I saw these deformed
looking tennis balls (or are they deformed aliens?) once in Texas along the road
and I promptly forgot about them until they showed up on the preserve about a
month ago. Dan was curious enough to look up the strange looking ...well, at
the time we were not sure.
Anyway, he found out these green balls are fruits
from the Osage-Orange tree a.k.a Hedge tree a.k.a Horse Apple tree. The Hedge tree has very long and
thick thorns. The trees were pruned and planted as a hedge, because cattle would not go
through them. If they were kept trimmed and pruned, they grew into a impenetrable hedge and they would not bear fruit. The thorny hedges were used to pen livestock before barb wire tamed the west.
Yes, this is a fruit,
but only deer, cattle, horses and squirrels eat any part of them. For awhile, we saw no evidence of
anything eating the fruit, but then Dan found a half Osage-orange propped in a tree.
hmm Did someone put it there or did an animal leave it? We were thinking a
visitor put it there until...
We saw this squirrel
moving around the fallen Osage-oranges. He finally found one he liked and
picked it up.
What a mouth full!
He found himself a
comfortable spot and had lunch while we watched him.
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| Nom!Nom!Nom! (Squirrels eat only the seeds) |
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| Burp! |
Why you Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker! (or is it Red-napped)
Here is a Red-naped Sapsucker getting a drink of water from the creek. I spent two days trying to get pictures of this guy while he was pecking away on his favorite tree across the creek. On the third day, I guess he felt sorry for me because he landed in the creek right in front of me!
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| That lady has been watching me for two days.. |
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| Okay, lady. Are you watching me? |
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| Yea? How about this view? |
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| Heh!Heh! I'm a baaaaad boy.. |
A Family of Coatimundi
Dan followed some Coatimundi into the woods. I stayed on the trail. I don't like walking through the thickets here. While waiting for Dan to come back, I heard a lot of crashing in the woods on the other side of the old cottonwood.
The next thing I knew, I was looking at a family of eight Coatimundi looking at me from the old tree. Some were making a 'chugging" sound as they sat in the tree staring at me. Yea, they seemed a little upset with us humans.
I stayed on the path and tried to get photos through the tree branches. Most of the photos did not come out too well. It was interesting to watch them run up and head first down the tree.
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Check out those toe nails. Good for digging, climbing,
and hmm, I think I'll keep my distance. |
Dan got some more photos and video of the Coati while he was in the woods. We will post them on our webshots or blog soon. They are so fascinating to watch.
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Oh no, here comes another human
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Lots of bird and animal action here every week. Our photo folders are filling, we just need to get them posted for your personal use in the near future. We "retired" folks are not use to working 5 day weeks!!
