Springtime Awakens Along the Lower Medina River

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Winter transforming to Spring in the South Texas brush country:

These photos were taken on a walk at the Medina River Natural Area on Friday, February 26, 2016.

An Evening Among the Oaks

Friday, February 22, 2013

Hardberger Park, Oak Loop Trail

Today's photos:

I arrived at Hardberger Park fairly late in the afternoon. As so often happens at this time of the day, the quality of the light helped set the mood. The woods acquire something of a magical aura as the sun lowers towards the horizon.

• The first two photos are an American Crow. The distinctive "caw, caw, caw" the crow cried out attracted my attention before I actually saw the bird emerge from above the woods.
• The third and fourth photos are a White-winged Dove that was keeping close watch over the trail.
• The fifth photo is an Agarita shrub in full bloom. The agarita were the only flowers I saw blooming along the trail.
• The sixth photo is a Christmas Cactus also known as the Christmas cholla and tasajillo. Along with the numerous prickly pear clusters, the Christmas cactus grows in abundance in this area of the park.
• The seventh and eighth photos are Live Oak trees from which the Oak Loop Trail gets its name. The woods in this area is dominated by the live oaks. There are also some Ashe Juniper growing in the area. As can be seen in the eighth photo, the Texas Persimmon provides much of the lower understory growth, As a matter of fact, there is so much Texas persimmon growing along the trail, this could just as well be called the "Persimmon Loop Trail," but I guess that doesn't quite have the same appeal to it.
• The ninth photo is a close up of a Texas Persimmon trunk with its distinctive smooth bark.
• The tenth photo is a family of White-tailed Deer that were walking along the tree line along the edge of the recently cleared savannah restoration area. The PVC pipes are the irrigation system for the restoration project. This spring the newly planted prairie grasses will grow tall enough to hide the irrigation system from view.
• The eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth photos are a Turkey Vulture soaring through the evening sky above the savannah restoration area.
• The moon is the most obvious object in the fourteenth photo. Somewhat less obvious, but equally important, are the thin, wispy cirrus clouds being blown along in the jet stream high overhead.
• The fifteenth photo is another close up of a Texas Persimmon.

The Essence of an Urban Forest

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

McAllister Park, natural surface trail beside Mud Creek
downstream from Buckhorn Rd

Today's photos:

While the natural areas of McAllister Park suffer from even more of the stress that is common to most urban natural areas due to the fact that over the years the park has become a multi-use facility, it is still a prime example in San Antonio of a dynamic urban forest:

• The first photo is looking face to face at a red admiral butterfly. It was at the entrance to the trail and I had a strange feeling this butterfly was watching over the comings and goings on the trail.
• The second photo is a detail of a portion of a very large, decaying trunk of a fallen live oak tree. This trunk has been lying on the forest floor for at least a couple of years. Even though the tree is no longer living, its decaying trunk still plays a critical role in the ongoing life of the forest's biotic community.
• The third, fourth and fifth photo are of the berries remaining on a possumhaw bush. While its berries are a beautiful sight, it left me wondering why the frugivores haven't devoured them yet.
• The sixth photo is of a very large bluewood condalia bush. This one, by my estimate, is a good ten to twelve feet tall.
• The seventh photo is the top of one of the numerous very large and impressive live oaks that are growing in McAllister Park.
• The eighth and ninth photo are of a grey hairstreak (or one of its close hairstreak cousins) butterfly drinking nectar from agarita flowers.
• The tenth and eleventh photo are close ups of agarita flowers.
• The twelfth photo, like the seventh photo, is another live oak tree.
• The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth photos are of a backlit American snout butterfly.
• The sixteenth and seventeenth photos are of a ruby-crowned kinglet. These birds do not sit still for more than a couple seconds at a time and are constantly flitting around a tree. This kinglet was finding plenty to eat in a hackberry thicket. The density of the tree branches and the way they intertwine made it even more difficult to get even a couple photos of this beautiful little bird.
• The eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth photos are of another red admiral butterfly sunning itself on a fallen live oak limb. When this limb had fallen, it took part of a large grapevine with it.

A Bloomin' South Texas Winter

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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2

3

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5

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18

• 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.