Favoritos de bosqueaaron

This is apparently a very isolated population of saxifrage. This is the only species in the genus found in Texas, and away from East Texas, there is just this isolated Burnet County population.
http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Micranthes%20texana.png

These snails were present in large numbers behind the Dune Line. The have been previously identified as Otala lactea, and are said to have been present at this location for almost a Century. I have an issue with this identification, as there are some notable differences between this snail, and typical Otala lactea, First, these snails only seem to grow to about a maximum size of 35mm. Second, the shells are almost alabaster colored, with little variability. The animal is much darker than Otala lactea, and the shell is thinner despite ample sources of calcium. It is my opinion that this is a distinct sub-species of O. lactea, or another member of Otala. I would suspect that only DNA analysis would be able to answer this.

Williamson County, Texas; northwest part of county
8/15/2019
Liatris glandulosa

Small population of 70 or 80 plants in right of way on both sides of a sloped county road in northwest Williamson County. The right of way was rocky, gravelly, and sloped and therefore fortunately unmowable. No plants were seen on the other side of either fence line.

Leaving obscured as this plant is still rare and as far as I know this is the only known population in Williamson County.

First two pics show two species for comparative purposes.

Specimen on right: Note V-shaped base of flower, less dense branching, longer/narrower petals compared to Amphiachris (left; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/34926032).

These specimens were growing adjacent to one another in the same soil type (a silty, firm sandy loam).

©williamwisephoto.com
Over the course of an hour watched well over 100 blackbirds cross over and stage in some nearby pines before leaving to their evening roost.

​Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. July 16, 2018

• 84 °F, Scattered clouds and thunderstorms.
• Sunrise 6:34 am; sunset 8:44 pm
• Daylight Hours: 14 hours, 10 minutes (-1m 4s)
• Moon: 20.1%, Waxing Crescent
• eBird list: ​https://ebird.org/checklist/S47308764

UV bug vision + regular

According to studies, bees are extremely attracted to bluebonnet's florets with white "banner" because bees can collect a large quantity of high-quality pollen.
As the florets get older, the white banner change to purplish color and the bees are much less attracted to them. As you can see on the first picture, taken by a full spectrum camera with UV bandpass “bug filter”, the floret with purplish banner is not UV reflective, is almost "invisible" in bee's eyes.

"In a paper published in The Southwestern Naturalist [1], Schaal and Leverich found that bees can collect up to 150 times more pollen from a white spotted floret than a purple-spotted one. Other research has revealed that nearly all pollinator visits (about 96%) were to the florets with white spots."~"Can A Texas Bluebonnet change its spots? - Honey Bee Suite"
You can find out more on this subject on a new article “Old Brides’ Tales” published last month @ Wildflower.org, written by Daniel Murphy

A scrappy expanse of silky refuges and capture webs littered with body parts of previous victims. When preferred prey is entangled, the female spiders emerge from their 'nests' and overpower it by grabbing its extremities. In this case, a wasp https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319446.
Presumably they inject venom because after a minute or so the prey stops struggling. Then they snip it out of the web and carry it into one of several 'nests' or refuges.
Unwanted prey, often beetles (see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319435 ) are also killed but sometimes left in the web, uneaten. Ants, in this case, Maranoplus ( https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319390 )scavenge around the periphery of the webs, feasting on unwanted beetles or other left-overs.

I live in a subdivision of Woodway TX. Every once in a while a prairie flower with find it's way to the light. Even in established lawns. This found it's way through my lawn to bloom for one day. Such a gift.