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
Category: Bastrop Lost Pines Nature
Wildlife, insects, native plants and living respectfully in the native environment at Little Piney, home and wildlife habitat in the Lost Pines of Bastrop, Texas.
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Birding with Greg Lavaty at Little Piney
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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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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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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
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Bluebirds and chickadees: Full house at Little Piney
Big excitement at Little Piney this week! No Vacancy in the nest boxes! It’s a full house at Little Piney for the bluebirds and chickadees. When I made my rounds this week, I discovered 7 nests–3 with bluebird eggs, 3 with chickadee eggs, one box with a completed nest just waiting for eggs, andContinue reading
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Butterflies, Seeds, and Tree Planting at Little Piney
There’s a new kind of winged creature fluttering about the fields at Little Piney. With the wildflowers starting to bloom, the butterflies have arrived. These three were still long enough to photograph. Seeing all the activity, I was inspired to order wildflower seeds for the pastures to encourage more butterfly andContinue reading
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What kind of scat is that? Bastrop birds and wildlife
A lot of seeds and some fur in this fresh scat close to the lake. My foot is there for size comparison. Can anyone identify the source? Big raccoon? How about this track? It looks like a mountain lion to me. Cat shaped and over 3″. Folks report that there are a few mountain lions aroundContinue reading
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Winter Birds in Bastrop TX
Winter birds are plentiful in Bastrop County. I photographed these winter friends in January and February this year, my first two months at Little Piney (our home in Bastrop). Of course there are more birds I haven’t captured on film–Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Belted Kingfisher, a Pileated Woodpecker, all kinds of Sparrows, Cardinals flashing red throughoutContinue reading
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Breakfast at the lake
I was up early this morning to wrap pipes and turn on the heater in the well house in prep for a late hard freeze After that I wandered down to the little lake to see who was fishing for breakfast. As always, ducks flew as I approached– even though I was slow and quiet–Continue reading