Monday Along the Salado Creek

Monday, April 15, 2013

Salado Creek Greenway, Lady Bird Johnson Park Trailhead,
Morningstar Boardwalk

Today's photos:

I am preparing this post for publication on Saturday evening (April 20th) in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings and the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion. I first heard about the Boston bombings when I returned to my car following this walk on Monday.

I wrote the paragraph I am using as the Mission Statement for While on a Walk about a year after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, thus the inspiration for the concluding sentence: "In the tormented, torn world we live in, this project is a testament to the power of the human spirit to find delight in God’s awesome creation and to communicate that delight to others, to share in the discourse of revelation and healing."

In this spirit, I dedicate all the posts dated the week of April 15, 2013 to the victims of both the Boston attacks and the West, Texas explosion.

To be clear, the delay in the publication of the posts for this week has nothing directly to do with these events. Purely and simply, I finally ran up against the limits of my stamina. However, I did manage three walks for the week.

The walk presented in this set of photos is from the Salado Creek wetland along the Morningstar Boardwalk. For reasons I have yet to explain fully understand, this section of the Salado Creek isn't as wet as it has been in the past, even during the 2011 drought. I suspect there are multiple underlying causes for the drier creek channel, but until I am able to verify any or all of them, I will refrain from speculation.

• The first two photos are of Turk's Cap flowers. These are excellent plants for nativescapes. They grow particularly well in shaded areas. This relative of the hibiscus has numerous common names including Manzanilla and Mexican Apple. The leaves, flowers and fruit are all edible.
• The third photo is Silver-leaf Nightshade, also known as Trompillo. This plant is NOT edible. As with almost all plants in the family Solanaceae, all parts of this plant are poisonous. (Tomatoes and potatoes are the two best known edible nightshade exceptions.) (I was reminded after publishing this that egg plant and peppers are also edible exceptions.)
• The fourth photo is Wild Onion. These are growing in great abundance along the eastern end of the Morningstar Boardwalk. I probably should mention I have read mixed reviews on how safe it is to eat these onions.
• The fifth photo is a Venus' Looking Glass. 
• The sixth photo is Pink Evening Primrose. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the flowers can range from pure white to a deep rose pink. The two flowers in this photo are an example of the deep rose pink variety.
• The seventh and eighth photos are Scarlet Pimpernel. This plant originated in Europe and North Africa, but now has a worldwide distribution.
• The ninth and tenth photos are a pair of Mallard ducks. Mallards are the origin of all domestic ducks except Muscovy ducks. Anyone who has spent much time on the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio has likely witnessed the relatively tame nature of these birds. Mallards can be downright persistent and not the least bit shy with any human willing to share a bite to eat.
• The eleventh and twelfth photos are Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. The twelfth photo is the male. Males and females look almost identical, but the males are somewhat larger.
• The thirteenth and fourteenth photos are a Familiar Bluet damselfly. 

Why We Celebrate Rain Around Here

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A much needed widespread, soaking rain fell overnight and into this afternoon. I took a much needed day off from a walk today. In case you haven't noticed, we do tend to celebrate some of the small things in life here, like rain. Water, after all, is one of the four necessary requirements (water, food, shelter, space) in a habitat.

The water level in the oxbow lake on Leon Creek was higher than I had anticipated it would be this past Monday (April 1, 2013). In spite of the lower than normal rainfall this year, the water table seems to be remaining reasonably well saturated.  Where there is water in Bexar County, there will likely be a diverse range of fauna:

Following the rain today, I suspect this small lake is now a little bit deeper.

• The first two photos are a small slider turtle that has climbed fairly high up a branch that had fallen into the water.
• The third photo is a male Gadwall. Its mate was just a little too far to the side to get both in the photo.
• The fourth photo is an "armada" of slider turtles, some with only their heads sticking up out of the water.
• The fifth and sixth photos are an American Coot on the left and a Pied-billed Grebe on the right.
• The seventh photo is a closer view of the Pied-billed Grebe.
• The eighth through tenth photos are the American Coot.
• The eleventh through fourteenth photo are a male Black-bellied Whistling Duck. He apparently wasn't planning on going anywhere anytime soon as he pulled his right leg up and tucked it out of sight against his body.
• The fifteenth photo is the male Black-bellied Whistling Duck with its mate to the right in this photo.

Flight of a Black-Bellied Whistling Duck

Thursday, January 31, 2013

The highlight of my walk along the Salado Creek Greenway on Monday (January 28, 2013) was a very large flock of black-bellied whistling ducks. In addition to the less than ideal light from the overcast sky, an additional complication involves the editing of all the photos I took of this flock.

One bird in particular provided an excellent opening in publishing this large set of photos. I think there are two qualities of this species of duck that are generally the most noteworthy: they are ducks that don't quack and they are spectacularly beautiful in flight.

While I was photographing the flock, a number of the birds took flight, but there was one in particular that stood out from all the others:

"Bird Island"; Birds at Elmendorf Lake, Part 4

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

There are two islands in Elmendorf Lake. The main island is a fairly large, thin island. While I didn't walk over to this island, it is accessible by a pedestrian footbridge.

The second island is relatively small by comparison and is inaccessible. This smaller island is a short distance east of the SW 24th St bridge.

I don't know if this smaller island has a name, but if it doesn't, it undoubtably should be named "Bird Island." In this first photo, the "bird island" is in the foreground, the large island in the background and just to the right of center in the distance is the Tower of the Americas, a major San Antonio landmark located in downtown to the southeast of the lake:

A large number of cormorants, primarily double-crested but with a few neotropic mixed in, nest in the trees on this island. Numerous great egrets and black-bellied whistling ducks can be seen on the ground under the trees.

This set of photos was taken on my walk around Elmendorf Lake on Monday, January 7, 2013. Here are links to additional posts from this walk: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and the Vermillion Flycatcher. There will be at least one more additional post in this series.