A Friday at Crownridge Canyon Natural Area

Friday, April 19, 2013

Crownridge Canyon Natural Area, Red Oak Loop Trail

Today's photos:

One of the primary reasons for beginning the While on a Walk blog following my retirement was to have a way to keep myself physically active. I have no intention of abandoning the blog, but increasingly, my walks are becoming a second time around a trail I have walked previously the same day either as a class activity or as a docent leading a tour.

Today I walked the Red Oak Loop Trail at Crownridge Canyon Natural Area in the afternoon after spending the morning along the trail learning about the various grasses growing in this natural area.

• The first photo is a close up of a Pink Mimosa.
• The second photo is a Pincushion Daisy flower. These flowers are close cousins of the Firewheel. The Pincushion Daisy typically has few, or totally lacks, ray flowers around the outer margin, so it looks as if something pulled or ate all the outer "petals" off of a Firewheel.
• The third photo is a Sleepy Orange butterfly.
• The fourth photo is the flower head on a Texas Yellow Buckeye.
• The fifth photo is Sensitive Briar flowers. Note there is a Spotted Cucumber Beetle on the stalk just below the flower on the left.
• The sixth photo is a cluster of Blackfoot Daisies.
• The seventh photo is a flower cluster on a Wafer Ash. Note the ovaries of these three flowers are just beginning to mature and are beginning to take on the characteristic "wafer" appearance.
• The eighth and ninth photos are a Spiderwort in the genus Tradescantia. There are several species of Tradescantia that grow in this area. I'm not certain which one this is, but I think it is the Giant Spiderwort.
• The tenth and eleventh photos are flower buds on Prickly Pear cactus (genus Opuntia).
• The twelfth photo is an overview looking down the canyon. The Live Oak tree in the center of the photo is typical of the beautiful trees in the Crownridge Canyon NA.
• The thirteenth through the seventeenth photos are Rosettegrass (Dicanthelium acuminatum). There are several varieties of Rosettegrass that grow in Bexar County including Dicanthelium acuminatum var. lindheimeri, but I'd be getting in way over my head if I tried to identify the variety shown in these photos.
• The eighteenth photo is a Juniper Hairstreak butterfly on Catclaw Acacia.
• The nineteenth photo is a close up of the claw shaped prickles from which the Catclaw Acacia gets its name.

Birds of Elmendorf Lake, The March Edition

Thursday, April 18, 2013

This set of photos was taken on my walk at Elmendorf Lake Park on Friday, March 22, 2013. As I mentioned in that post, this walk was a few days after the San Antonio River Authority and the City of San Antonio presented a conceptual design workshop regarding future improvements for the park.

Elmendorf Lake is an excellent location for birding. In the post dated Tuesday, April 16, 2013, I presented a series of photos of a Ruddy Duck that I had photographed on this walk. Today's post is the second of three posts of the birds I photographed on March 22:

• The first three photos are American Coots.
• The fourth photo is a Great Blue Heron "hiding" high up in one of the numerous Bald Cypress  in the park.
• The fifth through eighth photos are a Little Blue Heron with the typical non-breeding plumage.
• The ninth and tenth photos are a Little Blue Heron with breeding plumage. The birds swimming in the Lake in these two photos are a pair of Northern Shovelers.
• The eleventh through thirteenth photos are Great Egrets.
• The fourteenth and fifteenth photos are a Snowy Egret.

Adventures in an Urban Riparian Woodland

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

San Antonio River, Brackenridge Park Segment (along Avenue A)

Today's photos:

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the section of the San Antonio River from Tuleta Dr in Brackenridge Park downstream to U.S. 281 has never been channelized for flood control. The urbanization of the surrounding area has definitely had a major impact on the ecosystem along this section of the channel, but the woodland vegetation and the tree canopy arching over the water has remained intact. 

• The first photo is a Parachytas decisus fly in the family Tachinidae. Identifying this large fly was not particularly difficult, but I haven't been able to find much specific information about it online.  Based on my own observations, this is a fairly common fly in Bexar County. This one is on a flower cluster of a Rough-leaf Dogwood.
• The second and third photos are a pair of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.
• The fourth photo is a cluster of Red Oak leaves. Based primarily on where this oak is growing, I assume it is a Southern Red Oak, Quercus shumardii Buckl., but it could also be a Texas Red Oak, Quercus buckleyi Nixon & Dorr, or it could just as well be a hybrid of the two.
• The fifth and sixth photos are a Common Grass Spider, Agelenopsis spp.
• The seventh and eighth photos are an Inca Dove. This dove knew how to find a perfect location and pose for a photo.
• The ninth and tenth photos are a Gulf Fritillary butterfly on Canadian Wildrye grass.
• The eleventh and twelfth photos are a slider turtle. Who said turtles can't climb trees?
• The thirteenth photo is a slider turtle swimming in the river that surfaced to get some air.
• The fourteenth photo is an overview of the river looking upstream showing how the tree canopy shades the water. The shade helps to cool the aquatic habitat.
• The fifteenth through the seventeenth photos are two slider turtles sharing opposite ends of a small log. The turtle on the left is a Red-eared Slider. The one on the right doesn't have the red "ear" stripes. One of these days I will get a positive species identification for these turtles. From what I have seen, they are more common in Bexar County than the Red-eared Sliders.
• The eighteenth and nineteenth photos are a Northern Cardinal.