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I know, it doesn't look very impressive but it was a spider lifer for me. In my daughter's driveway. A new kind of wolf spider that does not have a common name. I always find at least one new species every time I visit here.
Wolf Spider (Trochosa sepulchralis)
Crowley, Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Go to new places, see new stuff. My 1st trip to Mustang Park. This dragon looks a bit strange but has amazing eyes. Someone had fun naming this dragonfly.
Male Flag-tailed Spinyleg Dragonfly (Dromogomphus spoliatus)
Mustang Park at Benbrook Lake, Fort Worth Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Another new grasshopper species that I found at my daughter's home. The hind legs are really pretty with all that red and blue. Grasshopper lifer.
Glaucus-legged Spur-throat Grasshopper (Melanoplus glaucipes)
Crowley, Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
I have learned that when I am visiting my daughter in Crowley, take a photo of any critter I see no matter how plain or ordinary it looks. Quite often it turns out to be a new species for me.
Scudder's Short-winged Grasshopper (Melanoplus scudderi)
Crowley, Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Found out I found another lifer in Crowley last week. I'd never seen a reddish spider wasp before. It was running around on the side of her house & the ground at the foundation flicking its wings like spider wasps do. Spider wasps are fast & challenging to photograph.
Rusty Spider Wasp (Tachypompilus ferrugineus)
Crowley, Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Crowley and Garland are both cities within DFW metroplex. Yet they are far enough apart to have different biodiversity. Every time I have visited my daughter in Crowley, I have found one or more new species. This past weekend was no exception. This moth is new for me. I was looking on the ground for baby toads when my grandson spotted the moth fly up and land on the brick. He is a great critter spotter for me.
Thin-lined Owlet (Isogona tenuis)
Crowley, Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
I love finding tiny magical scenes like this when out in nature.
Ink Caps (Coprinopsis strossmayeri)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Fungi lifer. Plus this is the kind of nature scene where you can't help looking for a pixie to be peeping out somewhere. Or a tiny toad sitting on top of the magical mushroom. No common name for this one.
Ink Caps (Coprinopsis strossmayeri)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Found another bug lifer on a ragweed leaf. This one has some cool markings on her back. These are good flies, their larvae eat aphids and mites.
Female Eastern Calligrapher ( Toxomerus geminatus)
Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Bug lifer for me & my first photo of a firefly. I've seen the blinking lights at night & have a vague memory catching them as a child. We have several different species of them in DFW. I had no idea they could be so colorful. Surprised it took me so long to photograph one.
Common Eastern Firefly (Photinus pyralis)
Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Again on a giant ragweed leaf. Ragweed is one of its host plants. They have no common name. Treehoppers are such cool bugs with so many colors and shapes.
Treehopper (Acutalis tartarea)
Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
This was a cool looking spider climbing over the ground vegetation. It looked like it was carved from polished wood then animated. The legs looked like wooden toothpicks & had a pretty woodgrain pattern on the topside. The fact that it turned out to be new for me was a bonus. This species has no common name.
Nursery Web Spider ( pisaurina dubia)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
These were on a tree branch and caught my eye. They looked pretty in the sunlight. I can see where they get their name.
Ruffle Lichens (Parmotrema sp)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Beauty among the rot. Rotting wood is always worth checking out for critters or fungi. These were lifers for me even if only identified to the genus level so far.
Ink caps (Coprinellus sp.)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Millipede lifer. My 3rd millipede species. It never let me get a whole shot but it was enough to id. I'm not sure if it was eating the ragweed leaf or just using a convenient passageway.
Blunt-tailed Snake Millipede (Cylindroiulus punctatus)
Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
What a cool looking little tree hopper. An insect lifer for me. I could find almost no information on it but it does look like a leaf mimic to me. Tree hoppers are so bizarre looking, like tiny aliens.
Red-legged Buffalo-Hopper (Tortistilus abnorma)
One Eleven Ranch Park, Garland Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Took me a long time to get a shot of this teeny tiny bee. It is sitting on top of a blue salvia bloom in my next-door neighbor's flower bed. Bee lifer for me. A small carpenter bee. The white on the face is in the shape of an upside-down T.
Male Spurred Ceratina (Ceratina calcarata)
Garland, Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
This tiny cutie was nestled down in my lantana. I only got one shot before it disappeared but it was good enough for the leafhopper experts to make the id. Brand new for me.
Leafhopper (Polana quadrinotata)
Garland, Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
This is a bug lifer for me. I suspect I've seen them as tiny black specks running around on flowers but they are darn hard to photograph and disappear under leaves and behind stems. Finally got one. Turns out not just a black bug. Has a pretty white line around it and is iridescent. Pretty metallic blue if the light hits it just right. Researched & was glad to find out they will not harm your plants.
White-margined Burrower Bug (Sehirus cinctus)
Garland, Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
Migrating warblers are very challenging for photographers. There were many tiny birds flitting around at the tops of the pecan trees feeding. Hard to see & hard to get a photo. I deleted so many blurry shots and shots with heads obscured by leaves. But I did get this beauty who turned out to be a lifer for me. I still want the shot that shows the black cap on top of the head but for now, very happy with this.
Wilson's Warbler (Cardellina pusilla)
Prairie Creek Park, Richardson Texas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com