Category Archive: insects

September Showers Bring Butterflies

This past weekend, we got to go out to the Texas Hill Country.  Our place there is about 300 miles west of where we live in East Texas.  It normally gets about 25… Continue reading

Host and Guests — Yellow Thistle

In late March and early April these Yellow Thistles were blooming in the pasture.  The plants stand about a foot and a half tall (a half meter), and I would say the blooms… Continue reading

New Birds and Bugs

In my quest to document all the wild species that appear here on our farm, I am always excited to identify a new species.  So far this year, I have gotten two new… Continue reading

A Lovely Spring Afternoon

We have been having phenomenal weather, cool, breezy, and clear.  The trees are leafing out, our winter birds have moved on, for the most part, and the insects are zooming around purposefully. I… Continue reading

Praying Mantis

Quite often while we are out doing yard work, my husband will stop what he is doing and bring me a bug.  I almost always have my camera with me and I stop… Continue reading

Robber Flies

There is something about mimic insects that I just love, the way they think they are fooling everyone. If you watch a real bee, it is always working, zipping from blossom to blossom,… Continue reading

Host and Guests – Texas Dandelion

While gathering flowers for dye, I found a lot of different insects using the Texas Dandelion as a host plant.  You can click on the images to see them larger. If you would… Continue reading

Basking with the Butterflies

Only recently have I noticed that different species of butterflies have different travel patterns and favorite locations. Goatweed Butterflies fly like birds – quick, direct, like they have somewhere to get in a… Continue reading

What Butterfly Has Its Name Printed on Its Wing?

Spring is here and the woods are full of butterflies. The butterfly that has its name printed right on its wing is a Question Mark.  (A Comma is also a correct answer, and… Continue reading

The Thousand-Footed First-Footer

You may have heard of the Scottish tradition of First Footing — that to start the New Year off right, the first person to cross your threshold should be a dark-headed male, carrying… Continue reading