Autumn days don't get much better here in South Texas than it was this past Thursday. Early in the afternoon, the temperature was in the mid-70s (F). The sun was bright and pleasantly warm in a deep blue sky with a few scattered clouds. Recent rain has the vegetation refreshed following the dry heat of summer. As I mentioned in a few posts this time two years ago, this is our "second Spring."
The Yanaguana Nature Trail at Mission San Juan was vibrant on Thursday:
- The first two photos are the top of a very tall Huisache tree against the beautiful clouds dotting a small section of the sky.
- The third and fourth photos are a Tievine flower with the inflorescence of a Southwestern Bristlegrass in the upper right-hand corner of the photos.
- The fifth and sixth photos are of Goldeneye. There is an European Honeybee on the flower in the sixth photo. I am becoming increasingly disturbed by the sparse number of bees, both European and native. These flowers should have a very large number of a wide variety bee species attracted to their nectar.
- The last two photos appear to me to be Rough Sunflower (Helianthus hirsutus). They are similar to the Goldeneye, but these flowers are larger and the leaves are somewhat different than the Goldeneye.
This set of photographs was taken on the Yanaguana Nature Trail at Mission San Juan in the the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park on Thursday, October 17, 2013.
To quote the Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America, "In Texas and Arizona, massive flights of huge numbers [of American Snout butterflies] are legendary but unpredictable." One of these massive flights is currently in progress here in Bexar and surrounding counties to the point where they have become the topic of local news stories and numerous Facebook posts.
The American Snout is another butterfly whose larval host plant is Hackberry (Celtis sp.). The adults are attracted to the nectar of a wide variety of flowers. Also, American Snout especially like the juice of ripe Texas Persimmon fruit. The one pictured here is on a Goldeneye (Viguiera dentata) flower:
This set of photographs was taken on the Yanaguana Nature Trail at Mission San Juan in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park on Thursday, October 17, 2013.
(Voiceover in an exaggerated soft whisper)
"We are standing very still here on the edge of the meadow watching this Greater Roadrunner, a large ground-dwelling cuckoo, contemplate its next move..."
This set of photographs was taken along the Water Loop Trail at Hardberger Park on Monday, October 14, 2013.
In the Order of Lepidoptera, there are two royal lineages. The best known is the Monarch. Then there are the Monarch's cousin, the Queen, and the royal wanna be, the Viceroy (really nothing more than a mimic). There are also the Emperors: the Tawny Emperor and its cousins the Hackberry Emperor and the Empress Leilia.
The larval host plants for both the Tawny and Hackberry Emperors are Sugar Hackberry and Netleaf Hackberry trees. Empress Leilia's larval host plant is Spiny Hackberry, more commonly known as Granjeno here in South Texas.
This Tawny Emperor was fluttering through the brush along the trail until it landed to bask in the warmth of the sun on a Velvet-leaf Mallow:
This set of photographs was taken on the Water Loop Trail at Hardberger Park on Monday, October 14, 2013.
The persimmon is the only native Texas tree in the Ebony Family*. Like their Asian cousins in the Ebenaceae Family, the larger trees have a black heartwood surrounded by a yellow sapwood. The Chapote Prieto, better known as the Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana), is very common in South Central Texas woodlands.
Texas Persimmon is an ideal tree for native landscaping as long as two things are kept in mind. They are dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female trees and the ripe fruit produces a nearly permanent black stain. Therefore, male trees should be planted next to sidewalks and driveways so the fallen ripe fruit does not stain them.
The sensuously curved branches with smooth bark is quite attractive. The fruit is ripe when it is black and is edible for both people and wildlife. (But, again, keep in mind the fruit juice will stain one's fingers black.) This is the larval host plant for the Grey Hairstreak butterfly.
It has been a very good year for the Texas Persimmons here in Bexar County as the trees are currently loaded with an abundance of fruit:
This set of photographs was taken on the Water Loop Trail at Hardberger Park on Monday, October 14, 2013.
* The Ebano, also known as Texas Ebony, is not a true Ebony. It is actually in the Legume (Fabaceae) Family.
This beautiful rose-colored flower, Pavonia lasiopetala, goes by a number of common names, such as Pavonia, Rock Rose and Rose Pavonia, but Rose Mallow is the best indication this really isn't a rose, at least not one in the Rosaceae Family. Rose Mallow, as the name indicates, is in the Malvaceae Family.
Rose Mallow is a distant cousin of the Velvet-leaf Mallow. Its leaves have a similar shape to Velvet-leaf Mallow's leaves, but have serrated edges. And its leaves are almost as soft as those of Velvet-leaf Mallow.
This set of photographs was taken along the Water Loop Trail at Hardberger Park on Monday, October 14, 2013.
A few scattered patches of Orange Milkweed, also known as Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), grow along the Mission Reach. I'm not sure if the patch growing by the weir upstream of the pedestrian bridge near Roosevelt Park survived the May flood. The one growing by the riffle below the Confluence Park Trailhead did survive the flood and is in full bloom right now.
Given the current challenges to the survival of the Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), I was pleasantly surprised to see this Monarch taking full advantage of the Orange Milkweed's nectar:
Milkweed is also the larval host plant for the Monarchs.
This set of photographs was taken along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Monday, October 7, 2013.
