Autumn in South Texas

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Other than Lost Maples State Natural Area, South Texas isn't known for colorful fall foliage. However, some years in some locations the golden-yellow of the fall elm and the reds of the red oak and flaming sumac can be quite spectacular. The bright orange berries of yaupon and red berries of possumhaw provide an additional burst of color.

The Salado Creek Greenway North, Creekbed Trail* is one of the areas that is a color binge right now. These photos were taken on my walk yesterday. They include in the order I encountered them: red oak, flameleaf sumac and possumhaw. There was also some beautiful golden fall elm, but I couldn't find an angle to get good photos of them.

* A note of caution to anyone walking the natural surface trails of the creekways: insect repellent is highly recommended. The mosquitos are also quite abundant now and tend to be more a problem closer to the actual creek beds than to the paved greenway trails.

Thanksgiving 2012

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Salado Creek Greenway North, Voelcker Ln Trailhead, Creekbed Trail

Today's photos:

give thanks always for the precious gift of life

Happy Thanksgiving

Up A Creek, Part 2: Details, Details, Details

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

This is the second set of photos from my walk in the Salado Creek Greenway North (pdf map link) yesterday, Monday, June 18:

The system I use for taking and processing the photos for this blog lends itself especially well to presenting small details I encounter along the trails. For better or worse over the past year of producing the blog, while I am very aware of my total surroundings, my eye now tends to be attracted to these small details.

In yesterday's post, I tried to present something of an overview of the landscape along this section of Salado Creek. It is indeed South Texas landscape at its finest. The photos today are predominantly my more typical flowers, insects and birds.

The last photo in the series of the black vulture landing on a high tension utility tower may seem out of place with the other photos. There is an electric utility easement that crosses the greenway. As I walked under the wires, I saw this magnificent bird approaching the tower and just couldn't pass up photographing its final landing approach.

Up A Creek, Part 1: Dry Creekbed, Majestic Trees

Monday, June 18, 2012

Salado Creek Greenway North, Voelcker Ln Trailhead
(Creekbed trail north, paved trail return south)

Today's photos:

June is usually the wettest month of the year in Bexar County, but so far this month there has officially been only five hundredths of an inch of rain. The western third of the county has had somewhat more rain this month. The distribution of rain in South Texas can be quite fickle. Without a doubt, San Antonio's urban heat island, primarily within Loop 1604, has a significant impact on the distribution of rain. 

The Salado creekbed is completely dry, at least in this section of the creek. The understory and ground cover vegetation are beginning to show the stress of the lack of rain. There is rain in the forecast for the next few days. Hopefully, the sky will let loose and the landscape will be refreshed.