Observations by poseidon314

Moth with entirely furry body, including legs and wings! Feathery antennae. Golden yellows, browns, black, white, and cream. Found on a brick wall near Austin Discovery School playground by kids (N & Z) after school near outdoor light, which was off since it was daytime. Friendly and docile, flew away after a bit. Another one of same species also present.

Fragrant white blossoms blooming on bare branches of an understory small deciduous tree along the streambed at the Mary Moore Searight Metropolitan Park in mid February. We could smell the strong perfume of the blooms a dozen feet away, well before we could locate the source. We encountered several of these trees scattered along the streams and trails of the park. ..Searched for flowering plants in Feb...Mexican Plum?

Found washed up on the beach during a walk just after sunset, it wasn't there earlier in the day. Was deceased. My foot and a water bottle we found nearby for scale. We're guessing it's a skate or ray (we found an empty skate egg case washed up further down the beach, close to the jetty tonight, too!) It was very heavy when I turned it over to get the underside picture. Who was this?

Plains blind snake found by kids among the dirt and leaf litter under a tree at the playground at Austin Discovery School on a sunny afternoon and released back into their habitat. Lots of kids (and at least one parent) wanted to hold the snake and learn more about them!

Found on the playground on a hot afternoon after school near a large log which had a cavity underneath, from which the kids think the toad emerged. Gulf coast toad? They released him back into the shade after everyone had a chance to see him.

Ribbon snake or Garter snake? We saw it come out of a pond in the heat of the afternoon. It went back in the pond when we approached, swam to the other side of the pond, got back out and hid among some flowers and shrubs. Wildflower Center, Austin, TX. We saw the snake again 30 minutes later in the same pond chasing a large leopard frog from land into the pond (frog got away) then the snake swam around and climbed out of water among rocks, with only head protruding from crevice. Exciting!

Found in sand on the beach in Corpus Christi, TX (Gulf of Mexico) amongst washed up reddish-green seaweed/algae plants at the high tide mark where wet sand met dry sand. Brown/copper in color. Could it be a shark egg?

At the Easternmost Bee Creek water crossing on Creek trail (beneath Possum trail) we saw water striders on top of the clear running water. I saw one of the water striders (on the right of the maidenhair fern) capture something--a smaller insect with wings--and hold it in its mouth. (Edited to say "water striders" instead of "water skaters")

On SW side of Possum Trail behind and among big limestone boulders we saw this snake moving silently down hill. We'd just passed "shrimp colony" rocks as we headed toward creek and were checking out a big 5-sided leaning rock when we saw this snake behind the rock going down the hill.