I was working in my yard today, tidying my landscaped beds at the front of my house. As a general rule, I don’t like this part of gardening. I LOVE to design and install new beds, but maintenance isn’t nearly as much fun. Sound familiar? Well, the hard work paid off. The front of my house now looks pretty respectable, and I entertained myself by watching butterflies. Read the rest of this entry »

On The Fence

This time of year, it is hard NOT to see Monarch butterflies. If you were to ask someone to name a butterfly - any butterfly - many people would have no problem responding, “Monarch!”

I recently treated myself to a walk along a field of Goldenrod, glittering with hundreds of Monarchs (Danaus plexippus). What a neat experience! Read the rest of this entry »

I got the biggest kick out of this little guy and his “catch.” The squirrel is holding a Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) twig, with two ginormous acorns. He’s got built-in camouflage with the leaves - he froze when our paths met on a nature trail. He stared at me while I threw down my tripod and camera (I had been carrying them over my shoulder) to take his picture. As soon as I started clicking, he started running! Read the rest of this entry »

The IUCN stands for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In their own words,

IUCN is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network - a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries.

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In this Year of the Frog, I want to share the smashing success of my efforts to provide habitat for frogs at my home. My frog ponds(2) also provide water to wildlife, breeding grounds for dragonflies and all manner of other pond creatures. At night, their myriad calls provide musical accompaniment to the rest of the nocturnal chorus. Plus, it is a lot of fun for me to sit by and enjoy!

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I want to take this time, as hurricane Ike makes its way through Texas, to let everyone know about two bird and wildlife rescue/rehabilitation/sanctuaries that I admire and support.

The International Bird Rescue Research Center, based in California, focuses its efforts on birds and other animals injured by the all-too-frequent oil spills in our seas around the world. This non-profit organization, established in 1971, also helps birds and animals injured by the detritus of the fishing industry. I have not found any reports of oil spills along the Texas Gulf Coast due to storm damage, and I hope that the drilling operations an rigs are not badly damaged.

Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation is a non-profit organization located in Texas, west of Austin and north of San Antonio - near the city of Kendalia. It was founded in 1977 by Lynn Cuny, and has grown from a backyard operation to a highly respected sanctuary of 187 acres. Their commitment to wildlife stresses the need to keep the “wild” in wildlife. I whole-heartedly agree! Read the rest of this entry »

Usually when a birder says that “fall migration has started,” he/she means BIRD migration. Indeed, fall migration HAS started and it is an exciting time to see all of the different birds making their way south. I have also heard of butterfly migration - specifically, monarchs. Last year, I had the amazing experience of witnessing hundreds of monarch butterflies crossing a lake.

I may be a little late on this, but I have just learned that dragonflies migrate too! Apparently, bird and dragonfly migration are remarkably similar. ¹

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This is a Five-lined Skink (Eumeces fasciatus), also called a blue-tailed skink. These are pretty common at The Heard where I often go birding. They are supposed to be pretty common around urban gardens as well, but I’ve never seen one of these! I have seen what I think may be little brown geckos - and they are cute - but they don’t have this great blue tail. Read the rest of this entry »

I want to take a moment to pass on some great information about GoodSearch.

The “GoodSearch” box at the top right of the sidebar provides a way for anyone who uses it to generate cash for a charity that I support. If you are visiting Birder’s Lounge, please use this search box to help Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation. I get no income whatsoever by doing this - but what a painless way to support a cause! Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation gets about $0.01 per search - It adds up!

Even better, you can choose to use GoodSearch and GoodShop to help a charity that YOU care about! It is very easy to setup and the website is very informative. Here are the links:

GoodShop is potentially very beneficial, since the percent given to your charity varies by vendor, and is based on the amount you spend. If you are going to shop online anyway…you should GoodShop!