Nap Time Beside the River

This Lesser Yellowlegs was ready for a mid-afternoon nap:

The female Northern Shoveler nearby in the last photo had the same idea.

This set of photographs was taken downstream from Mission County Park along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, December 19, 2013.

The Measure of Success, A Brief Reprise

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The emphasis in the previous post, "Ecosystems Are Not Abstract Concepts," was clearly on the wildflowers currently blooming along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River. The riparian habitat restoration began with the reconfiguration of the geomorphology of the river channel. This was quickly followed by establishing a diverse growth of vegetation to stabilize the soil and provide food for a wide variety of fauna.

As I pointed out in the post on Sunday, February 3, 2013, "The Measure of Success, A Sunday Special Edition," both the total number of birds and the high diversity of their species now living along the river are among the best indicators of the effectiveness of this process thus far.

Also, one primary objective of the restoration process is to provide habitat for the migratory birds along the Central North American Flyway.  The Blue-winged Teal and Yellowlegs are two birds that are in this category.

Here are four of the numerous species of birds I encountered on my walk yesterday: 

• The first three photos are Blue-winged Teal. These teal will soon likely be headed north for the summer, but a few are content to remain in the area year-round.
• The fourth through sixth photos are a Lesser Yellowlegs. This is another bird that will likely be searching for cooler weather to the north for the summer.
• The seventh through the ninth photos are a Killdeer. The killdeer are content to put up with our crazy weather year-round.
• The tenth through fourteenth photos are a Great Blue Heron. The great blues also stay year-round. From what I have seen, these birds are the most territorial of all the river birds. I have a feeling they put up with our weather all year simply because they aren't about to risk losing a prime nesting site to any other bird. Whenever I see a great blue up fairly close, I always get the impression they are the "angry old man" shouting "Get off my lawn!"

Wind Blown

Monday, February 25, 2013

San Antonio River, Mission Reach, Concepcíon Park Trailhead
the downstream loop trail

Today's photos:

The weather story today here in Bexar County was the high wind. This afternoon while I was walking, the wind was blowing at about 28 mph sustained with gusts between 40 and 45 mph. There were a few grass fires around the area (one with fatalities), but falling trees and blowing debris were the bigger problems.

It seemed to me the River greenway trail was probably the safest place for a walk. The primary disadvantage was there are few windbreaks along the open river channel. Holding the camera steady enough to take the photos was quite a challenge at times. But then, just standing up in the higher wind gusts was also a challenge.

In spite of the wind, I still took at least as many photos on this walk as I usually do on any walk along the River. This is just a sample. There are enough photos for two more posts in the near future.

• The first two photos are Purple Threeawn. The wind was furiously lashing the grass around almost flattening it to the ground at times.
• In the third and fourth photos, the tall dense stand of Cattail provided a windbreak on the river bank. A couple of Northern Shovelers, a few Gadwalls and a Little Blue Heron took advantage of a respite from the wind in its shelter.
• The fifth and sixth photos are of a Pink Evening Primrose. Like all the other plants, this flower was taking a fairly severe beating as the wind whipped it around.
• The seventh and eighth photos are a Snowy Egret.
• The ninth through thirteenth photos are two Lesser Yellowlegs. There were several lesser yellowlegs feeding in the wind whipped water flowing down one of the riffles.
• The fourteenth and fifteenth photos are a male Gadwall swimming in the rough, wind blown water at the center of the River channel.
• The sixteenth and seventeenth photos are of three Killdeer. Along with the lesser yellowlegs, there were numerous killdeer. In the sixteenth photo, the killdeer that was flying higher above the water was having some difficulty navigating a wind gust, but it landed on a rock without any apparent difficulty. (They showed some planes landing at SA International Airport on the evening news. The large jumbo jets seemed to be having similar problems as they approached the runway.)
• The eighteenth photo is a Loggerhead Shrike. It had a tight grip on the tree branch. If shrikes are concerned about such things, this one was definitely having a "bad feather day."

South to San Juan Dam

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

San Antonio River, Mission Reach, VFW Blvd Trailhead
downstream to San Juan Dam at Padre Park and back

Today's photos:

The newest segment of the San Antonio River Greenway from VFW Blvd downstream to San Juan Dam at Padre Park opened a short while ago. Today was my first opportunity to walk this new section of the Greenway Trail. With each new section of trail that opens, the enormous scale of the River Improvement Project becomes more apparent and more impressive.

In this set of photos, there are:

An European honey bee,

A neotropic cormorant (Phalacrocorax brsilianus) fishing. In the last photo of that series, the cormorant has just resurfaced with a small catfish grasped firmly in its beak,

A lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes),

My friend, the red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus),

A slider turtle,

And an orange sulphur butterfly (Colias eurytheme).

The second to the last photo is a view of the new river segment looking downstream from Mission County Park toward San Juan Dam.

The last photo is a view of the Mission San José bell tower and dome. This was taken from about the center of the VFW Blvd bridge looking toward the west southwest. One of the primary purposes of the River Improvement Project is to re-establish the historic link between the River and the Missions. The process of nominating the River Greenway and the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park as a World Heritage Site is well underway. Achieving that status will be an important recognition for both the site and for the San Antonio community.