Archive for the Nature Category

Blazing Star – This tall purple flower grows all over the West and blooms only in the fall.  In many places it flourishes in dry and rocky soil, or on a very steep incline like in the photo.  It can do this because its roots go very

Praying Mantis – This Praying Mantis is a female and she is full of eggs.  During the fall they lay hundreds of eggs.  They come out one at a time and form a large organized mound that looks like frothy bubbles.  Later, the egg mound hardens to

Gray Squirrel – The Gray Squirrel is the most common squirrel in the U.S.  I love their big bushy gray tail, and watching it move when they run.  It twitches and takes a different form at every step following along like a tail on a kite. Squirrels

Scissor-tail Flycatcher The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher has a descriptive name that tells you the major things about it.  They eat insects, like flies, and have long tails with two parts like scissors.  The tail of the male is twice as long as his body. The great thing about

Paper Wasp – Paper wasps make their nests out of a substance exactly like paper.  The materials they use are small plant fibers harvested from their surrounding area.  Then the wasps glue the fibers together with their saliva.  They make a large umbrella-shaped and waterproof nest out

Sunflowers – Everyone likes sunflowers.  They have bright yellow petals around a dark middle.  The middle of a sunflower is called a disk flower.  It has hundreds of small blooms that become seeds.  The spiral design that the seeds grow in is found all over nature.  It