April Wildlife 2016

Spring is in the air, and with it comes new creatures to the garden.  Here are a few of my favorites in the garden this month:

Wrens

A couple months ago, mommy and daddy wren built a beautiful home together in the protected environment of my courtyard and inside the comfort and protection of a decorative lantern.

A couple of weeks later, I heard the chirps of a few little baby wrens.  A couple of weeks after that, I found the little family and fledglings hopping around the courtyard, working on getting their wings.

Come on out, little guy.  I won't hurt you.

There you are!  Nice hair-do, by the way.

 Mom (or Dad?) wasn't too sure about me.  Both parents were keeping a close eye on their little ones as they explored the garden.

After I was sure the mommy and daddy wren had completely abandoned the nest after a few days, I went to investigate.

Wow - that is quite the nest!  I can only imagine the hundreds of trips back and forth that it took to create this comfy little home.  I just read that the male house wren builds SEVERAL nests, and the female picks which one she likes the best.  I guess he outdid himself on this one!

 Unfortunately, it looks like two little ones didn't make it.  I guess that is why they generally lay 6-7 eggs in a brood.  Circle of life, I s'pose.

Hummingbirds

The Hummingbirds returned this year on March 15.  That's about three weeks earlier than last year (April 4).  Maybe their earlier arrival was due to the mild Texas winter, or maybe they just remembered where they found the delicious nectar last year!

I mainly have black-chinned hummingbirds.  As you can tell with this guy's yellowed beak, the pollen is heavy right now.  Thankfully, pollen doesn't bother me, so I'm able to be outside in the garden and enjoy these little pollinators.

Coming in hot!  I love the iridescent purple on the male's chins!

So far, I've noticed about four hummingbirds; about three males and one female.  I rarely have more than one hummer at the feeder at a time because they are extremely territorial and always chase each other away.

I can always hear hummingbirds before I see them.  They really do make a humming sound with their wings.  They also have a distinguishable chirping sound.  When we leave our patio door open on cooler spring evenings, I always know when the hummers are at the feeder, even when I'm inside, with their commotion of chirping and humming.

They are such magnificent little creatures!  One of my favorite animals in garden, certainly.

I have to give photo credit to the hubby - he is always able to get better shots of these fast little guys.  Thanks hun!


Lizards

The green anoles are common to see out in the garden.  I usually spy them sunbathing every time I walk around the garden.  They have really been enjoying basking on the artichokes lately.  I think they don't mind the fact that it is pretty much an open buffet of various bugs and beetles.

I also spy the Texas Spiny Lizard from time to time.  Here, I captured the rare occurrence of getting both the anole and the spiny lizard in the same frame.

That's all for this month's wildlife.  Thanks to Tina over at My Gardener Says for hosting this enjoyable meme.

May Wildlife

Life was pretty hectic in May between work and visits from family, which is why my post for Tina's Wildlife Wednesday is a few days late.  With the busy month, I also felt like I didn't get much quality time in the garden, and even less time to photograph my May garden visitors.  But looking back on my photographs tells a much different story.  Even with limited time in garden, I got pictures of so many different types of wildlife.  It makes me wonder how many more critters visited my garden this month that I didn't get a chance to notice.  Here are the ones that I did spot:

Bees, Butterflies, & Other Insects

One of my favorite visitors this month were the Black Swallowtail butterflies.  I need to give photo credit to my hubby for the cool pics of the swallowtails.

This female is laying her eggs on some of the flowering dill in my container herb garden on my back patio.  My fennel, dill, and parsley are constant hosts for the swallowtail caterpillars, which can be found in various instar stages at any time on my plants.

And while clipping some lemon balm for a floral arrangement, I found this empty swallowtail chrysalis.  Maybe it even belonged to the momma swallowtail who is now laying her eggs on my plants for the next generation of swallowtails.

 Next in the insects are the the skippers that visited my garden last month.

Perfect camouflage to blend in with the sunflowers.  I have to say, these are my favorite pictures of wildlife this month, and while my husband is pretty good at catching some cool pictures, I get to take credit for these.

Another skipper sun bathing on a zinnia leaf.

The bees were also loving the sunflowers this month.

And when they weren't feasting on the sunflowers, they could be found on the shasta daisies.

Or even on the Graham Thomas roses (yellow must be their favorite color).

This katydid nymph was hanging out on a gladiola of one of my garden bouquets last month.

Reptiles

There have been plenty of green anoles scurrying around the yard lately.  I found this one sun bathing on the oleander leaves.

The Texas Spiney Lizards have been more numerous than ever.  I see several of them every day out in the courtyard or scampering across the garden.  Today my dogs were going crazy over one that kept playing hide-and-seek with them.

There have been so many spiney lizards, that I was even able to get two in one shot when they were playing around in the courtyard - one is on the rocker cushion, and one is on the bottom rung of the table.  Do you see them?

Mammals

We always have white-tailed deer around the neighborhood, but I usually see them only at dawn and dusk, and they scurry away too fast, so I usually can't catch them on camera.

However, after some strong storms in the area last month which knocked down a lot of branches in the neighborhood, the deer came out of hiding in the morning and feasted on the fallen branches and stuck around long enough for some photos.

They didn't like too many pictures being taken, so were quickly off to find their next fallen branch for breakfast.

Birds

I've spotted plenty of mockingbirds this month, including this guy, who looks to be an adolescent.

The black-chinned hummingbirds (female and male below) continue to feast at the feeder at dawn and dusk daily.  When I'm outside, I generally hear them before I see them - the buzzing they make with their incredibly fast wings is an unmistakable sound.

And while I can spot blue-jays year-round in my garden, I find them to be one of the trickiest backyard birds to capture on camera.  They don't stay at any one place very long, but can be viewed flying from limb to limb or fence post to fence post throughout the day.

Amphibians

Last but not least is a toad that I found on the back porch one evening in May after some heavy rains. My dogs LOVE chasing toads and frogs, and while I tried to deter my dogs from "playing" with this little guy, I eventually had to let them outside and they eventually caught the little fella.  Such is life I s'pose.

Thanks for visiting my blog and reading about the May wildlife in my garden!

Wildlife Wednesday - May 2015

The wildlife that frequented the garden over the past month was pretty spectacular.  The birds and butterflies have definitely been the most impressive.

Butterflies

My neighbors that share a fenceline with me have a hedge full of flowers right now that are attracting an abundance of butterflies that I get to appreciate daily.  While these plants aren't directly in my garden, I'm going to count it anyways, because, while I don't find these butterflies collecting nectar from my garden right now, I do find them basking in the sun in between their sugary meals.

The most popular of the butterflies on this hedge are the red admirals (black, orange and white).  I've seen as many as 100 or so butterflies on this hedge at one time!  The shrubs just pulse with the multitude of wildlife that is enjoying their nectar.  Besides the red admirals, I've spotted some common buckeyes...

...and painted ladies...

...and grey hairstreaks.

Birds

The main attraction in the garden right now is by far my hummingbirds.  I've already dedicated an entire post to them, but I thought they needed to be highlighted here again.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of my hummers...

I've had quite a few black-chinned hummingbirds as well as Anna hummingbirds.

They love frequenting the feeders in the morning and evenings.

I've seen other gardeners with many hummers feasting at a feeder at one time, but my birds tend to be extremely territorial and like to scare each other off so that they get the feeder all to themselves (the male black-chins are the worst culprits).

I've also spotted either a male ruby-throated hummingbird or Anna's hummingbird, but he doesn't appear to be a bit fan of the paparazzi.

Springtime has brought about a bunch of baby birds, and now that we are getting later into spring, the fledglings have been pushed from their nests and have started working on their adult life skills.  

This fledgling mockingbird has already learned to seek shelter in the oleanders out front to keep away from predators and paparazzi, but I still got a picture of him as he fled the safety of the oleander in search of his momma.

I also saw the last of the American robins before they took off for some cooler summer weather up north.

Bees

The hummingbirds aren't the only ones that have been enjoying the hummingbird feeders.  I'm not quite sure who I've been feeding more... the hummers or the bees.  At this rate, I should start keeping bees.  I'm already feeding them, I might as well reap the rewards in liquid gold (aka honey).  Yeah... if only I had time for that.

When the bees aren't bee-ing lazy by feasting at the feeder, they can be readily found on the poppies.  I'm certainly happy about that... it means I have a good chance of having some nice poppy seed pods for replanting later in the year.

Bugs and Other Critters

I found these little green guys on the poppies and gaillardia.  Not sure what they are though.

I also found the largest snail that I've ever had in the garden.  Anyone know what kind it is?  Friend or foe?

Then there are the ladybugs on the fennel...

And more lady bugs without spots.  From what I can tell, both of these varieties are Asian ladybugs.

I've had a number of Black-Eastern Swallowtail caterpillars.  They seem to be a constant fixture in my garden, as long as I have fennel, parsley, and/or dill growing (which I always do).

Then there are other caterpillars I'm not as familiar with.  I found several that were munching down my sunflowers like nobody's business.  If you have any idea what they may be, please let me know!

And to close out this month's Wildlife Wednesday, one of my resident Texas spiny lizards, basking in the afternoon sun.

Thanks to Tina over at My Gardener Says for hosting this fun meme on the first Wednesday of every month!