No, he did not give me leprosy.

That Awkward Stage

Well then. If you thought the scorpion and her babies were weird, you might soil yourself over this guy. I mean, you can't deny this thing looks insane. It's out of control, really. I may have had nightmares about this caterpillar. I couldn't eat garbanzo beans for a few weeks because uh, it's head looks like one and that totally freaks me out.

But, I feel a little bad talking about how much of a freakshow this dude is. He can't help it and seriously, he's pretty rad. If I were a caterpillar, which I'm not, by the way, I'd very much like to look like him. Who is he anyway? Good question. I know he's in the Saturniidae family but other than that I'm slightly confused. Polyphemus? Cecropia? All I know is that in the near future he's gonna look something like the moth below (the white balance is a little funky in those shots), which is quite impressive. A looker, for sure. Macro Monday

Nashville. Tennessee.

A Nashville Warbler. A Tennessee Warbler. Hanging out together, how you like that? Here's a picture of them in the same frame. That's really all I've got today, thank you. World Bird Wednesday

Scorpions are weird.

Don't deny it. They are. They're totally weird. Especially when they carry their goofy little offspring on their back. That's....well, it's a little freaky, a little gross, and a little awesome, and a little bit cute. All at the same time.

This one (well, two different ones) is a Striped Bark Scorpion, pretty common in Texas. Apparently, these guys have some insane mating shebang, lasting up to 36 hours. (what the hell?) and the babies are born 5-12 months later. They're born in litte sacs and after they release themselves, they crawl onto mum's back and go along for the ride. They jump ship a couple weeks later. This is the only one I've ever seen with the babelets on her back.

I didn't really see many of these guys this season. Not sure if it had to do with the extra dry year or what, but usually I'd run into them most days. Whatever, I like 'em and there's no need to be freaked out by them. Though when some of us were camping one night, I was sitting on a rock and they started crawling out underneath us which may have alarmed me briefly... (most of these are point and shoot shots, so not totally sharp) Nature Notes

Coffee Friends

Sitting here drinking (shade grown) coffee and thinking about my coffee buddies, like the Rufous-crowned Sparrows - most notably...Curtis! Curtis is the most badass fledgie you'll ever meet. He attacks cardinals, grosbeaks and hoards of buntings at once. If a cowbird gets in his way, he'll smack talk it until it gets the hell out of his way. He's not afraid to hip-check a lark sparrow. He's freaking feisty, yo. He's Curtis. (that's Curtis in the 2nd and 4th photos)

Curtis hit the window one day and got a little shaken up but he, well, shook it off and after a couple days was back to his old self. Curtis is awesome. Anyway. Yeah, I kinda miss my 2 hour coffee drinking sessions with my (bird) friends. Oh, and if you're in the dark about shade grown coffee, check out this link to get in the know. Long story short, if you like birds and coffee, you need to be drinking the bird-friendly stuffs. My World World Bird Wednesday

Just a drop, please.

Weekend Reflections Weekend in Black and White

Little Fluffy Clouds

Well yes then. There you have it. Little fluffy clouds. Here they are. There were basically no clouds, no badass skies, from March until the end of June in the Hill Country and then ba-boom! (baboon?), the sky got all cool and stuff. But still, no rain. Skywatch

Kiowa Dancers

Dragonflies don't sit still for very long, even if they're doin' it. I don't have much to say. My schedule has changed too much and my motivation has been sucked dry. I'm not used to sitting in front of the computer and being all lazy and sedentary for the better part of the day. I have no idea how people have office jobs. I would end up very self destructive. And I'm not used to sleeping more than 5 hours either. Sleep is for the weak, I have now become weak. That is all for now. Macro Monday

Yellow-throated Warbler

This guy was kinda being too cute for his own good. He was having some serious bath time, and really, who doesn't like bird baths? Fools, that's who. Check him out! World Bird Wednesday My World

If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band.

(Vino at Priour on the Frio!)

Well then, I'm back in civilization, which is always a pretty big adjustment for me. I don't handle transferring back to the whole real world thing in an extremely healthy manner. The field season was a pretty great one and leaving the ranch (as usual) was a big fat bummer. So, here's a few photos of one of my favorite places. Sure, maybe it's weird that I dig this part of Texas so much but I'm rather attached to it and whoa, cheesy, but it's one of the places I feel the most sense of place. So there, take that and run, yeah.

(Bee Creek backyard, preferred running route)