I did manage to get in two walks at the beginning of this month before the deep freeze set in. On both walks, I was pleased to see a Spotted Sandpiper busily bobbing its tail as it walked along. It must not have found anything to eat at this location and flew off upstream. This was the first Spotted Sandpiper I have seen this season:
This is another one of the birds that spends the summer in the north, but heads south for the winter. They frequently winter over along the river. This sandpiper still has a few spots on its breast characteristic of its summer plumage.
Fortunately, deep freezes are short lived here in South Texas. The weather forecast looks favorable for more walks in the next couple of weeks.
This set of photographs was taken at the first weir downstream from the Lone Star Blvd bridge at Roosevelt Park on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, January 2, 2014.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Quality of Life
"Joy is to fun what the deep sea is to a puddle. It's a feeling inside that can hardly be contained." - Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32)
A healthy urban wildlife habitat is also a healthy human habitat. This should be self-evident but it has actually been a lesson we humans seem to have been slow to learn. Study after study is verifying that a healthy urban wildlife habitat reduces the heat island effect common to most metropolitan areas, thus reducing energy costs. They also reduce both air and water pollution reducing the harmful effects the pollution causes in the health of urban populations. They increase infiltration of rain water into the water table reducing the amount of runoff that leads to flooding and increasing the valuable ground water supply. The list goes on, but this makes my point.
A healthy urban wildlife habitat also leads to a higher quality of life, reducing the stress of urban life. It is a joy to live in such a habitat. Much work remains to be done to bring San Antonio and Bexar County to its full potential in terms of having a healthy urban wildlife habitat, but compared to many, if not most, metropolitan areas of similar size, we have made much progress here. In fact, the 1997 City of San Antonio Master Plan Policies include the goal to "integrate environmental quality protection into all phases of local planning and policy implementation."* Many benefits of this goal are now being realized.
Of course, there are always going to be individuals, corporate entities and government agencies that are going to do things on the cheap to "save money." Almost always, the savings are short term and contain hidden long term mitigation costs. And, perhaps even more destructive, are those with no long term vested interest in the community that want to make a quick profit at the expense of the long term quality of life in the community. It is imperative that we remain vigilant regarding this sort of activity and work to keep it from occurring.
The point is we have already proven that in working together as a community with cooperation between the private and public sectors, and between government agencies at all levels, we can preserve and, where necessary, restore a high quality habitat for both people and wildlife. We can have a sustainable high quality of life that abounds in opportunities for experiencing a deep and abiding joy.
The photos in this post were taken on my walk along the San Antonio River this past Friday:
- The first photo is the Anacacho Orchid Tree in full bloom.
- The second and third photos are a Fiery Skipper butterfly enjoying the nectar of the Anacacho Orchid Tree's flowers.
- The fourth photo is the adult American Coot with one of its offspring.
- The fifth and sixth photo are a Spotted Sandpiper still retaining its spotless winter plumage. Some of these birds have begun to return to their summer spotted plumage, but most appear to be retaining the winter plumage for now.
- The seventh photo is a Northern Shoveler.
* Management Practices for Natural Waterways (pdf file) (The quote is on pdf page 12 of this document.)
Monday, February 18, 2013
San Antonio River, Mission Reach, "Teddy" Roosevelt Park Trailhead,
once around the loop trail
Today's photos:
On President's Day last year, I walked at Eisenhower Park, so this year it was Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt Park's turn. Teddy Roosevelt visited San Antonio on several occasions and always stayed at the Menger Hotel. His best known visit was in 1898 when he recruited the "Rough Riders" using the Menger Hotel bar as his "recruiting station."
Roosevelt's first visit to San Antonio, however, was in 1892 when he participated in a javelina hunt. Roosevelt was an avid hunter, but to the best of my knowledge (which is admittedly limited in this subject), there is no detailed record of where he hunted in the San Antonio area. I can't help but wonder if he spent some time hunting along the San Antonio River.
Of course, the habitat along the River has changed dramatically since Roosevelt's visits. One of the primary goals of the San Antonio River Restoration Project is to return the River to something of the character the River had around the time of Roosevelt's last visit to San Antonio about a hundred years ago.
This restoration process is still in the early stages. So here is a bit of what I saw and photographed today:
- The first photo is a Great Blue Heron.
- The second photo is a Little Blue Heron.
- The third, fourth and fifth photos are of a Spotted Sandpiper. If you look closely at its breast, the summer spotted plumage is beginning to return.
- The sixth photo is a Double-crested Cormorant.
- The seventh photo is an Eastern Black Nightshade. Like most nightshades, the fruit is toxic.
- The eighth photo is a Familiar Bluet damselfly.
- The ninth photo is a Firewheel flower. It is amazing the range of variation these flowers in the same species can have.
- The tenth photo is a pair of Red-tailed Hawks perched atop the old Lone Star Brewery smokestack.
- In the eleventh and twelfth photos, I had looked away from the smokestack for a minute or two and when I looked back, only the female red-tailed hawk remained perched at the top.
- The thirteenth photo is of two slider turtles sunning themselves on rocks in the River. This was a very warm sunny day and there were numerous turtles out on the rocks.
- The fourteenth photo is of a Texas Mountain Laurel in full bloom with a bee coming to gather nectar.
- The fifteenth photo* is an Anacacho Orchid Tree which is not actually an orchid, but a legume.
- The sixteenth photo is a male Gadwall.
* This post has been updated 2/19/2013 at 12:45 PM to provide the correct identification for the plant in this photo.
Monday, February 11, 2013
San Antonio River, Mission Reach, ConcepcÃon Park Trailhead upstream
Today's photos:
The weather changed again over the weekend, so today was more typical of mid-February here: a bit chilly, windy and overcast with scattered sprinkles that were too light to show up on the weather radar. However, compared to the destructive storms occurring in much of the rest of the U.S., our weather remains pleasantly mild.
As I was walking, I became particularly aware of the texture of the landscape; how it was reflecting the mood created by the weather, particularly with the wind rippling the surface of the river.
- The first photo is a little blue heron. I couldn't help but wonder if this is one of the pair we have been seeing further upstream or if there are more little blues along the Mission Reach.
- The second photo is a slider turtle sitting on a rock. It was an overcast day, so I don't think it would be correct to say it was "sunning" itself. As a matter of fact, this was the only turtle I saw the entire walk. What really fascinated me, however, was how the wind and the presence of the rock in the current affected the surface texture of the water.
- The third and fourth photos are a snowy egret.
- The fifth photo is a great blue heron flying over some power lines.
- The sixth through the eleventh photos are of a spotted sandpiper, once again with spotless winter plumage, searching for food without any apparent trepidation of the water current going over the weir and down the riffle.
- The twelfth photo is of water rushing down through a riffle. There aren't any birds or other creatures in the photo. The subject of the photo is the texture and fluidity of the scene itself.
- The thirteenth photo is a pair of gadwalls.
- The fourteenth photo is a fascinating tree branch pattern in one of the old pecan trees above the river in ConcepcÃon Park.
Publication update: As it turns out, the Sunday Special Edition that I had hoped to post this past Sunday still needs some more work, so it will be this coming Sunday's post. After all, life is a process that requires continuous adaptation.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Vespers
