Texas Backyard Wildlife

31Jul26 - This tiny gecko had become entangled in a cobweb just outside our back door. I was cleaning and wiped him up thinking he was an old cocoon of some sort - he was wrapped up like a mummy. To my astonishment, he twitched in my hand and I took a closer look. I don't know how long he'd been trapped, but it was long enough to have killed his tail - it was a dried-up blackened nub.

I managed to remove the worst of the spider web, but then I brought him in to Dan. I have shaky hands, and completely freeing this little fellow was a very delicate business.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of what he looked like before we began cleaning him up, but here are a few shots of the end of the process.

I released him outside and he ran off and disappeared under a shady stone.

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Texas Backyard Wildlife

28Jul26 - Two cardinal chicks. There's still one more egg to hatch. The papa cardinal is busy bringing food for the family and the chicks are looking good.

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Texas Backyard Wildlife

27Jul26 - And speaking of cardinals... Dan found yet another cardinal nest yesterday. Hiding in plain sight at about eye level in a tree I walk by at least twice a day on my way to and from the water bowl. If it had been a snake, etc, etc (but luckily for me, it wasn't). The nest had 3 eggs in it yesterday, and today there are 2 eggs and one chick! So, if we're lucky, and the cardinal gods keep a watchful eye to keep blue jays and ringtails and, well, snakes away, the world will be 3 fledgling cardinals richer in about 10 days.

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3 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 839

Texas Backyard Wildlife

21Jul26 - Has anyone ever seen a bird this wet? We certainly haven't. It's hot here today, and this cardinal clearly felt the need to cool off, but usually bathing birds show a little more dignity and restraint. This guy is soaked to the skin and, frankly, not a pretty sight. We'll publish a video - it's only a 10-second clip, but we think it's funny.

1 week ago | [YT] | 1,697

Texas Backyard Wildlife

19Jul26 - We love our gray foxes. However, they're a bit elusive on video - they trot by the cameras and rarely deign to hang around unless they're in a den (and this year we only had one precious week of watching a denning family, sadly). So here a few snapshots to fill the void.

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Texas Backyard Wildlife

15Jul26 - We have a few more GREAT baby barred owl photos from our neighbor Don. (Take a look at our earler post for details - the owl's name is Flanders.) These pictures are just wonderful - who would have thought that an owl and a cat would get along? (This is where all those of you who were brought up on Edward Lear's nonsense poetry get to chime in with a verse or two of The Owl & The Pussycat. Some info about Lear: www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-Lear. He was the youngest of 21 children!). Anyway, I'm rambling. Thank you Don, and thank you Don's sister-in-law and brother. These pictures are fabulous. What a story!

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Texas Backyard Wildlife

15Jul26 - Back by popular request... Critter rescues à la our neighbor Don's sister-in-law and brother (they're the wonderful people who are currently taking care of the baby skunks in our last post). A few years ago they found an orphaned baby barred owl, and they gave her a home until she was old enough to fly off on her own. Her name is Flanders. The dogs loved her and she used to sometimes share their bed. It's enough to give you hope that the world is not such a bad place after all, isn't it?

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Texas Backyard Wildlife

11Jul26 - Our neighbor Don's sister-in-law is taking care of 3 orphaned baby skunks. Beautiful little creatures! - and apparently (so far) very well behaved. Their mama and one of their siblings were killed by a tractor shredder, but these 3 little guys survived and are thriving. They were bottle-fed when they were very small, and they're now apparently living on kitten food and June bugs(!).

We think Don's sister-in-law and brother are true heros - and they've done this kind of thing before. Some years ago they found an abandoned baby owl and they took care of him until he was old enough to return to the wild. He used to cuddle up with their dogs to sleep.

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Texas Backyard Wildlife

06Jul26 - Dan and I often say that we see something interesting or miraculous almost every day. This tiny green anole lizard was yesterday's miracle. S/he was sitting on the side of one of the water bowls when I went out to clean up in the morning. We decided to move her into the plants beside the deck, but she seemed perfectly happy to hang out with us for a while on the way there.

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Texas Backyard Wildlife

04Jul26 - Name that fox... OK, OK, obviously it's Dolly, but I thought guessing might be fun. I usually say that she flies her tail like a flag, but in this snapshot she's flying it like a flagpole. Perhaps she's got her nose stuck in an electrical socket?

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 3,064