Wednesday, February 13, 2013
McAllister Park, natural surface trail beside Mud Creek
downstream from Buckhorn Rd
Today's photos:
While the natural areas of McAllister Park suffer from even more of the stress that is common to most urban natural areas due to the fact that over the years the park has become a multi-use facility, it is still a prime example in San Antonio of a dynamic urban forest:
- The first photo is looking face to face at a red admiral butterfly. It was at the entrance to the trail and I had a strange feeling this butterfly was watching over the comings and goings on the trail.
- The second photo is a detail of a portion of a very large, decaying trunk of a fallen live oak tree. This trunk has been lying on the forest floor for at least a couple of years. Even though the tree is no longer living, its decaying trunk still plays a critical role in the ongoing life of the forest's biotic community.
- The third, fourth and fifth photo are of the berries remaining on a possumhaw bush. While its berries are a beautiful sight, it left me wondering why the frugivores haven't devoured them yet.
- The sixth photo is of a very large bluewood condalia bush. This one, by my estimate, is a good ten to twelve feet tall.
- The seventh photo is the top of one of the numerous very large and impressive live oaks that are growing in McAllister Park.
- The eighth and ninth photo are of a grey hairstreak (or one of its close hairstreak cousins) butterfly drinking nectar from agarita flowers.
- The tenth and eleventh photo are close ups of agarita flowers.
- The twelfth photo, like the seventh photo, is another live oak tree.
- The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth photos are of a backlit American snout butterfly.
- The sixteenth and seventeenth photos are of a ruby-crowned kinglet. These birds do not sit still for more than a couple seconds at a time and are constantly flitting around a tree. This kinglet was finding plenty to eat in a hackberry thicket. The density of the tree branches and the way they intertwine made it even more difficult to get even a couple photos of this beautiful little bird.
- The eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth photos are of another red admiral butterfly sunning itself on a fallen live oak limb. When this limb had fallen, it took part of a large grapevine with it.
Monday, February 11, 2013
San Antonio River, Mission Reach, Concepcíon 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 Concepcíon 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.
(Hither) Friday, February 8, 2013
Medina River Natural Area,
El Camino > Rio Medina > El Chaparral Trails
Today's photos:
My day began Friday with docent training from the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department in the Medina River Natural Area. I didn't have time during the day for a separate walk around the trail from the one we took for the training, but I was able to get a selection of photos:
- The first two photos in this series are of an Eastern fox squirrel munching on a bald cypress cone. This squirrel is sitting atop the trunk of a large cypress that had fallen across the Medina River and created a bridge all the way across from one bank to the other.
- The third, fourth, fifth and sixth photos are of a Red Admiral butterfly. The red admiral butterflies are one of the most common butterflies to remain active during a mild winter. This butterfly's hind wings are a bit ragged, but that is not unusual for this time of year and it is still capable of flying very well.
- The seventh and eighth photos are of a Polydamas Swallowtail butterfly. I haven't seen many, but over the past couple of weeks have sighted four or five of them at various locations around Bexar County.
- The ninth photo is of an American Snout. I think I have seen more American snouts at the Medina River Natural Area than I have at any other location in the county.
- The tenth photo is an orange and brown millipede. My knowledge of millipedes, which are Arthropods in the Class Diplopoda, is on par with my knowledge of snails. One thing I discovered is there even less authoritative information on the web about millipedes than there is about snails. I was more than a bit frustrated trying to search for more information.
Friday afternoon, after the docent training, I had to leave for a trip to La Grange, TX about 125 miles over yonder east-northeast of San Antonio:
(Yonder) Saturday, February 9, 2013
Colorado River at La Grange, Fayette County, TX
TX Hwy 71, Public access boat ramp
Today's photos:
Other than the photograph of my grandfather in one of the very early posts of While on a Walk, all of the photos I have posted on this blog have been taken in the 1,257 square mile area of Bexar County. That's more than enough territory to keep a wildlife blogger busy for a long time to come.
I didn't take my dSLR camera with me on this weekend trip to La Grange primarily because I knew there would be little time for photography. Saturday morning I did have a few minutes to make a stop at the public access boat ramp next to the Tx Hwy 71 bridge on the Colorado River.
The only camera I had with me was my cell phone camera, so the two photos above are not of the best quality, but they are an adequate representation of the scenic beauty of the Colorado River. These are looking upstream from the boat ramp. The bridge in the distance is the Union Pacific railroad bridge.
As can be seen in these two photos, the Colorado is a much larger river than either the Medina or the San Antonio River here in Bexar County. One can also get some idea of the difference in the riparian ecosystem along this section of the Colorado with its dense growth of deciduous hardwood trees. There was a great egret along the bank of the river and a yellow-rumped warbler in a tree next to the boat ramp, but I wasn't able to get a photo of either with the cell phone camera.
Publication update: I do have a Sunday Special Edition in the works. Hopefully it will be ready to go online before Monday evening.
