28 Apr
This was the first day to work in one of my gardens.
My plans are to reduce the butterfly garden’s size by one-half. I haven’t decided what to do with the garden in the background.
I started weeding and had a good start on the area where I was working … until I saw a garter snake … relatively close.
If you look close under the left eye, you can see where it had started shedding.
It stayed in place while I took pictures. You can see the end of its forked tongue.
24 Apr
These pictures were taken 7:30 p.m. from my chair by the living room window.
I couldn’t have planned it better to capture the last light of the day.
A little more light changed the atmosphere of the evening.
The sun continued to sink in the west,
and the colors to darken.
I stayed in my chair by the window.
The sun highlighted the clouds in the west.
The end of the day approached, and I sat in my chair watching its progression.
I wonder what tomorrow’s sunset will bring.
20 Apr
My computer sits at a right angle with a picture window, looking out over the backyard.
I’m a tad confused with these pewee fly catchers.
Pewees and phoebe flycatchers are similar.
The ones with no white on their wings are eastern phoebes.
There’s another flycatcher here at this time … an eastern pewee.
The pewee looks like it’s beginning to get tired of posing for me.
No white on the wings indicate it’s an eastern phoebe. White on its wings means its an eastern pewee.
The pewee’s call is a whistled “pee-a-wee.”
17 Apr
A spider spun the long length of silk above. Actually, it’s all one piece.
This is the same strand of silk as the one above. A slight breeze or air movement moves it and changes how much of the silk is seen.
The spider silk is flat and easily moves about in the slightest breeze. Movement changes its appearance.
Each of the pictures has a short white flat strip of spider silk too. It’s in different light from the ones in the sunlight.
(The silk wasn’t twisted like in the bottom picture. I don’t know why it looks like that in the picture.)
12 Apr
Purple trilliums (trillium erectum) are a woodland species that blooms in the spring.
They grow in my small spring wildflower garden that’s centered between a pine and a hackberry tree.
Trilliums have parts in three’s — three leaves, three petals and three sepals.
This picture shows the parts more clearly.
This is my only yellow trillium. It was a gift from a friend.
Virginia bluebells grow among them too.
9 Apr
The redbud tree adds vibrant pink to our front yard.
Notice the flowers in the upper right of the picture above. Two of the flowers are in profile.
They are an attractive flower.
Our redbud isn’t the healthiest of trees. It looks old, but determined to be in the yard for as long as it can. I have no idea how old it is.
6 Apr
Yesterday morning a fox got hit on the highway just south of our house. Someone threw it over in the field on the other side of the highway.
It didn’t take long for two vultures to find it.
I sat on our front porch on the other side of the highway, so I could take pictures.
I didn’t want to scare them off.
They didn’t notice me, probably because of all the traffic.
This one took off and looped toward our house … and they both were gone.
naturesnippets 