald chelicerae - his jaws!  The metallic-green chelicerae are his weapons. The jaws are tipped with sharp fangs and poison ducts which he uses to immobilize his prey.  Jumping spiders are not dangerous to people, but like anyone, they may bite if handled.  Jumping spiders, (family Salticidae, from Latin, saltus = to jump), do not rest on webs waiting for food to be delivered.  They hunt.  They have amazing, binocular vision - the best eyesight of all spiders - and formidable agility.  For a jumping spider, a web is essential safety equipment.  Before making a dramatic pounce on his prey, he would secure a web line so that he could climb back.  This striking fellow, who was stalking amidst my salvias, is Phidipus audax.  He would court a female by waving his atractive front legs at her and wiggling his abdomen.  Audax is a Latin word meaning bold or audacious.  One of my arachnid books labels him the "Daring Jumping Spider," another dubs him the "Bold Jumping Spider."  I may call him the "Bodacious Jumping Spider."

Green Treefrog

Look at the charming face on this handsome green treefrog, Hyla cinerea.  Wouldn't you love to have golden eyes?  This dapper fellow was resting inside my hose reel box. I had to wait for him to move off of the hose and get settled in another corner before I could water the thirsty plants.

Loggerhead Shrike

I look so cute and fluffy, yes?  But don't be fooled.  I'm the Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus.  See my sharp, hooked beak?  All the better for tearing and dismembering my prey.  I am tough like a little raptor!  Some folks call me the Butcher Bird just because I like to store my food on a thorn or barbed wire.  If you find an impaled grasshopper, lizard or mouse, leave it alone - you may be looking at my leftovers.

Io Moth Rescue

My little mixed-breed dog was pretending to be a terrier.  He plowed through the Cosmos and Coreopsis looking for a rat. Alas, in the process, he trampled a beautiful Io Moth.  The moth tried to scare away my dog by displaying his eyespots - his only defense.  The behavior was actually helpful because the display allowed me to spot the moth and remove him from danger!   Automeris io is in the family of Giant Silk Moths, Saturniidae.  They make silk cocoons in the leaf litter, so this unfortunate male (males are yellow, females are ruddier) may have recently emerged.  The caterpillars use many kinds of trees for food - probably oak in my yard.  The adults exist only to reproduce and do not eat.  This fellow did have some wing damage, but he was able to fly from my hand and take cover in a shrub.  With his wings folded, he looked like a yellowed leaf and was well-hidden.  I love moths.

Chirping Frogs

Along with other Master Naturalists, I attended the "Amphibian Watch" class offered by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.  The state biologists played the vocalization of an introduced, tropical frog, whose presence was suspected, but had not been confirmed, for our Galveston County.  Everyone in the class had heard the sound before.  It is a pleasant, musical, chirping and trilling. 

    When I indicated that I had photographs of the critter that made that sound, the teachers were interested.   So I forwarded some of the pictures to them for confirmation.  Sure enough.  My pics confirmed what our ears already knew. Chirping frogs live in Galveston County.

    Tiny "Rio Grande Chirping Frogs," Syrrhophus cystignathoides  are unusual because their entire metamorphosis occurs inside the egg!  When the egg hatches, a tiny frog - not a tadpole - comes out.  Thus, they do not need a pond, just moist earth or a potted plant.  The frog is native to Mexico and the extreme southern tip of Texas.  They are traveling with the tropical plant trade.   So far, these musical little  fellows do not seem invasive or harmful to their new environments, but they are establishing new populations so TPWD is monitoring.  Maybe they will harmlessly fill a niche, as Cattle Egrets have done.

Worm-eating Warbler

My husband heard a loud "thump" on our front door.  He opened the door to see who had knocked.  Unfortunately, this lovely little Worm-eating Warbler, Helmintheros vermivorus, was on the stoop.  These birds do not dwell in Galveston County, they migrate through.  I had never seen a bird like this before and had to reach for my guide book to identify him.   I figure he had finished his winter stint in Mexico or Central America and was enroute to a northern state.  Perhaps he had paused to scratch in our yard for beetles and spiders.  Maybe the reflections on our door were confusing and he thought he was flying into the sky.  Poor guy.  I can report that after resting for about 15 minutes, he did fly away.  We wish him well. 

Little Yellow Frogs

Butter-yellow flowers are blooming in my backyard, sprinkled through the grass. The variety appearing in the subdivision is so short that it escapes the blades of the lawn mower. A friend denounced the sunny blooms as “broad-leafed weeds”.  I pointed out that they are native wildflowers called Buttercups or Ranunculus spp.. Their name is Latin for “little frog”. Perhaps they were dubbed Ranunculus because they tend to grow in wet areas and in ditches.     The Buttercups I see on the prairie are much taller, up two feet. My wildflower book says there are about five species of Ranunculus . They are especially beautiful because in the sun, the yellow petals shine like glazed porcelain. Some people think they look wet. Touch one gently; you will find it smooth and dry.

Cedar Waxwings

Flocks of these beautiful birds migrate through our county in the winter.  They like to eat berries and insects.  My photos don't show the eponymous bright red feathers on their wings - like drops of sealing wax.

Two years ago, I drove past a new industrial park.  It was a damp morning, cold by south Texas standards.  In one of the short, bare-limbed landscaping trees there huddled about eighty cedar waxwings.  They were puffed, with their beaks to the wind, clustered only a few feet about the ground in that small tree.  I am sure they were confused because when they visited this same location the previous year, there existed a nice patch of prairie and a scattering of mature trees.  Maybe there had been a mulberry tree or native holly.  Migrating birds have incredible site loyalty.  They will return to the exact location year after year to hunt, feed or nest.  It can be disastrous for them to return to find no habitat and non-native plants. 

This week, I went to a shopping center and parked next to a holly tree covered with red berries.  Nice.  As I got out of the car I heard the impossibly high-pitched, yet very soft "tsee-tsee-tsee" of the cedar waxwings.  Luckily, my little camera was with me.  The birds would not let me get very close before they flew to another tree.  I know the other shoppers wondered what the heck I was doing - walking slowly, slowly snapping pictures while I crossed the parking lot.  Credits to the planners of this center that they DID plant vegetation that was useful to the wildlife.

Spider Lily

The highway runs through a patch of wetlands. The spider lilies, Hymenocallis liriosme, are exploding there now. Yesterday the Master Naturalists transplanted scores of greenhouse-raised spider lilies into the Nature Conservancy Wetlands. The plants which we released back into the wild had been grown from seeds of these native lilies along the roadside. Soon we will have to gather more seeds for next year.

April 23, 2011  I added the photo taken with my mobile phone which shows the seeds of this native lily.  Growing lily plants from the seeds will take more than a year of care.  Next year, after a the plant has developed a bulb, it can be transplanted.  The seeds look just like green eggs and as we were collecting them prior to Easter, we Master Naturalists surely felt that we were on an Easter Egg Hunt.

These look like green bird eggs, but these are the Spider Lily Seeds.