The Statuesque Great Blue

The National Audubon Society's website aptly describes the Great Blue Heron as "statuesque." They do have a habit of standing quite still for long periods of time watching what is going on around them. This Great Blue ignored the two cormorants nearby, but kept a wary eye on what I was doing as I photographed it.

The herons generally get a bit skittish when people approach. When this one decided I was getting too close for comfort, it flew off upstream:

This set of photographs was taken at the riffle between the VFW Blvd trailhead and the VFW Blvd bridge on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, December 19, 2013.

Nap Time Beside the River

This Lesser Yellowlegs was ready for a mid-afternoon nap:

The female Northern Shoveler nearby in the last photo had the same idea.

This set of photographs was taken downstream from Mission County Park along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, December 19, 2013.

A Holiday Greeting, 2013

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

During this special holiday week,

take time to celebrate all that is truly meaningful in life.

This photo of a Northern Shoveler was taken on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Wednesday, December 19, 2013.

A Brief "Snow" Flurry

This is about as close as we will come to anything "snowy" here in San Antonio  this holiday week:

This set of photographs of a Snowy Egret was taken at the riffle upstream from the VFW Blvd bridge along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, December 19, 2013.

Direct Flight

Where the vultures take advantage of updrafts to conserve energy as they circle and soar overhead, the cormorants fly in a direct path from one location to another. When they are flying a relatively long distance, they typically fly in a flock in a V shape formation. Thursday, a flock of five Neotropic Cormorants flew downstream paralleling the river channel:

The vultures dance in the sky, but the cormorants always seem to know exactly where they are going and are in a hurry to get there.

This set of photographs was taken downstream from the VFW Blvd Trailhead along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, December 19, 2013.

Soaring on an Updraft

A large vortex of vultures with ten to fifteen birds soared high above the river Thursday. This Black Vulture was circling low enough to get a beautiful series of photos. Its bright white primaries flashed in the sunlight:

This set of photographs was taken downstream form Mission Park along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, December 19, 2013.

Winter Clouds

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed."         Albert Einstein

Two days before the winter solstice,

I stood in awe when I saw this cloud formation above the river.

This set of photographs was taken looking north from the VFW Blvd Trailhead on the San Antonio River Mission Reach on Thursday, December 19, 2013.

A Burst of Color, Part 2

Building on yesterday's post, there are many pollinators, including butterflies, able to survive our rather unpredictable winter weather. Daily average temperatures don't mean a lot here except as a benchmark. The average high temperature for yesterday (December 19) is 63º (F), the actual high was 77º and the record high was set last year at 82º. The record low temperature for yesterday was 18º set in 1996.

There are also a few flowers that survive our winters. The point is, where there are flowers, especially during winter in South Texas, there will likely be butterflies:

In the first two photos, a Little Yellow stands out with a beautiful color contrast to the Mealy Blue Sage. In the other five photos, a Sachem was more difficult to see, but spent a much longer time feeding on the sage's nectar.

This set of photographs was taken along the San Antonio River Mission Reach on Wednesday, December 4, 2013.

A Burst of Color, Part 1

We have had a few beautiful warm days following the arctic blast at the beginning of the month. It seems appropriate to celebrate these warm days with a little burst of color:

The Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacae) begins to bloom around mid-spring and continues until the first hard freeze. Even with the arctic blast, we still haven't had a hard freeze in the city. I haven't been back to the river since it has warmed up a bit, but I suspect the Mealy Blue Sage are still in full bloom.

This set of photographs was taken along the San Antonio River Mission Reach on Wednesday, December 4, 2013.

Publication note: For those who may have been expecting me to continue today with the series "A Brief Introduction to a Very Thorny Subject," I ask for your patience. The subject of spines is even a bit more complex than that of true thorns. I need to get out and take a few more photos in order to complete the series.

A Very Prickly Subject, Nature's Barbed Wire

At the beginning of November I began a series of posts with "A Brief Introduction to a Very Thorny Subject." Briefly, a true thorn is a sharp pointed modified branch, a spine is a sharp pointed modified leaf and a prickle is a sharp pointed outgrowth of the epidermal layer of the stem.

Since prickles grow from the surface of the stem and don't have a deeper connecting tissue as do spines and thorns, they can be broken off the stem with relative ease by (carefully) pushing them from the side. The brown patches on the stem in the third photo below are where prickles have broken off revealing the deeper layer of tissue inside the stem.

Probably the best known plant with prickles is the rose bush in the Genus Rosa, Family Rosaceae. Technically, all roses are thornless, but that doesn't mean a prickle won't leave any less a lasting impression. Dewberries and blackberries in the Genus Rubus, Family Rosaceae are also fairly well known for their prickles, especially by those who have gathered the berries.

Then there is "nature's barbed wire." Anyone who has tried to walk through a Texas woodland where Greenbrier, also known as Catbrier, is growing, knows the origin of the name nature's barbed wire. It is just about impossible to walk through a thicket of Greenbrier without a machete or shears and come out the other side unscathed:

Greenbrier berries do serve as an important food source for many birds and small mammals. Greenbrier thickets also provides excellent cover for many small animals. The tender new growth of the Greenbrier is frequently used to make a high vitamin C tea and as a salad ingredient. The older leaves become tough and bitter.

This set of photographs was taken along the Rio Medina Trail at the Medina River Natural Area on Tuesday, November 19, 2013