Bobcat And Turkeys

Our game camera got some nice shots last week.

First, a Bobcat (Lynx Rufus), kindly identified by my friend and fellow Master Naturalist, Tom Hausler, based on the spots on its legs. In 4 months of operation, this is the first time we got a bobcat.

Second, a nice shot of a Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) couple. We frequently capture wild turkey shots, but this is one is special because they both seem to be displaying. I think they’re doing a mating dance!

They nest on the ground, so now I'm going to be on the lookout for turkey nests!

Of Pollywogs And Bagworms

Here's a couple of neat items I noticed while doing some of our nest box walks recently.

First is a photo of tadpoles, or pollywogs,  in our wet weather ponds. They're very small, probably less than 1/4 inch. This photo was taken in late March. When we walked by the ponds last weekend, in mid-April, we saw many small frogs hopping away as we approached.

I wasn't able to get a close look to identify them, but my guess is they are leopard frogs, which we've seen before at the ponds. Mary has also caught some tadpoles and raised them in here classroom into adult leopard frogs.

They have to mature quickly, because the ponds don't hold water for long. I'm fascinated by their life cycle which is so closely tied to rain events and the ponds temporarily having water. They come back every year, so it clearly works for them. We can usually hear the frogs croaking into the night.

I spotted this bagworm cocoon on a shrub along our dirt road. I'm not sure what species it is, but bagworms turn into moths.

I like the way the cocoon is constructed. It uses oak leaves arranged in overlapping layers, similar to roof shingles or perhaps scale armor. It's easy to read too much into this, but it might serve as a way to shed water away from the cocoon or as protection.

Black-crested Titmouse Confirmed

My friends and bird experts, Jaci Kroupa and her son, Jesse Huth, were kind enough to confirm my tentative identification of the Black-crested Titmouse in one of our nest boxes.

Here's the photo again, taken on April 1st. I think she's sitting on the eggs. I don't think they had hatched yet.

Here's a photo from last week, April 8th, showing the four hatchlings. Three were asking me desperately to feed them, but I didn't have anything with me. The look quite young because the don't have feathers and their eyes are not open. My guess is they are a few days old.

When we checked the nest box with the oldest bluebird hatchlings today, they were gone. I'm assuming they fledged. Next week I'll have a sequence of photos showing their development.

Checking the Nest Boxes

Now that there are eggs in most of our nestboxes, I've been checking them weekly to see how they're doing.

Here's a photo of one of our two Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) nests. It looks like two of the eggs have hatched and you can see the small hatchlings. You can also see the unhatched egg. I think they're less than a week old because when I checked it the week before there were three eggs in the nest. Their gestation period is about 12 to 14 days. The hatchlings are almost naked with just a few tufts of hair-like feathers along their back and head.

In this photo, taken one week later, they are noticeably larger and are more covered with down. They are starting to look more like birds and the head and beak of one is clearly visible. It takes them around 3 to 5 weeks to fledge, so they've got a way to go.

One of our nest boxes had what I thought were wren eggs because they were white with brown spots and I'm familiar with them. When I checked the box last week, however, there was a bird sitting on the nest which I think is a Black-crested Titmouse (Baeolophus atricristatus). I'm not an expert so this is not a positive identification, but that species was identified during our bird species survey last fall. I'll have to ask my expert consultants to be sure.

I'm assuming the bird was the mother and she was hunkered down and trying to make herself small and invisible. You can see she's even flattened her crest. I'm sure she was frightened so I took the photo quickly and closed the door. I've seen birds fly out and away from nest boxes when I approached, so I was surprised to find one on the nest. I'm impressed at her bravery and motherly instincts!

Bluebonnet Variations

My nephew, Cuauhtemoc, who lives with his family near Floresville, spotted some rare white, or albino, bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) in his backyard.

Are they still called bluebonnets? Is it a case of a "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"?

As you can see, the albinism only affects the flower - the stem and leaves look pretty normal. The green in plants is due to chlorophyll, a biochemical which plants use to convert sunlight to useful energy. A plant which lacked all color, including green, would not be able to produce energy. There are a few examples of this but they don't last long.

Rare albino bluebonnet. Photo by Cuauhtemoc Arizpe.

Many thanks to Cuauhtemoc for spotting these rarities. It's estimated that white bluebonnets will occur once in a 100,000,000 flowers. It took his keen observation to notice them. I had never seen one and I'm glad he sent me the photo.

Here's a few growing on our property. While we don't have many, the rains this year caused them to come out. I've mentioned before that they seem to grow in the poorest soil and this patch is no exception.

If you look closely, you can see a red spot on some of the flowers. I have heard that this spot, which starts white, turns red when a bee has pollinated the flower. After doing a bit of research, I think that might be a bit of a tale. It seems the spot does indeed start white and turns red, but that happens because the flower ages.

This is an example of a correlation, but not a causation. It is more likely that an older flower has been pollinated versus a newer flower, but that is not the cause of the color change.

In any case, a marvelous example of nature's ways, and a method to guess how old your bluebonnets are!