Crazy Yellow Flowers in Brackettville

Above is my favorite shot of the bunch, I think. My camera wouldn't focus on the foreground unless I put a flower or two in the center of the shot. REALLY frustrating.

I don't know if that's a bee or some kind of nectar eating fly above. I wish I could have recorded the sounds out there today. With all the flowers, all the bugs on Pinto Creek seem unusually happy, chirpy, and LOUD. Beautiful sounds.

I was out today scouting for Monarchs. I didn't see any. But it didn't stop me from shooting no less than 145 shots. These yellow flowers (Viguiera dentata a.k.a. Goldeneye) are AMAZING. They're just... they just, my gods! They're everywhere! Walls of them! And I didn't know armadillos would stand up like that. I mean, I've seen them stand up on plenty of advertisements for beer and on armadillo themed signs, etc. But I didn't know they'd actually just stand right up and say howdy like this one did. I practically stepped on him by the time I knew he was there. I only got one shot before he took off. I lucked out and got a halfway decent one! A little Googling revealed that armadillos will strike this pose when they sense a threat. They can't see worth jack, but they have a good sense of smell--they rise up on their hind legs to get a better whiff of their environment.

Hubby taught me how to catch an armadillo back when we were dating, I think that's the traditional second date in Texas, we looked for arrowheads on our first date. BORING! To catch an armadillo, you just stay in front of them. They can't see in front of themselves so you can walk right up to them as long as you stay between their eyes, then you just soop them up! The one I caught curled up into a tight little ball immediately, although several internet sources say that only the Brazilian one can do that. Whatever! Maybe the one I caught was young and still flexible enough to curl up.

I took BUNCHES of shots of these flowers and various other things out on or near Pinto Farm this evening, but not many made the cut. You can see the ones that did here: Crazy Yellow Flowers