Ladybug Look-Alikes

I found these little bugs hangin' out on my old gourds from last year. They look like ladybugs but I think they are some kind of a beetle. Ladybugs have spots on them, not bands like these do. I sent this picture to a wesite where they help you identify bugs. I'll let you know as soon as I do. If I was a Mockingbird this would be a yummy meal!

Gourds and Flame Acanthus

How are your plants doing? By now your gourds should be about 6 to 12 inches tall. It should have some nice big leaves. Soon it will start to grow into a vine. It will produce some long skinny stringy tentacles that it uses to latch onto things so that it can stabilize itself. Within the next month it should also start producing white flowers. Some are male flowers and some are female. If the female gets pollinated by the male, then the female will start to grow a gourd.

The Flame Acanthus should be about 6 to 10 inches by now. It should have long skinny leaves that are pointed at the tips. It may begin to bloom in about 6 weeks or so. It is a perennial which means it will come back again next year. Annuals die at the end of the year and rely on the seeds they drop to come back the next year.

Good luck with the plants!

Bluebirds

I've had a pair of bluebirds hanging around every now and then, but they have not built a nest yet in the bluebird house that I have for them. I doubt they will use the house this year. If they were, they would have used it by now. There is a slight chance they might use it though because bluebirds typically have babies twice or even 3 times per year.

14 Purple Martin eggs !!! YEE-HAW !!!

Yesterday I counted 14 eggs in my martin house. There's 3 nests (6 martins total). Two nests have 5 eggs each. The other has 4 eggs, but there might be more on the way. Martins usually lay about 1 egg per day. Most of the eggs will probably begin to hatch within the next week or so.

Show-Off !

This is a Mockingbird doing some-kind-of display. Experts aren't sure why they do this. Mockingbirds copy other bird's songs and use them for themselves. They only eat insects (worms and other crawly things found on the ground.) They are very aggressive birds. They usually will let you get pretty close to them before they fly away. The Mockingbird is the state bird of Texas.

Welcome

Welcome to my backyard bird blog. For those that are interested, I'm going to be posting updates 3 or 4 times per week of some of the things going on in my backyard this summer. Since I enjoy birds so much, most of what you'll see and read about will be about birds. Feel free to comment or ask questions. Enjoy!

Mr. Linn