Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Along with the ducks enjoying the Salado Creek wetland this past Wednesday, there was a pair of Greater Yellowlegs. These are large sandpipers that spend their winters along the Gulf Coast and inland wetlands. It isn't at all surprising that they are called "yellowlegs," because their legs really are a very bright yellow:
Monday, February 6, 2012
Today's photos:
With the rain this past weekend, San Antonio has already received more than the average rainfall for the entire month of February. That makes three months in a row: December, January and February, with above average rain and these are, on average, the three driest months of the year. The drought last year was so severe, however, it will take above average rain at least through summer to work all the way out of it.
After asking the question, "How wet is the Salado Creek wetland?" last week, today seemed to be a good one for answering the question, "How much water is there along the Water Loop Trail?" There was a small amount of water flowing in the streams that cross this section of the park. They drain the land very efficiently.
I am looking forward to a lush spring.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Today's photos:
On today's walk at Crescent Bend Nature Park, I spent the entire time along Cibolo Creek. There was a flash flood warning for later in the evening with the possibility of thundershowers in the overnight forecast. The park seemed unusually quiet and I couldn't help but wonder if it really was the quiet before the storm.
There were a few ducks on the creek. I'll post photos of them at a later date. They were very skittish and flew further away as I approached to try to get better photos. The few perching birds I saw stayed far enough back in the brush I wasn't able to get their photos. The turtle in the two photos above is a Texas spiny softshell turtle.
The thunderstorms weren't forecast to go severe, but the soil is so saturated right now, it doesn't take much rain to cause flash flooding. This is in spite of the fact that South Texas is still in extreme drought because there hasn't been enough rain for the the aquifers and surface reservoirs to refill yet.
Little did I realize what would transpire later in the evening. This post is being published much later than usual because the core of a severe storm passed directly over Olmos Basin. The lightning became so intense, I finally shut down the computer.
