In the Heat of the Summer

Friday, July 26, 2013

San Antonio River, Mission Reach, Roosevelt Park trailhead

Today's photo:

The Texas heat high is building and taking firm hold as it typically does this time of year. High temperatures will likely remain in the upper 90s to low 100s (F) for the remainder of the summer. Surface water of any kind, especially flowing water like the San Antonio River, literally becomes very attractive to wildlife.

• The first and second photos are of the characteristic mature inflorescence of Sideoats Grama (the official State Grass of Texas). The detail in the second photo shows the alternate spikelets hanging down from the stem.
• The third and fourth photos are of Maximilian Sunflowers. In the third photo, a Paper Wasp (Polistes sp.) is flying toward the sunflowers. This stand of Maximilian Sunflowers is close to ten feet tall.
• The fifth and sixth photos, the best I can tell, are of a female Powdered Dancer damselfly (Argia moesta). The female Powdered Dancer can easily be mistaken for a male Blue-fronted Dancer, but this one looks more like the Powdered Dancer to me.
• The seventh through tenth photos are of Ceraunus Blue butterflies on Brazilian Vervain. There are two varieties of Ceraunus Blues. These are the Southwest variety. It is worth noting, the Brazilian Vervain (Verbena brasilienses Vell.) is a native, as the name implies, to South America. It has been sold widely in the U.S. as a landscape plant that has become a nuisance invasive crowding out the native Texas Vevain (Verbena halei Small).
• The eleventh and twelfth photos are of a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron quietly watching over its section of the river. This bird has been living here since mid-May. I have seen it on one of these rocks every time I have walked by since then.
• The thirteenth photo is a pair of Mourning Doves enjoying an afternoon on the riverbank.
• The fourteenth photo is a Fox Squirrel having an afternoon picnic in the shade of a Honey Mesquite tree. It isn't visible in this photo, but the squirrel was having a feast on the mesquite bean seed pods scattered on the ground under the tree.
• The fifteenth photo is a general overview of the vegetation on the west side of the River. There is an American Sycamore tree growing among the rocks at the end of the weir. This is probably a volunteer, although the sycamore is one of the more common trees being planted in the restoration project. Sycamore do very well in riparian areas. If one looks closely, a Great Egret can be seen feeding along the riverbank just left of center in the photo.
• The sixteenth and seventeenth photos are of a Neotropic Cormorant drying its wings in the sun as cormorants have to do. Cormorants dive and remain submerged under the surface of the water for relatively long periods of time while they are fishing. To make this more efficient, their feathers are not coated with oil the way many other water birds, such as ducks, are coated to keep their feathers dry. Therefore, the cormorants must hold their wings out to let them dry following a dive.