Spring!!!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

There is still almost a full month of winter left according to the calendar, but the bloomin' flowers along the trail tell a much different story:

This looks much more like Spring than Winter.

The Huisache are blooming right on time and I don't think it has been cold enough, long enough to prevent the Four-nerve Daisies from blooming all winter. The Anacacho Orchid tree is blooming about a month early, the Common Sunflower didn't wait 'til summer and the Eastern Gamagrass is about two months early.

And above all the others, Texas Mountain Laurel shouts "SPRING" the clearest of them all.

These photographs were taken on my walk along the Roosevelt Park loop trail of the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River yesterday, Monday, February 22, 2016.

Going Strong Very Late In The Season

I'm not quite sure what to make of this cluster of Eastern Gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) blooming profusely at the beginning of January as if it were still October:

This set of photographs was taken on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Not Just Any Old Grass

The four primary grasses in the Tallgrass Prairie are Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indiangrass and Switchgrass. A number of grasses could be considered primary riparian grasses. An excellent riparian grass must grow well in shade or partial sun, have deep, strong root systems capable of stabilizing the soil, thus preventing erosion, and be capable of growing in the moist soil of stream banks and in the overbank zone.

I would include Switchgrass, Inland Sea Oats and Eastern Gamagrass among the top candidates as primary riparian grasses. Each of these three grasses have their own unique characteristics.

Eastern Gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) is a bunch grass that is a close relative of corn. Like corn, it is monoecious, meaning it has separate male and female flowers on the same plant. Unlike corn, the male and female flowers are on one continuous spike with the male flowers at the distal (outer) end of the spike.

The female flowers, located immediately below the male flowers on the spike, produce stacked yellow kernels that closely resemble corn kernels when ripe.

In addition to being an excellent soil stabilizer, Eastern Gamagrass is an important food source for both birds and mammals.

This set of photographs was taken along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River near the Roosevelt Park Trailhead on Thursday, October 31, 2013.

The Emerging, Thriving Ecosystem of the Mission Reach

Friday, April 12, 2013

San Antonio River, Mission Reach, Roosevelt Park Trailhead, around the loop trail

Today's photos:

My week along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River was rather overwhelming to say the least. This morning I was learning about the grasses growing along this section of the River. I returned in the afternoon for another walk around the loop specifically to photograph.

This set of photos is just a small sample of all the photos I have from this walk. The entire set of photos is only a random sample from the ecosystem taking hold and flourishing along the Mission Reach:

• The first two photos are a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. These night-herons began migrating back into the area a couple weeks ago, returning from their winter home farther to the south.
• The third photo is a Great Blue Heron.
• The fourth photo is an overview with a Great Egret, a Neotropic Cormorant and a gathering of slider turtles on the rocks near the side of the River.
• The fifth photo is a Mexican Hat. These flowers can range from solid dark red-orange to solid yellow with a wide range of variation in between.
• The sixth and seventh photos are a pair of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers perched in a young Sycamore tree.
• The eighth photo is a Red-tailed Hawk soaring high above the River.
• The ninth photo is a Gray Hairstreak butterfly on a Bluebonnet. The Bluebonnets are beginning to go to seed.
• The tenth photo is a Tropical Buckeye butterfly on a Bluebonnet.
• The eleventh photo is a Common Carp (pdf link). There are a wide variety of fish species living in the River. The carp is one of the biggest of these fish. The Common Carp was introduced to Texas in 1881 and is not a native fish.
• The twelfth photo is a Killdeer.
• The thirteenth through fifteenth photos are the seed heads of Eastern Gamagrass. This is one of the desirable native grasses growing along the River. This grass is monoecious. It has separate male and female flowers on the same plant. The Eastern Gamagrass is related to corn and the seeds resemble corn kernels.
• The sixteenth photo is a damselfly in the genus Argia. It appears to be a female Aztec Dancer (Argia nahuana).
• The seventeenth photo is a Mexican Prickly Poppy.
• The eighteenth photo appears to be an Elm Sawfly (Cimbex americana) or similar species.
• The nineteenth photo is a ripening Dewberry.
• The twentieth photo is a Corona de Cristo Passionflower. There is a flower bud just beginning to open to the left of the fully open flower.