An adhesive modeled after Geckos

However you feel about Geckos, you have to admire their ability to cling to anything. Scientists at UMass-Amherst did too. Inspired by Geckos, they developed an adhesive that sticks things to most smooth surfaces, holds up to 700 pounds, and can be easily removed (residue-free) and reused.

It's a pad about the size of a note card, called "Geckskin". It has both rigid and flexible components, and can easily be removed from surfaces such as glass, wood, drywall, various plastics, and metal. No trace is left and it can be reused.

Not long ago, I told readers of  "Crape Murder" - the damage that can be done by severely cutting limbs off healthy Crape Myrtles. This needless practice happens every spring, for no reason at all except that it creates busy-work for the  "cutter".


Well I've been watching Crape Myrtles all over north Texas. Out of the ones that were left alone, not one died that I know of.  However, about a third of the Crape Myrtles that were severely "topped", died.  In the worst case, 40% of them died at one institutional site, and the owner is now on the hook to pay for a bunch of new plants.

I'm really dumbfounded. Please tell me why this practice continues, and what the reasoning behind it is !!

Nature's perfect design; hummingbird beak

A hummingbird's long, needle-shaped beak evolved over millions of years; it matches perfectly with the shape of flowers. It's a symbiotic relationship. Hummingbirds want the nectar from the flowers - the flowers want to be pollinated so they can reproduce. The birds extend their long, flexible tongues deeper into the flower than any other bird in north Texas.

Their tongues are actually about a third longer than their beaks, so they can get at nectar other birds can't reach. The nectar is brought to the birds' mouths via lapping and capillary action, similar to a dog.  Not by sucking.

Another thing; their beaks are soft and pliable, as opposed to being tiny swords.




Toads don't cause warts. That's just an old wife's tale that mommas told us so we'd keep our hands out of the mud.  Actually, toads are good to have around in one respect. A single one eats thousands of insects in just one season.  If you have a "toad house" make sure it's placed in the shade.

can't we all just get along?

To a Chickadee, food that's better than Sugar Toasties or Twinkies

Carolina Chickadee

The diet of north Texas' species of Chickadee (the Carolina Chickadee) is, obviously, locally grown and extraordinarily energy producing.  The bird is an "omnivore". Its diet could consist of berries and seeds for breakfast, caterpillars and flower-buds for lunch, spiders and ants for dinner, and a bit of suet or nut-pieces for a snack. Occasionally the species has even been known to eat small bits of meat.

The Carolina Chickadee feeds in flocks. It's a very inquisitive bird; often being the first one to try out a new or re-located feeder. It almost always stays in the same flock (extended family?) from birth to death.




Actually, Robins' favorite food, the earthworm, isn't native to North America. Some portions of this continent don't even have ANY earthworms. To muddy the waters further, what's called a "robin" in England isn't the same bird. To help alleviate confusion the Robin here, which is a species of thrush, is called the American Robin. 

Chimney Swifts need homes!

Chimney Swift

Chimney Swifts nest (duh!) in chimneys. The kind that have  insides made of brick, rock or something else they can grab onto.

Before this continent was settled, however, they nested in hollow trees, which were everywhere.  Trees such as  sweetgum,  sycamore and basswood especially, since these trees, when they die naturally, die from the inside out, and naturally hollow out.

These days trees are chain-sawed down, and most homes have their chimneys capped. Many chimneys are made of sheet metal on the inside. (Chimney Swifts can't get a grip)  As a result, the species is declining; a shame because it's one of the most aerobatic fliers around!

Some people have built artificial chimneys to attract them (see pic); both for their in-flight beauty and their insect-decimating appetite.

artificial chimney

My what big eyes you have!  Birds have huge eyes in comparison to their heads. Far more than humans! The relatively large pupils let them see in much lower light than humans. That's a big reason why birds are especially active in low light (like dusk and dawn).  Owls, Nighthawks, Swifts, Cardinals and Whipoorwills have the largest eyes of birds in north Texas, and can see in the least light.

Did climate change bring them here?

Tropical Mockingbird

The appropriately-named Tropical Mockingbird is a close cousin of the typical Mockingbird (technically the Northern Mockingbird) that's common in north Texas.

This Tropical Mockingbird was recently spotted in the southern part of Texas.  Others have recently been spotted too. That's curious because this is the first sighting of the tropical species in Texas ever. It's normally abundant in northern South America and southern Central America.

Like many of you, we try to garden organically. So we use a safe, low-cost herbicide to kill weeds - vinegar. It doesn't kill or sicken every living thing (including birds) in your yard, and you can buy the ingredients cheaply at almost any grocery store.

I'm certainly no botanist, so I have no idea why it works. But here's how I make it;  take one gallon of 10% vinegar (undiluted, from grain alcohol), blended with 1 ounce of citrus oil and one tablespoon of either molasses or plain liquid soap. I just put it in an old spray bottle without adding water, and spray it directly onto unwanted vegetation. (It may need 2 or 3  applications if the plant is particularly deep-rooted)

A word of caution; it works best on actively growing vegetation, so don't  expect good results during our superheated weather of July and August, when many plants go into dormancy.

Pileated Woodpecker:

The harsh challenge of crossing open water

Migrating birds often have to cross large expanses of open water with no place to stop and rest. No place to re-supply food either. Most Hummingbirds do this twice a year (although some fly along the coast). Some die trying to cross the Gulf, and the ones that make it are much skinnier and are starving when they arrive.

Purple Martin

Purple Martin is another north Texas species that crosses the Gulf during migration. They need to fly non-stop for 72 hours, travelling around 660 miles a day. That's equivalent to a human running at a 4-minute-mile pace for 80 hours straight.

American Robin

Robins are eating machines. Researchers estimate that each brood of  nestling American Robins eats about 3.2 pounds of food. Since they're "insectivores" that means eating only insects (and worms). While in the nest (an average of 13 days) each one grows from 5.5 grams to 56 grams - over 1000 percent! On its last day in the nest, a nestling may eat 14 feet of worms, or whatever else the territory produces.

What's that noise, and how do I make it?

Sometimes birds can be lured to a spot where you can see them by making a "pishing" noise. Pishing isn't at all difficult, but it can certainly make you look silly.  (this is a roughly shot video and the graphics could be a lot better, but it shows pishing understandably)   Basically it piques the curiosity of birds, who may come closer to see what that noise is.

With your mouth, make a spish, spish, spish sound as you exhale. I'm told it sounds like a baby bird in distress.

There are hundreds of ways to do it - no single one is absolutely correct. The best pishing method is the one that works best for you. A word of caution however - it can be overdone, and is sort of like "crying wolf" if used too much.

The best, and safest, insecticide known to man is bats.  Bats are "insectivores" (they eat insects), and a single one can eat up to 2000 flying insects, like mosquitoes, per night. Clearly they have a very high metabolism. For example, the 20-million Mexican Freetail bats from Bracken Cave (shown above) that emerge each night at dusk in central Texas eat more than 200 tons of insects in a single night. No poison is involved!