Vast swathes of Buffalo Bayou Park are a banquet for butterflies. Wildflowers spread across sunny hillsides. Yet, when I visit the shady Greentree Nature Trail, I always see bunches of butterflies. This is odd because I cannot think of a good reason for them to be there. Butterflies do not waste time. Their job is… Read more »
Almost every time I walk under the bat bridge I see a Black-crowned Night Heron (BCNH) or two and they are almost always standing still. I imagined that they were waiting for a baby bat or egg, or who knows what, to fall at their feet and provide a meal. These were apparently lazy birds… Read more »
This little butterfly is a Hairstreak, probably a Red-Banded Hairstreak. There is a Dusky-Blue Hairstreak that looks a lot like its cousin and it is possible that they are really one species. They both employ the same little trick, which isn’t really apparent in a still photo, so I have posted a video below. Imagine… Read more »
You might never have noticed the sign pointing to the Green Tree Nature Trail on the north side of the bayou just east of the bat bridge. Or, if you did, you might have thought twice because the trail is dark and isolated. But, if you summon your courage (it is, by the way, absolutely… Read more »
According to a 1998 Gallup survey, more Americans were afraid of snakes than of anything else. In 2001, again, snakes led the way. In 2014, surprise, it was SNAKES! You can safely say that at almost any point in human history (I mean, it was a serpent in the Garden of Eden) humanity’s chief fear has… Read more »
Usually, when I’m on my Buffalo Bayou Park rambles, I will encounter something interesting, take bunches of photos and then use my nature library, knowledgeable fellow Master Naturalists and the Internet to figure out what the heck I saw and then write it up in an authoritative tone as though I had come armed with… Read more »
If you are in Buffalo Bayou Park looking for butterflies, find a stand of Bidens alba and stay there. Every butterfly in the park will stop by for a visit. Because of this, Bidens alba is one of my favorite plants. It’s no show-stopper. You’ve undoubtedly seen it; in summer months, it is ubiquitous. If… Read more »
We live in a world divided. Inside and outside. Everything inside is ours and we try very hard to share inside with only invited guests. We try that outside as well, making decisions about what plants to put into our ground and which insects we will tolerate in proximity. The park is outside, but it… Read more »
When I’m out walking on the bayou, my two most frequent thoughts are: 1) what is that? and 2) what’s that critter doing? As to the first question, I knew this was a dragon fly because that’s easy. Although you should pause a moment when you’ve got a really slender dragonfly because it may be… Read more »
There are a ton of mulberry trees along the bayou. They bear sweet black berries (that look kind of like blackberries) in the spring. They are a very important food source for wild critters. They are also a decent food source for us more civilized critters, too. Right now, the European Starlings are feasting on… Read more »