Hays County Master Naturalists

We attended the annual Hays County Master Naturalists Graduation and Gala last weekend.

117 members and guests attended the event. We graduated 31 members of the Class of 2012, the Texas Live Oaks. The chapter also presented many awards, including 57 members who recertified this year. Certification requires performing at least 40 hours of volunteer work and attending 8 hours of advanced training.

We also elected the Chapter Officers for 2013 and I'm now the President. Joining me as the elected Chapter Officers are Karen Archer, Vice-President, Tracy Mock, Secretary, and Beth Ramey, Treasurer.

I'm looking forward to serving the Chapter in my new role and know that I'll have plenty of help.

No Mother Nature's Son post is complete without a photograph. Here's one at Jacob's Well, looking downstream along Cypress Creek. I took it several years ago, but like it for it's fall color.

The Cycle Of Life

Here's a photo of a fungus I spotted growing on a tree trunk today.

The tree is a live oak and though dead, it's still standing. The fungus is known as a bracket fungus, shelf fungus, or conk. It's brightly colored and zig-zags along the trunk. It's part of the recycling process, returning the nutrients and materials which the oak extracted from the ground during it's life, making them available for new life.

Also on my hike today, I saw a small live oak grove which I thought would make a nice black and white image. The trees are all fairly young, judging by their four inch trunk diameters. They're at the edge of a small meadow.

Before The Front

There's a cold front coming in tonight, so I decided to hike while it's still a bit warm.

I noticed this beautiful bit of bark on a Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana). I've posted about Texas Persimmon before, but didn't have a good picture of the bark. The bark peals away to reveal a smooth underlying layer. It usually crinkles at the joints, giving it a skin-like appearance.

Following up on last weeks post, I spotted another bit of fall color, this time in the bright red berries of a Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria). There aren't as many berries as I've seen in past years. I don't know if that's a general case or just applies to this plant.

Finally, here's a view from our property and overlooking the valley below. I like the dramatic sky and the sun beams. You can see the grass is yellow and the green you see is mainly Live Oaks (Quercus virginiana) and Ashe Junipers (Juniperus ashei).

Red, Gold, and Green

Central Texas is not famous for its fall colors. Nonetheless, I went on a hike today to see what I could see.

My search was rewarded with a few splashes of color. I prefer to think that our land isn't gaudy with its offerings. Its gifts are more subtle and their rarity is what makes them more valuable.

I first came upon a bright red vine in the lower branches of a small tree. It's a Sevenleaf creeper (Parthenocissus heptaphylla). It's very similar to Virginia creeper, which has five leaves, but much less common. It's endemic to the Edwards Plateau region. The leaves are about 2 inches long and bright red - quite striking.

Next, I saw that some of the cedar elms are starting to turn yellow. Here's a couple at the edge of a woods among Ashe Junipers (Juniperus ashei) and Live Oaks (Quercus virginiana).

This small cedar elm is even brighter. It's in the middle of a forest and maybe that's why it's further along the color change.

Did you know the fall color change is caused by the leaves losing their chlorophyll? The trigger is the reduced amount of daylight in the fall. This causes trees to shut down their chlorophyll production and prepare for winter. The leaves' intrinsic colors are then able to show, not masked by the chlorophyll's green.