This set of photographs was taken on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Showing posts with label Museum Reach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Museum Reach. Show all posts
Sunday, September 22, 2013
A Queen and Purple Mist
While walking from the Pearl parking lot to the Bat Loco gathering at the Camden St bridge, I passed a section of the riverbank with a large planting of Purple Palmleaf Mistflowers. Dancing from flower to flower were a large number of Queen butterflies. It was a photo op I couldn't pass up:
Queen butterflies are close cousins of the Monarch butterfly in the Genus Danaus. The two have similar appearances and are sometimes confused with each other.
This set of photographs was taken on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
This set of photographs was taken on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Mexican Free-tailed Bats
Thursday, August 16, 2012
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I specifically walked the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River to try to photograph the Mexican free-tailed bats as they emerged from under the IH-35 bridge over the river at sunset. This was the first time I have tried to photograph bats and I knew it presented a number of challenges: the relatively dim light, the fact that bats fly fairly fast and I'm not familiar enough with their habits to anticipate their movement.
I consider my initial attempt something of a success, but know I can improve on it in future attempts. The goal of this series of photos is to convey the best I can, the awe of watching thousands of bats emerge into the darkening sky:
Here are a few interesting facts about Mexican free-tailed bats:
- The bats spend the winter from mid-October to early spring living in caves in Mexico and Central America. This is their mating season.
- In the spring the bats migrate north into the Southwestern United States, especially Texas and Oklahoma with the largest population concentrated in Texas.
- When they form their colonies after arriving at their northern destination, they separate into all male bachelor colonies and maternity colonies where the females give birth and raise their pups. Males are not involved at all in the rearing of the young bats.
- The IH-35 bridge colony is a bachelor colony with an estimated 20,000 bats.
- Bracken Cave in Comal County north of San Antonio is home to the largest maternity colony of Mexican free-tailed bats in the world. It is estimated that 20 million bats live in Bracken Cave during the summer.
- The 100 million bats living in Central Texas are estimated to eat 1,000 tons of insects per night. Most of the insects they consume are agricultural pests.
- The Mexican free-tailed bats are called "free-tailed" because, unlike other bats, about a third of their tail extends beyond the tail membrane.
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I specifically walked the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River to try to photograph the Mexican free-tailed bats as they emerged from under the IH-35 bridge over the river at sunset. This was the first time I have tried to photograph bats and I knew it presented a number of challenges: the relatively dim light, the fact that bats fly fairly fast and I'm not familiar enough with their habits to anticipate their movement.
I consider my initial attempt something of a success, but know I can improve on it in future attempts. The goal of this series of photos is to convey the best I can, the awe of watching thousands of bats emerge into the darkening sky:
- The bats spend the winter from mid-October to early spring living in caves in Mexico and Central America. This is their mating season.
- In the spring the bats migrate north into the Southwestern United States, especially Texas and Oklahoma with the largest population concentrated in Texas.
- When they form their colonies after arriving at their northern destination, they separate into all male bachelor colonies and maternity colonies where the females give birth and raise their pups. Males are not involved at all in the rearing of the young bats.
- The IH-35 bridge colony is a bachelor colony with an estimated 20,000 bats.
- Bracken Cave in Comal County north of San Antonio is home to the largest maternity colony of Mexican free-tailed bats in the world. It is estimated that 20 million bats live in Bracken Cave during the summer.
- The 100 million bats living in Central Texas are estimated to eat 1,000 tons of insects per night. Most of the insects they consume are agricultural pests.
- The Mexican free-tailed bats are called "free-tailed" because, unlike other bats, about a third of their tail extends beyond the tail membrane.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Back to the Beginning
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
San Antonio River, Museum Reach, The Pearl Complex Trailhead
downstream to the San Antonio Museum of Art and back
Today's photos:
Fifteen months ago While on a Walk began with "The Inspiration" on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River. This evening I returned to the Museum Reach not long before sunset. The light at dusk adds to the challenge of taking nature photographs, but also gives them a specific soft, warm toned visual characteristic.
Typically when I have gone on a walk this late in the evening heading into sunset, it is because my schedule during the day left me few other options. Today I had a specific goal in mind, photographing Mexican free-tailed bats. I have never tried photographing them before this evening.
Between April and October, there is a colony of approximately 20,000 male Mexican free-tailed bats living under the IH-35 bridge over the river. In the hot dry midsummer, the bats emerge from under the bridge at about sunset to begin a night of feasting on insects.
For my first attempt, I might have had a few successful photos similar to the one above. If I did, I will post them tomorrow.
San Antonio River, Museum Reach, The Pearl Complex Trailhead
downstream to the San Antonio Museum of Art and back
Today's photos:
Typically when I have gone on a walk this late in the evening heading into sunset, it is because my schedule during the day left me few other options. Today I had a specific goal in mind, photographing Mexican free-tailed bats. I have never tried photographing them before this evening.
Between April and October, there is a colony of approximately 20,000 male Mexican free-tailed bats living under the IH-35 bridge over the river. In the hot dry midsummer, the bats emerge from under the bridge at about sunset to begin a night of feasting on insects.
For my first attempt, I might have had a few successful photos similar to the one above. If I did, I will post them tomorrow.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
The San Antonio River, Museum Reach: A Lot of Flowers, A Few Birds And a Squirrel
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Today's photos:
Today's photos:
For those not familiar with the San Antonio River, the Museum Reach is the concrete channeled, urban section of the river extending from the Park Segment downstream (south) to the Downtown Riverwalk segment. This section of the river is landscaped to enhance the tourist appeal of the area.
Once again, I needed to walk fairly close to home today, and realized I hadn't walked the Museum Reach since Friday, June 17. Given the late hour I am getting this posted, I will let the photos tell the rest of the story.
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