Thursday, February 7, 2013
One of the things I found very interesting, but not at all surprising, on my walk at Eisenhower Park yesterday (Wednesday, February 6, 2013) was the number of flowers that are beginning to bloom. We have had a very mild, if all too dry, winter so far this year in South Texas.
Temperatures have been running seven to ten degrees (F) above normal. A heavy rain fell south and east of Bexar County early yesterday morning, but we missed it completely here. The last significant rainfall in the county was about a month ago. Of course, this being South Texas, the weather could change drastically in a heartbeat. Our average last freeze is March 1st and the record latest freeze is April 3 set in 1987. It's not time to pack up the jackets and plant freeze sensitive plants just yet.
Most, if not all, of these flowers are blooming right on schedule, or just a bit early. However, I think the mild weather has perhaps increased their abundance a bit:
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- Photos 1 and 2 are a little bit of a challenge to identify. The little white and little yellow asters are to flower identification what sparrows (the little brown birds) are to bird identification. I am reasonably certain these two flowers are Fleabane in the Genus Erigeron, but they could be any of several of the numerous species in that genus. I made the mistake of not including their leaves in the photos. Leaves can be critical in differentiating species. I probably should stop while I'm ahead, but I'm going to venture on and say these are probably Spreading Fleabane (Erigeron divergens Torr. & Gray), primarily because this species is one of the earliest to bloom. If I am wrong, I am certain one of my friends who knows much more about plant taxonomy than I do will correct me.
- Photos 3, 4, 5 and 6 are much easier to identify. I had come around a bend in the trail and saw the Redbud branch sticking out from among the ashe juniper and was stopped in my tracks by the unanticipated beauty. I probably even uttered an audible, "Wow!" This Redbud tree is just beginning to flower. It is a bit early, but not by much. In addition to the flower buds, another definitive identifier for this tree are the seed pods still on the branches that can be seen in the sixth photo. There are two varieties of Redbud that grow in this area, the Eastern and the Texas, but without the leaves, I can't tell which this one is.
- Photos 7, 8 and 9 have to be Catclaw Acacia. That is the only plant I have ever seen with this type of thorns. The young blossoms are also typical of an acacia.
- Photo 10 is a Golden-eye Phlox. This plant with a single flower was blooming all by its lonesome, even though this is typically a flower that blooms in abundance in the late winter and into spring. Sometimes they even hang around into the early fall.
- Photos 11 through 17 are Wind-flower (Anemone berlandieri Pritz.). This is another common winter blooming wildflower in Bexar County. As can be seen in the photos, they range in color from white through red to deep purple.
- Photo 18 is Agarita (Mahonia trifoliolata (Maric.) Fedde). These winter blossoms will mature through the spring and produce red-orange berries in the summer that make delicious jelly. Of course, harvesting the berries from this shrub with very sharp prickly leaves can be a challenge, but well worth the effort.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Eisenhower Park, Cedar Flats > Yucca Trails
Today's photos:
Today's walk was through the southern, lower elevation half of Eisenhower Park. This park was the second in the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department system to be designated as a Natural Area. Friedrich Wilderness Park was the first with that designation.
Eisenhower Park is located in north central Bexar County within the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. The park also occupies a unique and critical topographic location in that its rain runoff drains into three of Bexar County's five major watersheds. Rain water runoff that drains from the southeastern and southern boundary of the park, which is the major amount of runoff from the park, enters the Olmos Creek / San Antonio River watershed. This is the northern most direct source of that watershed.
Runoff that drains to the east from the northeast corner of the park enters the Salado Creek watershed. Runoff draining to the west from the northwest corner and western boundary enters the Leon Creek watershed. Of course, both the Salado Creek and Leon Creek are tributaries of the San Antonio River with confluences in south Bexar County, so all of the runoff eventually ends up in the San Antonio River.
The long range development plan of the Parks and Recreation Department includes the extension northward of the current Salado Creek and Leon Creek Greenway trails to have them converge at a common location in Eisenhower Park. The completion of that plan is a long way off in the future, but is something to look forward to having in place.
Today's photos are a brief glimpse of all the images that I have from this walk. There will be two more upcoming posts with more specific topics.
- If I had to select one photo that illustrates the vegetation of the Edwards Plateau ecoregion, it would probably be the first one in this series. Growing low to the ground in the foreground are several Twisted-leaf Yucca plants. This species of yucca is only found as a native plant on the Edwards Plateau. Behind the twisted-leaf yucca are several Sotol, another plant characteristic of the region. And behind the sotol is an Ashe Juniper sapling. To the right of the ashe juniper is the sapling of a deciduous hardwood, but I'm not certain which species it is.
- The second, third and fourth photos are a Shiny Flea Beetle (Asphaera lustrans). This is another creature where I wonder how it got its common name. It is obviously a shiny beetle, but it has nothing at all to do with fleas.
- The fifth photo is a snail shell. Based on personal observation, I know this is one of the very common snails in Bexar County and it has a beautiful shell, but that is about the limit on my knowledge of snails. It looks like a Striped Rabdotus (Rabdotus alternatus), but don't quote me on that.
- The sixth, seventh and eighth photos are of an Eastern Cottontail Rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus). I have seen cottontails in Eisenhower Park before, but they have all been back in the brush. This one sprang across the trail right in front of me, stopped right as it entered the undergrowth and looked back at me for a minute or two before hopping off down the hill as if it had somewhere it needed to be.
- The ninth and tenth photos are of the ubiquitous Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). I was thinking this was going to end up being a walk without a bird sighting, but this mockingbird was apparently waiting for me next to the parking lot wen I returned to my car. When a creature poses for a photo, I can't easily pass up the opportunity.
If all goes according to plan, tomorrow's post will be "A Bloomin' South Texas Winter."
Monday, February 4, 2013
Crownridge Canyon Natural Area, Red Oak Loop Trail, once around the loop
Today's photos:
Following a very intense week along the San Antonio River, it was time for a bit of a change of pace. Crownridge Canyon Natural Area is located in the upper Leon Creek watershed in northwest San Antonio. It was the first natural area developed by the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department as part of the Edwards Aquifer Protection Initiative.
This Natural Area is a box canyon on the periphery of the Edwards Escarpment. It has a very different ecosystem from the riparian ecosystem which is being restored along the San Antonio River. This post focuses on the lay of the land and some of the vegetation found in the canyon. The next post will feature "A Few Critters in Crownridge Canyon."
- The first photo is an oak motte in a savannah restoration area in the Natural Area. The trees in the background are growing on the wall along the west side of the canyon.
- The second photo is a Sotol with Ashe Juniper (Mountain Cedar) in the background.
- The third photo is the view looking upstream from the Red Oak Trail Overlook bridge.
- The fourth photo is a close up of the young bark that is characteristic of the Escarpment Black Cherry. The bark loses the silver stripes and changes texture as the tree matures.
- The fifth photo is the top of an Ashe Juniper.
- The sixth photo is Wafer Ash seeds. Like the mountain cedar, the wafer ash is another example of how common names, versus scientific names, can be misleading. The mountain cedar isn't a cedar and the wafer ash isn't an ash. The wafer ash is actually in the citrus family. It is also known as a hoptree.
- The seventh through tenth photos are Evergreen Sumac. I was impressed by the abundance of evergreen sumac still with their red berries as I walked the trail. The evergreen sumac is an excellent shrub for native landscaping. The flowers attract butterflies and the berries are food for a wide range of wildlife.
