Springing Up in the Basin, Part 2

Thursday, March 28, 2013

This is the remainder of the photos taken on my walk along the Hondondo Creek Trails yesterday (March 27, 2013):

• The first photo is a Dewberry flower. I thought there would be a lot more Dewberry, and there might be, but this is the only one I found.
• The second photo is Greenbriar, also known as "nature's barbed wire." This vine is very common in wooded areas in South Texas. In some locations, it is difficult to walk through a wooded area because this vine has numerous very sharp prickles that have been known to cut through the pant legs of inexperienced (and at times, experienced) hikers. The tender young leaves of this vine make a tea that is very high in vitamin C.
• The third photo is Guayacan, also known as Soapbush. This shrub is more commonly found in the South Texas Plains and Northern Mexico, but grows as far north as Austin. It is called Soapbush because the bark of the roots was frequently used to make soap for washing wool.
• The fourth photo is a close up of the flower buds of the Wafer Ash, also known as Hoptree. The first two names are derived from the shape of the seeds. This shrub is actually in the Citrus family, not the Ash family. It is also sometimes called Skunk Bush because of the odor emitted by its leaves when they are crushed.
• The fifth through seventh photos are close ups of the flowers on a Texas Persimmon tree. The fruit of the Texas Persimmon is edible, but the tree is usually used in landscaping because of its beautiful, very smooth bark. This is an excellent native plant substitute for crepe myrtle. 
• The eighth through tenth photos are a Black-crested Titmouse. This bird remained perched just long enough for a brief portrait session.
• Unfortunately, the titmouse was perched on a very large Ligustrum, also known as Glossy Privet. Ligustrum are, by far, the predominant invasive plant species in the Olmos Basin. They have taken over large areas of woodland, completely crowding out native hardwoods. As can be seen in these photos, this shrub is loaded with berries, many of which are going to continue the rapid proliferation of this plant.

A Change of Pace in the Upper Leon Creek Watershed

Monday, February 4, 2013

Crownridge Canyon Natural Area, Red Oak Loop Trail, once around the loop

Today's photos:

Following a very intense week along the San Antonio River, it was time for a bit of a change of pace. Crownridge Canyon Natural Area is located in the upper Leon Creek watershed in northwest San Antonio. It was the first natural area developed by the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department as part of the Edwards Aquifer Protection Initiative.

This Natural Area is a box canyon on the periphery of the Edwards Escarpment. It has a very different ecosystem from the riparian ecosystem which is being restored along the San Antonio River. This post focuses on the lay of the land and some of the vegetation found in the canyon. The next post will feature "A Few Critters in Crownridge Canyon."

• The first photo is an oak motte in a savannah restoration area in the Natural Area. The trees in the background are growing on the wall along the west side of the canyon.
• The second photo is a Sotol with Ashe Juniper (Mountain Cedar) in the background.
• The third photo is the view looking upstream from the Red Oak Trail Overlook bridge.
• The fourth photo is a close up of the young bark that is characteristic of the Escarpment Black Cherry. The bark loses the silver stripes and changes texture as the tree matures.
• The fifth photo is the top of an Ashe Juniper.
• The sixth photo is Wafer Ash seeds. Like the mountain cedar, the wafer ash is another example of how common names, versus scientific names, can be misleading. The mountain cedar isn't a cedar and the wafer ash isn't an ash. The wafer ash is actually in the citrus family. It is also known as a hoptree.
• The seventh through tenth photos are Evergreen Sumac. I was impressed by the abundance of evergreen sumac still with their red berries as I walked the trail.  The evergreen sumac is an excellent shrub for native landscaping. The flowers attract butterflies and the berries are food for a wide range of wildlife.

Soaking In Some Sights Along Mud Creek

Friday, January 25, 2013

Mud Creek Park

Today's photos:

The next park upstream along Mud Creek from McAllister Park is Mud Creek Park. Mud Creek Park is a 67 acre flood control retention basin and Edwards Aquifer recharge site with at least 1.4 miles of nature trails (pdf). This was the first time I have been to this park and I only walked a portion of the trail along the eastern most part of the loop trail.

The flora and fauna in this series of photos are too numerous to list all of them, but here are a few of the highlights: Whitethorn Acacia, Huisache, Live Oak, Ashe Juniper (a.k.a. Mountain Cedar), an Orange Sulphur butterfly, Spanish Dagger Yucca, Sotol, Twisted-leaf Yucca, a Black Vulture, Bluewood Condalia and Wafer Ash seeds.

There is one additional set of photos from this walk that will be featured in the upcoming Sunday Special Edition

In Search Of Shade

Monday, June 25, 2012

Leon Creek Greenway, O.P. Schnabel Park Trailhead, north

Today's photos:

The summer heat high, the ridge of atmospheric high pressure that builds over the Southern Plains including South Texas every summer bringing triple digit heat, is firmly in place this week. "In Search Of Shade" will be the theme for all my walks this week and more than likely the rest of the summer. By the time I returned to the car today it was 99°(F) and the high temperature later in the afternoon was 103°.

It is generally 12 degrees cooler in the shade of a tree canopy, so today I stayed primarily on the creek bed trail where the tree canopy is relatively dense and continuous. One of the challenges this presented was that most of what I photographed was also in the shade, sometimes in very deep shade. This adds a degree of difficulty in the photography making it more difficult to get an accurate light meter reading and decreasing an already limited depth of field with the lens settings. Focusing becomes much more difficult.

Overall, the photographs in this series do convey the experience of the walk. This is by far one of the most vibrant sections of Leon Creek with a very diverse range of both flora and fauna.