For the last three summers, I have been treated to encounters with members of the species Phrynosoma cornutum, the Texas Horned Lizard that are living in the backyard. These delightful creatures help to eat the red harvester ants that we have in several places in the yard. The above image shows an adult in the lawn beginning to puff itself up to appear larger and to extend the thorns on its skin to warn predators that it is a choking hazard.

You can go here and here on this website to read more about my encounters with these creatures.

In this image, you can see that a Common Checkered Skipper has used this little fellow as a landing zone as well as probing him for food.

We love our little spiny friends and watch for them when we mow. They blend so well with the habitat that we often miss them until they move. I was treated this year to seeing one wiggle himself down into loose sand near an anthill so that only his head was visible. All he had to do was wait for unsuspecting ants to walk by. I didn’t have my camera or the time to photograph this one when it happened, much to my regret. However, we look for these little guys every time we go outside and especially when we are working on the lawn. So far, no tragedies. Peaceful coexistence is the rule around our house as much as is possible. Occasionally, we are rewarded with interesting pictures of neighborhood nature.

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The Common Checkered-skipper butterfly, Pyrgus communis, is found in the Southern United States during February through October. Its remarkable white bands across fore and hind wing coupled with the blue-gray hairs on the head and thorax make this small butterfly easy to spot. They are difficult to photograph because the don’t stay in one place very long.

In this image, you can see the cream and white markings of the underside of the wings while this member of the Skipper family (Hesperiidae) feeds from the disk flowers of the White Prairie Aster. The Common Checkered-skipper likes open woodland, or grassland with a variety of flowering plants.

Members of the Asteraceae flower family produce flower heads that look like a single flower but they are really a composite of multiple flowers. Each petal has a flower at its base and each part of the yellow disk is an individual flower. The 1 inch diameter flowers of the Prairie Aster give you an indication of the size of our butterfly friend.

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