We had some interesting encounters with nature in Texas this year when we went down to spend Thanksgiving week with our sons. The day we arrived in north Austin this guy was standing in the middle of the road a couple of blocks from our rental house as we were driving home from dinner. It seemed dazed and unable to fly but unharmed and eventually disappeared into a neighboring yard.

The next day I saw some movement on the other side of the chain link fence bordering our back yard.

I shot this with my phone. I went in to get a real camera and when I came out it was still there:

Four days later we were hiking in Brushy Creek Park when we spotted this drone, lights still flashing, stuck in a tree on the other side of the creek. (Shot holding Cathy's binoculars over my phone camera lens.)

Two days after the drone we encountered this small brown snake near our house while walking our dog:

We're pretty sure it's a rough earth snake (Virginia striatula) in poor health. It died within hours of our taking this photograph. The next morning we saw a second dead rough earth snake about a block away.

The day we left Austin we found this mouse spider (Scotophaeus blackwalli) between the stove and the refrigerator:

Keep your eyes open and your camera ready. You never know.

Roger Inman '10