First butterfly visitor of the year

First butterfly visitor of the year. (Click to see more detail.)

Anyone know what kind of butterfly this is?  With the camera picking up details my eyes couldn't catch, it almost looks a little mothy.  (Side note: The plant he's sitting on is a flowering bok choy. True story!)  He and his buds were as eager as I was to get out in the sun after these last few days of clouds and rain.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm absolutely ecstatic about the rain -- all 1.96 inches of it that fell on my yard. I'm just equally enamored by cool, sunny afternoons. We don't have too many more of them left this year before the heat really turns on to bake. I can't help but revel in the temperature today.

Despite the perfect weather to be out in the garden, I'm holding off until after March 15th before planting my tomato, cucumber, and zucchini transplants. (I really do need to get a post up about them!) Austin's average last frost date is March 15.  Although I'm eager to see if I can grow a significant amount of tomatoes this year, I've been nurturing these plants since they were seeds on January 1st. I have to keep reminding myself that they are warmer weather plants. I certainly don't want to throw away all that time, love, and energy because of a little impatience!

Invasion of the Mosquito Hawks !

Just like the Marfa lights, mosquito hawks can be
tricky to catch in action.

It started a couple weeks ago. I found one or two of these flying bugs near the front door under the porch light. No problem.  Later that week one was bobbing around the kitchen windows (on the incorrect side). I know they're harmless, so I ignore it.  Then, with a turn of my back and the weekly calendar, mosquito hawks are *everywhere*! Soaking up the rays from the front porch light. Spa'ing in the bathroom by my 10x mirror. Bobbing above the artichoke plants like daytime Marfa lights.

I swear I've never seen so many as I have this winter, and while we've had a milder winter than usual, it's still too cold for mosquitoes. So as I sweep up their deceased carcasses from my window panes, I wonder.  What the heck are they eating?

This crane fly was trapped in my greenhouse. Sorry,
there's nothing to scale. Wingspan is about 2 inches.

Turns out, not a lot. First of all, mosquito hawks in Texas don't eat mosquitoes. (Just wishful thinking on our part.) The nickname comes from the fact that ours look a heck of a lot like mosquitoes, only bigger. In Florida I knew them as daddy long legs, but because spiders eek me out more than mosquitoes, I gladly switched nomenclatures. Turns out, these flying insects are actually a type of crane fly.

Crane flies are a beneficial garden insect, but their benefits wear off once they reach adulthood. In their youth, they eat decaying matter and help break down dead plants in your backyard.  In their adulthood, all 1 to 2 days of it, they look for mates by bobbing around like drunken June bugs.  They don't really eat as adults and they don't bite or transmit disease, so no need to panic when they get indoors. But alas, no need to try to rescue them either. They're like house flies in that they can see your hands coming a yardstick away, and there's no convincing them that you're just trying to help. I do feel a little bad that my house lured so many of these garden beneficials astray, but Nature has already planned ahead by sending us such a bumper crop this year.

Check out the Department of Horticultural Resources at Texas A&M for more info about the crane fly.