A Very Cold Morning

I went deer hunting again this morning. At 5:45 am, the temperature was 25 degrees and it was still dark although I could see fairly well because of the full moon. There was a light frost covering everything. At least the wind wasn't blowing to make it seem even colder.

I drove out to the blind, but parked some distance from it. I didn't want the truck to scare the deer away. I gathered up my rifle, backpack, and flashlight and walked to the blind. Even with a full moon, a flashlight, and a dirt road to follow, I went a little off course and had to walk through tall grass to find the fence and the blind. It's amazingly easy to get lost. I hadn't put my gloves on and my left hand fingers were aching from holding the cold rifle.

I settled into the blind, got my binoculars out, loaded the rifle, put on my gloves, and waited. It was 6 and it wouldn't get light until 7. I could see the black sky and bright stars because it wasn't cloudy. Sitting in the blind is a great exercise in patience and tranquility. It doesn't come easy to me.

I heard the feeder go off at 6:30. As it gets light, I'll start to see the deer moving around. It might still be too dark to get a good shot, but I can see their dim outlines through the binoculars or rifle's scope. This morning there was nothing.

The only activity I saw were birds starting their day and a squirrel eating the deer corn. Most of the birds I saw were cardinals. They seem to play a game where one will fly to another tree or bush, and then another will follow it. They'll both sit there for a little bit and then one will fly to the next perch, only to be followed again. I saw them doing this several times. I don't know much about cardinals, but I think it's the males that are a bright red. These were males playing the game. I saw four cardinals at one time, but I don't know if I kept seeing the same ones or different ones as they moved around. They fly very near to the ground and make a choppy, buzzing sound with their wings. I'd never noticed that before.

I sat in the blind until about 8. I kept hoping that if I waited a little longer, I'd see some deer, but they never came. If it was a bit warmer, I might have stayed longer, but I could feel the cold seeping into me. I had remembered to put on my long underwear, so my legs, arms, and body were fine, but my fingers were aching, even though I was wearing gloves. My toes were aching too, and I only had normal athletic socks on, not winter ones.

Sitting in the blind just makes the cold worse. Although it keeps most of the wind off, this morning was calm so that wasn't required. You have to be still and quiet or you'll spook the deer. That's what leads to the cold getting to you, especially in your extremities. I don't think I was in danger of frostbite, but it was definitely uncomfortable.

I wonder if the cold is what kept the deer away. I don't know enough about their behavior to be sure, but maybe they wait until the day warms up before they move around. I'll have to read up on them or ask Paul.

I finally decided to go home. I gathered up my equipment and walked stiffly back to the truck. It's a very short drive, so the truck didn't warm up before I got home. Mary made me a cup of coffee and I spent the next 1/2 hour getting the feeling back in my fingers and toes.

Would I do it again? Absolutely!

The Deer Hunter

Note: This post is about deer hunting. If you're philosophically opposed to hunting or squeamish about the subject, please do not read any further.

I got my first deer of the season yesterday. She was a mature, fairly large, white-tailed doe. It was my third outing in several weeks.

This is the third year that I've been hunting and I've killed four deer. I hunt for two major reasons. First, it provides us with meat. Venison is a lean, healthy meat and since I started hunting, we haven't had to buy ground meat or breakfast sausage at the grocery store. Second, it's part of the wildlife management on our property. White-tailed deer are overpopulated in our part of the state. Their large numbers lead to shortages of food for them and causes problems for the environment and habitat as they eat everything they can.

As a certified Master Naturalist, I understand that everything in nature is in delicate balance. Mankind has disrupted that balance and part of our efforts are aimed at restoring it. In the case of white-tailed deer, we've removed or minimized their predators, such as cougars, wolves, and coyotes. We are also taking away the white-tailed deer habitat as our own population grows and our land becomes more developed. This means the deer exist in higher densities than they or the environment are adapted to, leading to problems.

I first went out three weeks ago but didn't shoot anything. I decided to just sit in the blind and observe the deer that came by and get a feel for the situation. In past years, I've shot the first animal I had a chance to, so this time I wanted to do it differently. I saw several deer, both bucks and does and also both the normal tan colored ones and the darker, melanistic variety. I also observed many birds as the day brightened including cardinals, wrens, and some I couldn't identify.

The second time was two weeks ago. I went out with my friend Paul and his son Matt. I was at one blind and Paul and Matt were at a different one about 1/4 mile away. I saw a large, 10 point buck and shot it even though my view was partially obscured by tall grass. That was my big mistake, because I only wounded the animal. Paul and Matt helped me track it for over two hours, but we never found it. I felt bad at having wounded a deer and causing it to be in pain until it died. My consolation was that its death would not be wasted. Even though it would not feed my family, it would provide food for the vultures and coyotes. I kept an eye to the sky that day and for several after, thinking I would see the vultures circling, but never did.

Paul, Matt and I went out again yesterday morning. I got my doe and Paul texted me that they had shot a buck. When I met up with them to review our gains, they told me that Matt had shot the same buck that I wounded!

We're pretty sure it was the same buck, because it was also a 10 point one and it had a wound in the skin over its chest that was about 2 weeks old and was healing over. What are the odds that it was a different deer?

I'm really glad that Matt killed the same deer that I wounded. It closes the event and will help feed Paul's family.

Only Skin Deep?

American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), also known as French mulberry, is a native shrub or small tree, usually growing to about 3-5 feet tall. The seeds and berries provide food for birds, in particular, the Northern Bobwhite. White-tailed deer like the leaves. Native Americans used the root and leaves to make a medicinal tea.

I've read that the berries are sometime white and in both photos you can see that the berries at the branch tip are white, but in this case, I think it's because they're not ripe.

I took these photos, in mid-September, of a single specimen I saw while riding my bike in our development. I've never seen them on our property, and have only seen one other along the road into our neighborhood.

It's easily propagated and requires little care. Mary bought one in a small pot at a plant sale recently held at the San Marcos Nature Center. We're going to try to establish it near our house.

The Other White Meat

The feral pig trap on our property finally caught one!

A pretty big one, actually. My friend Paul, who set up the trap and monitors it, said that Wednesday evening there was a 210 pound boar in it. He quickly sent it to the great wallow in the sky.

To be fair, the trap has caught animals two other times, but they were white-tailed deer. Which is pretty amazing because the deer have to crouch down to enter the cage. It's not tall enough for an adult deer to walk in. I guess they're really hungry or just can't resist the bait corn.

In the photo, the trap is sprung and the doors are closed. You can see the springs that hold the doors shut. The trap is set by propping the doors open with a branch attached to a rope which is tied to the far end of the trap. When the animal enters, it brushes against the rope which pulls the branch out and the doors spring shut.

With this first trapped pig, we've taken a small step forward in controlling their population on our land and minimizing the environmental damage they do.

They're Amanitas?

We went to the Spherical Exhibition reception at the A Smith Gallery in Johnson City last night. It was very well attended and I saw and spoke to quite a few fellow Hill Country Photography Club members. Afterward we saw the Johnson City Lighted Hooves and Wheels parade. It was a fun evening!

One of the HCPC members, Lois Schubert, asked me if I knew what kind of mushrooms were in my photograph, "After the Rain". I told her I'd been trying to identify them without success. She said they were amanitas which are extremely poisonous. She said she's seen yellow ones too. I mentioned that the ones I saw were white because, of course, "After the Rain" is a black and white photograph.

When I got home, I started researching to see if I could pin down exactly what kind of amanitas I saw. Amanita is the name of a genus which contains about 600 species. The genus includes some of the most toxic mushrooms known worldwide. About 95% of all the deaths due to mushroom poisoning are caused by amanitas. Quite a scary group and something you don't want to fool with.

The ones in our backyard might have been Amanita polypyramis. The range is right and they're found among oaks which is where I saw them.

Another possibility is Amanita microlepsis.

Many of the identification guides describe the underside gills and the stalk, which I did not photograph or observe. I'm really careful about mushrooms and didn't even want to touch or disturb them. That means that I may never know for sure what kind of amanita they are, but I'll keep looking.

Call Me Ishmael

Unlike Ahab, I'm not particularly obsessed with this white animal. He didn't bite my leg off and kill my son, so I'm not seeking revenge.

I am, however, very interested in knowing what it is. I've seen a white deer in our neighborhood twice. Once it was quite far from our house, and I saw it as I was driving by. It was right beside the road and didn't move as I passed it. I got a good look at it and it didn't have red eyes, so I don't think it was an albino.

The second time, about 2 1/2 years ago, I saw a white deer right outside of our fence and near our driveway's gate as I was driving home. Luckily, I had my camera in the car, so I got out quietly and slowly. I was afraid if I made a sudden movement or loud noise, it would flee. I managed to get 3 photos and this is the best one. you can see our fence on the right side of the picture.

He seemed curious and was looking right at me. I'm pretty sure it was a young male. If you look closely he has two knobs on his head where his antlers are growing. The photo was taken in March, and that's when white-tailed deer antlers start developing. That's an enticing clue that this is actually a white-tailed deer, but I'm not sure.

White-tailed deer are normally tan, but there is a melanistic, much darker, variant which is quite common in our area.

I don't know if the saw the same animal twice or not, but I lean toward not. I saw them several years apart, but the two individuals I saw were both young. Each time, the deer was alone, yet I've noticed that with white-tailed deer, the young ones and their mothers are always together. The older bucks are typically by themselves.

I mentioned to a friend that I'd seen a white deer and he thought it might be a fallow deer. White is one of the color variants of fallow deer. They are not Texas natives; they're originally from Eurasia, but they have been introduced locally. They are kept on hunting ranches as exotics. Perhaps I've seen escapees.

I'm always on the lookout for the elusive white deer. Perhaps one day, I'll get a good enough look to make a positive identification.

Agarita Spring

This photo of an Agarita (Mahonia trifoliolata) branch was taken in May of this year.

Agarita Spring

This native is a member of the barberry family and is an evergreen shrub about 3 - 6 feet in height. The wood and flowers are a bright yellow and, as you can see, the berries a bright red. It has holly-like leaves, and in fact many people mistake it for a holly. The leaflets are lobed and end in sharp spines.

Agarita is widespread on our property and the flowers are fragrant and quite beautiful, especially in a year of good rain, like this was. The berries put on a great show and jump out as they dot the landscape.

I just learned this year that the berries are edible, so every time I was walking on our property and came across one, I would taste the berries. They are quite sweet when ripe.

One of my fellow Hays County Master Naturalists made agarita jelly this year since the berries were so plentiful. He found a recipe on the Internet and got to work. Here's one recipe I found. He reports that picking the berries can be quite painful. He then read about a different method: spread a canvas or plastic sheet around the bush and then shake it! He was able to gather about 3 pounds an hour with this method. He collected a total of about 5 pounds of berries which resulted in 14 1/2 8-ounce jars of jelly.

I donated a framed print of "Agarita Spring" to the silent auction at the Texas Master Naturalist State Meeting which was held last month in New Braunfels. The silent auction was a great success and raised funds for the state organization. I'm glad I could help.

Spherical Exhibition

Another one of my images was selected for the Spherical exhibition at the A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, Texas. The juror was Carla Ellard who is the Assistant Curator, SW & Mexican Photography Collection, Wittliff Collection at Texas State University in San Marcos.

After the Rain

Please be sure to visit the A Smith Gallery web site and view all the images accepted into Spherical.

The opening reception for Domicile will be on Saturday, November 27th, from 4pm to 7pm. Johnson City's Lighted Hooves and Wheels parade starts at 6:30pm, so you should plan a day trip to view the exhibition and the parade.

"After the Rain" is a photograph of a small set of mushrooms that popped up in our yard after a recent rain. I don't know what kind they are, but as always with mushrooms - if you don't know what they are, then assume they're poisonous.

The largest one was about 5 inches in diameter and they only lasted about 3 days before withering. Mushrooms are fungi and the part we think of as the mushroom is actually the fruiting body of a network of tiny thread-like parts in the soil called mycelium.

Little Miss Mary or Along Came a Spider

Mary captured this photo of a Texas Brown Tarantula on her cell phone camera recently.

It was evening and dark outside. The tarantula was on the rock step at the the entrance to our kitchen. It's not the best photograph, but the opportunity to write about it was too good to pass up.

You can see the corner of the door frame and the black rubber sweep at the door's bottom. I estimate it was about 4 inches in diameter, at the legs, and the body was about 2 inches long.

We've seen them before, but not often, usually in the evenings when we're walking our dogs. Texas browns are the most common species of tarantula thriving in the southern United States. They don't make a web like most spiders, but rather live in the ground and line the burrow with their silk. I think I've seen a tarantula burrow once, but I'm not sure that's what is was. The female lays up to 1000 eggs and then guards the burrow until they hatch. Females have been known to live up to 30 years.

They eat beetles, cockroaches, crickets, and pinky (newborn) mice.

They are very docile and can be kept as pets. I ran into a woman at the pet store recently who was buying crickets for her pet tarantula which she found in her yard.

No, Mary didn't kill it. She gave it its space and it just wandered off. Even if we'd found it in the house, we would just carry it outside. They're a native species and an important part of our habitat. They help to control insect and mouse populations and won't bother you if you leave them alone.

Wildlife Rainwater Collector

Part of the restoration work we've done on our property involves removing Ashe Junipers. We leave the cut junipers which provide habitat for birds and other wildlife. We're also interested in providing supplemental water for wildlife.

We have a wet-weather creek that runs along the south edge of our property. I previously posted about the creek flooding. It feeds two ponds which hold water for a while after a heavy rain, but eventually dry up. When the ponds have water, we frequently see cows and deer there, as well as birds.

One way to provide water for wildlife, without drilling a well or running plumbing over long distances, is to collect rainwater. We built this rainwater collector, modeled after one we saw at the Patsy Glenn Refuge in Wimberley. The Refuge is operated by the Wimberley Birding Society.



The collection surface is 8 ft. X 8 ft. of corrugated metal roof and the frame is built from treated 2X4s. A vinyl gutter and PVC pipes direct the water to a 550 gallon tank. The black plastic tank keeps light from reaching the water and prevents algae growth. An automatic pet-watering dish with a float valve provides the drinking water. There is no filtration, although there is a drain-like debris-catcher at the entrance to the downspout. This is definitely not potable water, but it's fine for wildlife.

An inch of water falling on a square foot of area results in 0.6 gallons of water. That translates into about 38 gallons of water per inch of rain for this one. The collector was operational for about 1.5 years and peaked at about 1/2 full or 275 gallons.

The collector is now dismantled and sitting in my driveway as I try to figure out a way to rebuild it. The problem is that the I didn't anchor the collecting surface. I wanted to be able to move it around the property and didn't want it permanently attached to the ground.

I knew that the shed roof is essentially a kite and a strong wind could tip it over, but I decided to try it anyway. It never blew over, but it did walk and creep when it was windy. It's not visible from our house, but I noticed it was moved whenever I went out to check it. I would reposition it and keep hoping for the best.

Eventually, during a heavy wind, it moved so much that the vinyl gutter was ripped away from the frame.

I plan to strengthen the frame with more cross-bracing and to add members along the bottom to provide points to weigh down the structure, perhaps with sandbags, or anchor it with rebar stakes.

Got Any Good Grass?

No, not that kind of grass! I'm talking about native grasses.

Around here, they're our favorite kind, for several reasons.

First, they're well-adapted. They evolved here and are adapted to the soil types, rainfall, temperatures, diseases, herbivores, competitors, and periodic wildfires. This means they're hardy, disease-resistant, and don't need any supplemental water.

Native grasses also play an important role in ground water absorption and help to recharge our underground aquifers. They have deep root systems - typically the roots extend about the same height into the ground as the plant is tall. The Indian grass pictured below, near our house, stands over 5 feet tall. The deep roots allow rainwater to percolate into the soil and eventually reach our aquifers. Aquifers are an important source of our drinking water.

Here's a closeup of the seed head.

Native grasses also help to minimize soil erosion. They typically grow in thick clumps and because of their height, they slow rain drops down enough so when the drop reaches the ground it has lost most of its energy and does not disturb the soil when it impacts. The slowly moving water also has a chance to soak into the ground and does not just run downhill, taking soil with it.

There is an evolutionary process known as plant or ecological succession. The idea is that plant communities evolve in a particular sequence, continually altering the local environment. As the environment changes, other plant communities take hold and the original ones may disappear. The culmination of this process, over a long period of time, is known as the climax community. Climax communities typically show a great deal of diversity and are relatively stable.

Central Texas was part of a great prairie which encompassed most of the Great Plains of the United States. There are four climax grasses in a prairie in this region: Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), Big bluestem (Andropgon gerardi), Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum).

In addition to Indiangrass, we also have Big and Little bluestem on our property. The only climax grass we haven't seen is Switchgrass and we probably won't because it requires lots of water.

I guess your homeowner's association might frown if you decided to let your lawn's turfgrass die and replaced it with 5 foot tall native grasses, but you might consider them as accents or ornamentals in a suburban neighborhood. The Dallas Morning News recently had an article about a Plano man who converted his yard into a wild prairie.

Maybe that's the wave of the future.

6th Annual Naturescapes Contest Exhibition and Winners

We held the Naturescapes Reception and Awards Ceremony on September 11th. It was a great event and I had several people tell me how nice the exhibition was. It was a pleasure working with the juror, Adolfo Isassi, and all the contestants. I'm truly impressed by the quality of the entries and the winners.

The San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance has published the results of the 6th Annual Naturescapes Photography Contest. The exhibition is at the San Marcos Activity Center and runs through October 29th. Please make sure you visit and view the exhibition in person, but if you don't get a chance, check out the images at the SMGA's Flickr page.

Remember to keep your eyes and cameras ready! You never know when you might capture next year's winning image!

Best in Show

• Longhorn Grazing, Lucy Durfee, Dripping Springs

Best in San Marcos Area

• Rubyspot #8, Scott Mitchell, San Marcos River.

Awards of Excellence

• Winter Sunrise, Herb Smith, Blanco River
• In Flight, Paul Keese, Aquarena Springs
• Roadrunner, Carolyn Whiteside, San Marcos
• Doe (Infrared), Winifred Simon, Wimberley

Awards of Merit

• Best Depictions of San Marcos Fun and Life:
  
  • Toobin' Fun, Jane Guerin, Wimberley
  • OMG!, Linda Keese, San Marcos River
• Intriguing & Evocative:
  
  • What is It?, Lois Schubert, Aquarena Springs
• Creative Interpretation:
  
  • Down River, Herb Smith, Wimberley
  • Vintage Skyride, Carol Serur, Aquarena Springs

Munchin' on the Wafer Ash

Wafer Ash (Ptelea Trifoliata) is a small native shrub or tree. It grows about 12 to 36 feet tall, although the only ones I've seen on our property are on the short end of this range. The flowers are small and green/white. The fruit is a very distinctive paper-like wafer. The wafers act like wings and help distribute the seeds. The tree provides food and shelter for birds and mammals and the nectar attracts butterflies. All parts of it are aromatic.

While researching for this post, I learned that's it also known as a Hop Tree, but I've never heard it called that. The name is a reference to using the bitter fruit as a substitute for hops in beer brewing.

The Wildflower Center entry says it's widespread, but I've only seen 3 on our property and 1 other tree in our neighborhood. When bearing fruit, the tree stands out and cannot be missed. One of ours was near the house but did not survive last year's drought. The Wikipedia entry says it grows on rocky slopes, which is a good description of our land. It prefers moist soil and can be found in seep areas.

These photos were taken on July 3 earlier this year at our place. This tree is only about 5 feet tall. It may not be very old or is growing in poor soil.

This tree had many fruit on it, reflecting the plentiful rain we've had this year.

It apparently also provides food for grasshoppers. This photo is currently on display at the Naturescapes Exhibition in San Marcos. I call it "Munchin' on the Wafer Ash". The grasshopper was methodically stripping the tree of its leaves, but didn't touch the fruit.

Munchin' on the Wafer Ash

Mustang Grapes

There are many Mustang grapes (Vitis mustangensis) growing on our property. This species is native to our area and is quite common. The Wildflower Center's entry is here. The Texas A&M native plant database entry is here.

The grapes are edible and you can make wine and jam and jelly from them. There are many recipes available on the Internet. Central Texas soils are good for growing grapes and there are several wineries near us, although they are not growing this native.

These photos were taken on July 3rd of this year. This particular vine is growing in a live oak tree right beside our driveway. Although it doesn't have any large grape clusters, it has many small ones. Remember, this is a wild grape. It hasn't been cultivated or bred to produce large clusters. It survives and thrives on its own - no fertilizing, watering, or pesticides. The grapes are ripe in these photos. Earlier in the season, they were green in color.

Birds will eat the grapes and then scatter the seeds. The birds always know when they're ripe, so it's a race to try to eat one before the birds do. I've tasted the grapes and they're not very sweet. When I took these photos, they weren't bad, but definitely not what you would buy at the grocery store. I had tried them a few weeks earlier and they were very sour. Mary can attest to the face I made. Sorry, no photo.

Here's a photo of the base of the vine. About 10 years ago, before I knew what the vine was, and thinking that it might damage the tree, I cut the vine. I remember that a lot of water poured out of the cut end, so the vine itself stores quite a bit of water. You can see how it grew back. Each vine is about 1 to 2 inches in diameter.

The vine can overwhelm a tree, but my perspective now is to let nature take it's course, for the most part. This tree is on our driveway, so if the grape vine gets too big, I might take it down again, but in general I'll leave them alone.

Fixin' Leeks at Onion Creek

Earlier this year, Mary and I had the chance to work at Onion Creek and help remove an invasive species.

The Onion Creek property is managed by the Wildlands Conservation Division of Austin Water Utilities of the City of Austin. The conservation management program that WCD administers is known as the Water Quality Protection Lands (WQPL). These lands were purchased with funds from a 1998 bond election for the purpose of water quality protection for the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer. You can read more about the WQPL here. The Onion Creek property is one of these and consists of 2500 acres located along Onion Creek in central Hays County.

Our project leader, Tom Watson, had previously flagged the location of many leeks, mainly along the creek. Tom’s experience includes being an Assistant Professor of Botany at the University of Montana, and a Lecturer at UT-Austin. He's also been the President of our Chapter and is currently our Chapter's State Representative. He is also an invaluable friend and a great resource for me. I frequently ask for his help in plant identification and he's always very glad to help.

He noticed the leeks while working on the property and conducted a survey to locate them for future removal. The leeks are invasive, having been introduced to the United States from Britain although they are originally Eurasian. Tom thinks the ones we removed were basically escapees from cultivated gardens. They're wild in the same sense that feral hogs are.

The species, Allium Ampeloprasum, is a member of the onion genus. They reproduce rapidly in the wild. This spring, before the native grasses grew too tall, was a good time to take them out.

Our crew, consisting of fellow Master Naturalists, walked along Onion Creek, found the flags, and dug up the plants. The soil along the creek was nice, probably due to many floods and deposits over the years. It was deep and easy to dig in. The leeks were also fairly shallow, typically less than a foot down, and easy to remove. There were often multiple plants at a single site.

Here's a photo Mary digging up a clump.

 There were actually five plants in the clump.

We gathered quite a few. They are edible and Mary reports they are quite good.

This was a great way to spend 3.5 hours on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The creek was running as you can see in the first photo because of all the spring rains we had.

Texas Flood

I saw a vivid demonstration of the event known as a flash flood recently, as Tropical Storm Hermine moved inland. The center of the storm passed about 50 miles west of our location on September 7th.

We started getting rain from Hermine on the 6th, although only 0.1 inches that first day. On the 7th, we received 3.2 inches and on the 8th, 5.2 inches. These numbers are measured with a rain gauge at our house. Other areas in central Texas received over 12 inches.

When I got home on the 8th, I checked the rain gauge and it read 3.6 inches. I recorded the value and emptied it, thinking that we might get more and I didn't want it to overflow. A little later that evening, we had a very heavy downpour that lasted about half an hour. When it was over, I checked the rain gauge again and it showed 1.6 inches, so the event was producing about 3.2 inches of rain per hour.

As I was walking back to house, I realized I could hear the roar of rushing water. Our drive/road way has a low water crossing at a wet weather creek and the sound was coming from that direction. The road was fine when I first got home, so I drove down to see what it looked like.

The first photo shows the view back to where I left the car. I didn't try to drive across the culvert because I couldn't tell how deep the water was. The culvert is about 3 feet high. The water came up to my knees when I waded across and I realize now that it was very dangerous for me to cross. The current was strong and swift and exerted quite a force. A car would have been swept away.

The culvert is not designed to handle this much water. There are four pipes, each about 2 feet in diameter, but they are clearly overwhelmed. The culvert actually acts more like a dam and you can see the water mounding up on the left side of the photo.

This photo shows the same area, taken on September 12th, for comparison. You can see how the current swept away the rocks that are normally piled up against culvert, as riprap, meant to control erosion. With a current this strong, the riprap failed and I've got some work to do to put it back.

The third photo is a view downstream of the culvert, where we have a couple of ponds that hold water for a while after a rain, but eventually dry up. The area is completely flooded.

Here's the same area, as it normally appears, for comparison.

As quickly as the water rose, hence the name "flash" flood, it receded. About 20 minutes after the first photo was taken, the water was no longer spilling over the road. These floods are dangerous because they can catch you by surprise.

There are several factors involved in creating the flash flood: terrain, topography, and the amount of rain. In this case, a 1.6 inch rain event is not large. By itself, it would not have caused this flood. However, it occurred in a short period of half an hour, and after the ground was already saturated by almost 7 inches of rain in the previous days. This was an ideal combination for a flash flood.

6th Annual Naturescapes Photo Contest & Exhibition

The Awards Reception for the 6th Annual Naturescapes Photo Contest will be held this Saturday, September 11th from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm at the San Marcos Activity Center. The Exhibition will run from September 11th through November 5th, in the Activity Center's Walker's Gallery.

Winning entries will be announced at the reception. The contest received 180 entries and 65 were selected for the exhibition.

In addition, a silent auction with more than 25 items is being held as a fund-raiser for the San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance.

The Crystal Creek Boys will provide music.

A Colorful Gourd

While hiking on our property in late June, Mary and I came across this vine with bright orange/red fruit. Of course we couldn't miss it, but I've never seen one on our property before, or anywhere else for that matter. It was growing along a dirt road at the edge of our property and we frequently walk along it, but without the fruit, we probably wouldn't notice the vine.

I went back out the next morning and took these photos and looked around further. It's the only one in the area. It's growing up a small oak tree. The vine goes up about 7 to 8 feet and has about a dozen fruit on it, each about 2 to 3 inches in diameter.

You can see the curly tendrils which the vine uses to grasp the tree. In this photo, the fruit look like a string of Christmas lights.

I identified it as Lindheimer's globeberry. It's a native plant and a member of the gourd family which includes cucumber, squash, watermelon, and cantaloupe.

Since it's the only one I saw in the area, I think a bird may have eaten the seeds elsewhere and then dropped them under the oak tree. The vines are perennial and die back each winter, but may take several years to develop to the point where they bear fruit.

Domicile Exhibition

At the risk of self-promotion (since I'm writing a blog, I might have crossed that line a long time ago), one of my images was selected by the juror, Susan Kirchman, for the Domicile Exhibition at the A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, Texas.

Snug and Warm

"Snug and Warm" is a photograph of the second Carolina Wren brood that we hosted in our garage earlier this year.

The A Smith Gallery is owned and operated by Amanda Smith, a talented and well-known photographer who is also an officer on the board of the Texas Photographic Society. Please be sure to visit the A Smith Gallery web site and view the Domicile Exhibition's other fine images. It would be even better to visit the gallery and see the photographs in person.

This is my first exhibition outside of Naturescapes and a concurrent Hill Country Photography Club exhibition, so I am quite pleased and excited to be chosen.

The opening reception for Domicile will be on Saturday, August 28th, from 4pm to 8pm. If you get a chance to visit the gallery in Johnson City, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Giant Moth, No Godzilla!

Last March, when we returned from our Master Naturalist Chapter meeting, I found this big guy on the exterior house wall, under our carport. Appropriately, enough, the speaker at our meeting was Dr. Chris Nice, from the Biology Department at Texas State University. His talk was about insects and butterflies.

It was 9 pm and dark when we got home. We had left the carport lights on, so perhaps he was attracted to them, but he was just resting on the stone wall. I measured his wingspan at 5 inches from tip to tip. The moth's body is quite furry and he has feather-like antenna. There are a couple of ways to tell butterflies and moths apart. First, a moth will have a furry body while a butterfly's will be smooth. Also, a moth has feather-like antenna and butterfly's are thin.

I approached quite closely to the moth to take the photo, but he never moved. The flash firing didn't affect him either. I went into the house and when I returned about 1/2 hour later, he was gone.

I've identified him as a Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus). It gets its name from the eye spots - Polyphemus was a mythical Greek Cyclops in the Odyssey. There are actually two more eye spots on the lower wings, but they are hidden in the photo. I think it's a male because of the very bushy antenna.

The next night there was a different moth on the same wall. This is a female of the same species. Her antenna are not as bushy and she has a large abdomen due to carrying eggs.

I think I've seen the species' large green caterpillar on a tree once, but I didn't get a picture. I'll have to be on the lookout for one.

Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area

Last week, Mary and I made a trip to the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area which is located just south of Fredericksburg. The trip was organized by our Hays County Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists and we were quite excited to go.We had seen the bat emergence at the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin, but this one promised a closer look.

Old Tunnel is the smallest WMA operated by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department containing only 16 acres of land. There is a small hiking trail and of course the Old Tunnel. The area is open to the public year-round. There are two main viewing areas: one at the top of the hill which the tunnel goes through and another lower and quite near the tunnel entrance.

The tunnel is an abandoned railroad tunnel of a small private railroad built in the early 1900s to make it easier for the Germain settlers in the Fredericksburg area to make the trip south to San Antonio. The railroad operated for about 29 years. The tunnel is 920 feet long, bored right through the limestone hill. Here's a photo of the south entrance to the tunnel and you can see the north entrance at the far end. Shortly after the railroad was abandoned, the bats moved in.

The main colony consists of between 1 and 3 million Mexican Free-tailed bats. Their bodies are about 3.5 inches in length and weigh about 1/2 ounce.

Nyta Brown, a TPWD bat education specialist, gave us an introduction to the area and discussed the bats and their habits as we waited for dusk. The bats feed mainly on insects as they head out on their nightly run. They play an important role in our ecosystem as well as to our agricultural industry by keeping the insect population in check.

We were seated in a lower viewing area which was just a little higher and to the west of the south tunnel entrance. I think we were within 100 feet of the entrance. While it was still daylight, we occasionally saw a few bats flitting about and we could see more, with binoculars, flying within the tunnel from the vantage point of the first photo above. As dusk fell, we began to see more, but still single, bats about. The start of the full emergence was at 8:47 pm. For at least the next half-hour there was a continuous stream of bats.

They emerged from the tunnel and flying quite low, made a counter-clockwise corkscrew turn to gain altitude and eventually flew over the trees and away. Flash photography is not allowed, so all I have are my impressions to report. A few times and briefly, Ms. Brown swept a red-colored flashlight beam on the stream to let us have a better look. This provides minimal disruption to the bats. It was getting dark but you could see hundreds of bats flying by every minute. Occasionally one would veer over our heads before turning and heading back into the main stream.

Everyone was also asked to be quiet, again, to not disrupt the bats, and while we could not hear the ultrasonic echolocaton calls, we could hear the light fluttering of the bat wings, even above the katydid and cicada calls.

We stayed for about 1/2 hour and while the emergence was not over, it was too dark to see it anymore.

If you get a chance,  you should drive out to the Old Tunnel WMA and experience this wonderful event. I'm glad we did.

A Visit From A Queen

I was checking our chickens for eggs and to give them water when I noticed this caterpillar very near their coop.

It was feeding on an antelope horn which is a native plant and very common on our property. It is a member of the milkweed family, so I immediately thought it was a Monarch caterpillar which I know feed exclusively on milkweed. You can see in the photo that it's been chewing its way down the plant. The upper leaves are completely gone and you can see the white milky fluid, which gives the family its name, leaking out. The caterpillar is about 1 inch long.

I showed the photo to a friend of mine, Mike Cseri, who is my local expert on Monarchs. He's participated in the Monarch Watch and has raised Monarch butterflies from eggs. He took one look and said "That's not a Monarch!". I said "Are you sure?". I should know better than to question an expert.

He pointed out that the caterpillar has six "antenna" and that Monarchs only have four. The appendages are not really antenna, but they do function as touch sense organs. Monarchs have four, two at the front and two at the back. This caterpillar has 6 antenna, the extra pair are along the body, nearer to the head. He didn't know what it was, but was positive it wasn't a Monarch.

This started a frantic search on the Internet to try to identify the caterpillar. I finally came across photos of a Queen caterpillar which looked like a match. Mike reviewed them and agrees. Queen Butterflies also live in the area, eat milkweed and are closely related to Monarchs.

Both of these butterflies' caterpillars have an interesting and exclusive diet. Milkweed is poisonous, but the caterpillars are able to consume vast quantities of it in preparation for their metamorphosis into the adult form. Not only have they evolved protection against the poison, but they sequester the chemicals into their body and use it as a defense against predators. It's thought that the bright colors of the larva and adults serve as warnings to predators.

I noticed when I let our chickens out to roam our yard and feed on whatever they could find, mainly grasshoppers, they did not eat the Queen caterpillar even though they walked right by it. Perhaps the warning signs were working.

Another Update on the Second Wren Brood

I estimated that the second Carolina Wren brood would fledge on July 22nd.

I checked the nest on July 19th and the 4 wren chicks were still in the nest. When I checked again on the morning of the 20th, they were gone. The only thing remaining was the sole unhatched egg and it was slightly outside the nest, on the shelf upon which the whole nest rested. I took the egg and held it up to the light. It appears to be uniformly translucent, so I don't think it was ever fertilized.

Here's a photo of the egg with a scale, so you can get an idea of how large the eggs are. They're really quite small - about 5/8" inch on the long axis. The adult birds are about 5 to 6 inches long, but that includes tail feathers. They stand about 4 inches high.

After discussion with Mary, we're not sure what happened. At first I thought that the chicks fledged early or my estimate was off.

However, when the first brood fledged, we continued to see the young wrens around the garage as they became comfortable with their new flying ability. This time, we haven't seen them. The nest doesn't look disturbed, but we wonder if a predator got them.

It's sad to think that they might not have made it, but that too is a course that nature can take. I hope they fledged and that there are now four more Carolina Wrens in our back yard, but we'll never know for sure.

Update on the Second Wren Brood

Here's a photo of the 5 eggs in the Carolina Wren's second brood. This was taken on July 4th, so it's about 12 days after the first egg was laid, but only 8 days after the last egg was laid.

The second brood started hatching on July 9th. I checked the nest at 5:30 pm and 2 eggs had hatched. I checked the nest again a bit later, at 7:00 pm and 1 more egg had hatched. July 9th is 13 days after the last egg was laid. Their incubation period is 12 to 14 days, so they were right on schedule, counting from the day the last egg was laid.

One possibility I thought of to explain how the eggs can hatch within a day of each other even though they were laid a day apart is that the mother wren doesn't start the full incubation until they are all present. I think the embryo development is controlled by temperature and I noticed that the mother wren wasn't always in the nest until the last egg was laid. This would explain how the early eggs and the later eggs hatch within a day: they don't really start developing until she keeps them fully warm. This photo was taken on July 9th. There are 3 hatchlings although one is hard to see behind the rear egg.

One more egg had hatched when I checked the next day, on July 10th, at 7:30 am. Now there was only 1 egg remaining to hatch.

By the next day, July 11th at 4:00pm, the last egg had not hatched and I started to suspect that something was wrong. Either the egg had not been fertilized or something happened in its development.

On July 17th, the egg is still in the nest which surprised me because I thought the parents would remove it when it didn't hatch. The 4 baby wrens are developing nicely and I estimate they'll fledge around July 22nd which is 12 to 14 days after they hatched.

Another thing I observed whenever I peeked in the nest is that the baby wrens look exhausted. The first brood always looked active when I approached and frequently opened their mouths trying to get fed. The second brood just lies there. I noticed it's quite warm in the garage. The high temperatures are now approaching 100 degrees and there is no breeze in the garage.

What seemed like a good choice of nest location on the mother wren's part in the spring now appears to be not be so good.

Garter Snake

Here's a very nice garter snake that was lying on our road as I approached our gate a couple of weeks ago.

He was about 4 feet long and I was only able to get the one photo before he slithered into the tall grass.

It was cloudy and had been drizzling all day. This is the second snake I've seen on our road in a few months and I started wondering about why I always, or at least frequently, see them on the road.

I think part of the reason is they like to warm themselves on the road. But I think a more important factor is selection bias. I see them on the road because that's where they are easy to see!

I was reminded of this yesterday while mowing the grass. As I came rumbling by, I caught a glimpse of a fairly large, light-colored snake. I didn't see it well enough to identify it, but I wouldn't have seen it except that it moved away and I had just passed by and cut the grass. It makes sense that, living in the country, there are many snakes around, but most remain unseen. As we're walking by, they either move silently away, or we're too unobservant to notice them.

Second Wren Brood

After the wrens fledged at the end of May, I left the empty nest on the shelf in the garage, thinking they might use it again.

I had been checking the nest intermittently and on June 23rd, there were two eggs in it. When I told Mary about it, she said she had seen a Carolina Wren fly out of the garage the day before and had looked in the nest and hadn't seen any eggs.

I then checked the nest every day after: June 24th, 25th, and the 26th, and every day there was another egg in the nest. The mother wren stopped laying at 5 eggs, so this brood is 1 smaller than the last one.

I've read more about Carolina Wren nesting habits. There are several resources on the web. This is a good one. There is another good one here. The wrens mate for life and typically have two broods a year. The male usually makes several nests and the female picks which one to use. The multiple nests may be to confuse predators as to where the eggs are.

We attended a talk by Dr. Peter English, who is from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas in Austin, about birds at our last Hays County Master Naturalist Chapter meeting. He mentioned that bird eggs average about 20% of the mother's body mass in size and how incredible it is that she lays one a day for several days. I think when I saw the two eggs on June 23rd that she started laying the second brood on June 22nd and we just didn't notice them until there were two eggs in the nest.

This means they should hatch about 12 to 14 days after, around July 4th to 6th. One thing I'm not sure about is how they can hatch synchronously, within a day of each other, if they were laid a day apart. A day difference in a total of 12 to 14 days of development seems fairly significant. I'll keep an eye on the nest and see when they hatch.

More Feral Pigs!

Mary saw 5 feral pigs outside our east gate yesterday morning. They were all smaller than the one we saw in early June, and in the same area.

When she let our dogs out, they ran over to the fence near the gate, barking the whole time, and the pigs ran away. They're clearly not afraid of the house, but the dogs do keep them away.

It's somewhat disturbing that there were more of them, but I'm sure that their numbers on our property varies quite a bit. As I mentioned before, they can be very harmful to the environment and habitat, and we have seen signs of their rooting up the soil. I later walked over to where Mary saw them and there were no signs of rooting.

We'll just have to keep track of them and continue our efforts to control them. In addition to hunting, we also have a trap out, but so far, it hasn't caught one.

Odd Mexican Hat Flowers

While walking our dogs recently, I noticed a Mexican Hat with an odd flower, beside our road.

It looked like multiple flowers glued together. The plant had several of these, the widest containing about 11 normal flowers. The stem was also wider than normal and looked like a flat ribbon rather than the usual round stem. These photos show this one.

You can see the normal flowers from the same plant. They have a single cone and round stems.

The others I observed had about 3 and 6 conjoined flowers, although counting them is a bit difficult. This photo show these. The 6 conjoined flowers are near the center of the photo and the 3 conjoined flowers are below it, near the edge.

There were other Mexican Hat plants around the one with the odd flowers, but I didn't see any other funny ones.

I did a little searching on the web and found the term fasciation or cresting. Here's a link to the Wikipedia article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciation. Fasciation can be caused by mutation, bacteria, parasites, or chemical damage.

I thought that's what this was, but I'm not a biologist. I posted to our Hays County Master Naturalist Forum to get confirmation from our experts. One of our members, who is a retired biologist, confirmed it and said biologists refer to them as teratologies. Teratology is the study of abnormalities of physiological development.

I can rule out the use of herbicides or pesticides as the cause of this example. We've owned the property for 15 years and have lived on it for 8. The only agricultural activity on the property and in the vicinity is cattle grazing. I think this one falls under the category of random mutation.

It's apparently rare and I've been looking for other examples with no success.

Have you ever seen anything like this? Please let me know if you spot one!

Black and white versions of hike photos

My favorite part of the Hill Country Photography Club meetings is the critique section. Members submit photos for critique by the other members. I find it an invaluable way to get feedback on my photography and I've learned much. It's also great to see what other people are doing.

Here are two of my photos I had critiqued at the last meeting. They are both versions of photos which I posted last time.

First, the Whitemouth Dayflower:

Next, the Black-eyed Susans:

Making the images black and white emphasizes different aspects than the color versions. You get a better impression of the shapes, forms, and textures. It certainly provides a different way to appreciate nature.

Perhaps you can play "find the differences" and see what else I did besides the black and white conversion!

Take A Hike!

If you can, take a camera, too!

That's what I did one recent morning. I wasn't out long, about an hour. Here are a few photos of what I saw.

Just as I was starting, before I even left our driveway, I saw this small lizard. It's a ground skink, Scincella lateralis, about 6 inches long. It was warming itself on the pavement and didn't run away when I approached.

Here's a photo of a Whitemouth dayflower, Commelina erecta. It was growing in the dappled shade of some trees and still had a bit of dew on it. It actually has 3 petals - the 2 large blue ones and a small white one in between and below. That might be the origin of the name.

Next, I came across a woolly caterpillar. The photo isn't taken from the best angle, but I didn't want to disturb the caterpillar. I haven't been able to identify it, so any help would be appreciated. We've seen several of these recently, so I'm quite curious to learn what it is.

This is a tiny lace cactus, Echinocereus reichenbachii. It's only about one inch in diameter and was growing by itself among some rocks. I normally see them in groups or clumps, so this lonely specimen was interesting. I'm fascinated by the regular, geometric symmetry of the needles.

As I was walking along a dirt road, I saw these animal tracks. The ground was a bit soft from recent rains and you could clearly see the path the animal had taken and which I was inadvertently following. I can't identify the animal, but I suspect a coyote or a fox. As before, I would appreciate any help.

This little starburst is Mountain Pink, Centaurium beyrichii.

Here's a Narrowleaf yucca, Yucca glauca. The flowers are at the end of a 4 to 5 foot spike. This year, because of all the rains, many yuccas are flowering, but most I've seen have the flower spike eaten by white tailed deer long before the blooms open.

There are many Black-eyed Susans, Rudbeckia hirta var. pulcherrima, in bloom right now. They tend to occur in large groups, covering a big area, and forming dense patches. These grow in the full sun.

The Winecups, Callirhoe digitata, are also out, but are not nearly as common as the Black-eyed Susans. You have to be alert to spot them, but their bright red wine color helps.

Here's another Black-eyed Susan, with an interesting color variation. While the ones I saw earlier had uniformly yellow petals, this one had brown patches at the petal base.

That's not a bad haul for a one hour hike! I've learned to slow down on my hikes and really look at what's around. It doesn't take much effort or fancy equipment, just awareness.

I hope you get a chance to go on your own hikes and observe nature's beauty.