They’re back, part 2

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The last picture, which featured an ant on an early sunflower plant, Helianthus annuus, may have left you wanting to see the thing that the plant is named for, so here’s a fully open sunflower on the clear morning of April 19.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman

They’re back

Click for greater clarity.

The title “They’re back”—which I’ve used before—applies to several things. What first occurred to me this time was that, like various other native species you’ve seen here in 2012, our sunflowers, Helianthus annuus, began to put in an appearance at least a month before their traditional time. By mid-April I’d started seeing a few of the familiar yellow flower heads along highways in my part of Austin, and with them came the ants that are common goers on these plants (sometimes at great cost, as early readers of this blog saw in a post last August).

Today’s title could also apply to the human workers that were back in goodly numbers to continue clearing a lot on the east side of US 183 just north of the busy Costco there. While the store’s parking lot has given this blog three pictures, the lot being cleared for development has provided a lot more (and given me a chance to play with the senses of the word lot). Last year I speculated on how much longer any bits of nature would be left there for me to photograph. By April 19 most of the land had been razed, but I was pleased to see that the stand of sunflowers I photographed last year was back: call it a last stand and you’ll probably be right. On one of those sunflower plants, which border the drive-through lane of a Wendy’s, I photographed this two-toned ant on some young leaves.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman