I found a very interesting caterpillar in the yard, definitely looks like something to avoid touching. I tried identifying it with an app, but there were no caterpillar pictures to compare to (turns out the second hit was a Question Mark butterfly, so my trust is restored). So I turned to image searches for “spikey caterpillar Texas” which lead me to butterfliesandmoths.org. Yup, bookmarked it, after finding a very similar looking caterpillar and cross referencing another image search on “question mark caterpillar”. I frequently do a kind of reverse search once I think I’ve found my answer. It is very interesting what I sometimes find. Mostly it confirms, but sometimes it debunks. This confirmed and gave more caterpillar pictures that matched my little guy.

No, sorry dude, this “can” not be your home. Or did you just get trapped? Well, you are free now and I have rehung the home/trap elsewhere, where it spins better, and will be more difficult for tree frogs to climb in.

Happy April 1st. Here is a frog belly.

A recent walk through the woods unearthed more opossum bones. A jaw bone and scapula. They are pictured below with the top of the skull that I found last year. Maybe a fox got ‘em? Could have been a coyote. We’ve seen both on the trail cam!

Saw this guy on a walk. Doesn’t he look like he’s been through it all? Scratches on his shell, looks like a a bird picked him up and the drops scraped the top a couple times, impressive collection of coils on the shell. It is amazing the things we can observe when we stop and look. While we are social distancing it is a good time to observe the natural world, even if it is a micro environment. Take a break from screen time to chill outdoors if you can. Sit still and watch if you can. Sitting still is hard for me too.