Don’t you love it when you have your camera ready with the right lens attached, and along comes a beautiful creature willing to ignore you while you shoot? That’s what happened this morning when this Hummingbird moth–a Snowberry Clear Wing, to be exact– caught my eye. Hummingbird moths can hover like their namesake. They haveContinue reading
Author: Tammy Brown
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Snowberry Clear Wing Hummingbird Moth
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Blessed
Late Saturday afternoon, after a busy day of cooking and hosting, I sat in a folding chair by the lake at a birthday party for my son. My children were there, and a dozen of my son’s friends, a group of very dear young adults. We had feasted on fajitas and guacamole. We hadContinue reading
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Birding with Greg Lavaty at Little Piney
Last January when I began identifying the winter strangers at my Little Piney feeders, I discovered the work of Greg Lavaty. On his Texas Birds website I found intimate and detailed views of the Texas birds I was looking for. Many times these photos helped me more than my guidebooks, and they were a treatContinue reading
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Gophers, fire ants, and poison ivy, Part II (But let’s add chiggers and call in reinforcements)
Gopher, fire ant, and poison ivy offensive foiled by rain The true story follow-up to Part I of this post is that my plan got almost completely rained out. After the rain fell all morning, and I allowed a few hours for drying time, all I managed to do was spray some poison ivy withContinue reading
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My Sweet Aunts
My Aunt Thelma died this week. She was a feisty woman, outspoken and strong-willed. I say this with much love because that was not always an easy way to be as a woman in East Texas or in our family. I know because I’m like her in those ways! She was a career woman, aContinue reading
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The Small Wonders–A Closeup View of Nature at Little Piney
Sometimes it’s the little things that delight me the most. A single bluebonnet is just as stunning as bluebonnets en masse in the field. I see tiny treasures all the time at Little Piney, and I’m happy that I can capture some of them with my camera. Some recent small wonders– A red-orange Indian PaintbrushContinue reading
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Alligator and Bobcat at Little Piney…Or Are They?
Bobcats for Sure Now that we have been at Little Piney for 2 1/2 years, we know we share the land with bobcats. We have had daylight encounters with the spotted cats as they cross our property into the woods. Our game camera captured a bobcat tossing its prey into the air and leaping upContinue reading
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Gophers, fire ants, and poison ivy, Part 1
Back in January, I imagined a peaceful coexistence with the gophers. After all, they were here at Little Piney first, they were cute in a goofy, near-sighted way, and Carl (the previous owner) told me you really couldn’t win, anyway. Now it’s April, and the little tunnelers have run amok. Hills of dirt cover grassContinue reading
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The Nest Box Report–Baby chickadees!
When we acquired Little Piney, we took on a wildlife management plan already in action. As part of the wildlife plan, we became custodians of 7 Bluebird nest boxes. After we located all 7 little bird houses on poles, we made sure the boxes were cleaned out and ready for residents. That involves removing oldContinue reading
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Best online lists for Bastrop birds, wildlife, native plants
Lots to learn As a newcomer to Bastrop and the Lost Pines, I’ve spent many hours online accumulating information about the wildlife and plant life of the area. Here are the best online lists for Bastrop birds, wildlife, and native plants for information specific to Bastrop: Best bird list: Birds of Bastrop and Buescher StateContinue reading