Early Autumn's Warm Gold

Just entering the place

Fox scat?

Cedar Elm

Sumac

One of 300-350 species of Smilax.  This one hanging
within a gum bumelia tree (Bumelia lanuginosa).

A second blooming for this Malvaceae near the front gate. 

Texas Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus) on Limestone

     Another crappy video and even crappier audio of an osprey (Pandion haliaetus).  We were standing  out front of the Hog Shed when we first heard this one screaming high, high just off to the north.  He (or she) would dive down a ways, pause-up, and then dive down again, never really laying off the horn.  Five minutes later we noticed a second osprey rise up from perching on a tree along the boulders north of the house.  This one made the chirping rather than screaming call.  We haven't seen nor heard of the ospreys since last early spring, I think it was.  This is good.

     Where these have flown in from is anybody's guess, but typical migratory patterns might suggest they have just come down from the Rockies.

     Below is an interesting map showing the travels of three ospreys tagged in the Grand Tetons.  The red lines represent their flights down south, and the blue lines represent the trip back to the Tetons.  One of the three birds flew past our area of central Texas to the coast but never made the return trip.