Wild Things

Here's the latest best-of from our game camera.

First is a feral pig (Sus scrofa). While they are invasive and cause a lot of damage to the environment, I can't help but admire what a magnificent animal this one is. He's large and looks to be in excellent health with a thick winter coat. I guess, trying to see the bright side, it means our property is in good shape too, to supply him with enough nutrition to look the way he does. I'm still going to try to get rid of him!

Next is a gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). They're very elusive. The game camera has caught them before, but never as clearly. Usually, they're a blur as they run through the frame.

Finally, a skunk. It's a striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis). This one is very close to the camera and his head is out of frame.

Nature Abstracts

The Hill Country Photography Club's critique theme this month was Nature Abstracts. I kept putting off doing the assignment because I'm not familiar with abstract techniques and felt it was forcing me outside my photographic comfort zone.

I've tried to accurately represent the scene in most of the nature photography I've done. The thought of intentionally turning it into an abstraction just made me uncomfortable. Finally, a couple of weekends ago, I decided I needed to get it done. The technique I was going to use was to set a slow shutter speed and allow the image to blur as I moved during the exposure. I went for a hike looking for suitable subjects.

The first one is a different view of one of our native shrubs, agarita (Mahonia trifoliolata). We've got them all over the property. I like this image because it reminds me of a star field or a fireworks burst. I'm not sure if one could tell it was an agarita just from the image, so perhaps that's abstract enough!

Agarita Starburst

I noticed some of the agaritas already have flower buds. The combination of rains and warm weather are tricking them into an early spring.

I took the second image right in our front yard. We have a several rose bushes in our home's landscape and they are all blooming.

Rose Impressions

I liked the results of the nature abstract assignment and think I'll do it again. One of the goals of my Master Naturalist work is to increase public awareness and appreciation of nature. I think producing nature abstracts might be one way to accomplish that.

Onion Creek Juniper Clearing

I got to spend almost four hours yesterday in the afternoon working at the Onion Creek Water Quality Protection Lands in Hays County. The day started a bit cold with lows in the thirties, but by 1 pm it had warmed up enough to be comfortable to work outside as long as your dressed warmly.

I was part of a team of about 15 Hays County Master Naturalists, led by Tom Watson, and we worked to clear Ashe Junipers at two different sites on the property.

The junipers are native, but they originally grew on rocky hillsides and ravines. They have spread beyond their original confines, due to overgrazing of grasslands and suppression of wildfires as our land became settled. They compete for water with grasses and other trees. The City of Austin is restoring the Water Quality Protection Lands to grasslands in order to enhance their ability to filter and recharge water in the aquifers. The junipers are also known locally as "cedars" and cause the dreaded allergy, "cedar fever". Cutting the tree down below any green needle will kill it. Typically, we cut it down at the ground.

Removing a small juniper

The first site we worked, along Onion Creek, had been cleared of large junipers by our chapter. We swept along the bank looking for any seedlings or "re-sprouts". Since the large junipers have been cleared, the berries have a chance to germinate and if not regularly cleared, in only a few years, the area will once again have a juniper problem. While very easy to nip with lopping shears, the seedlings can be hard to see.

It was nice to see Onion Creek had water in it, because it was dry the last time I saw it. The recent rains have helped, but are not enough. The water is also muddy indicating we're seeing erosion upstream.

A view upstream

And downstream

The second site we worked was adjacent to a stock tank and had not recently been cleared because the trees were larger and harder to take out with just our lopping shears.

It was a beautiful afternoon to spend working outdoors. As Tom summarized, "We laid down a lot of wood"  yesterday and I'm glad I was able to help!

Bunton Branch Restoration

Last October, Mary and I volunteered at one of our Chapter's projects, the Bunton Branch Restoration.

The project is located on 35 acres of City of Kyle parkland. The park property was acquired in 2008 when the developer of the Seton Hospital and retail stores surrounding it presented the City a concept plan. The Kyle Parks Committee and City Council accepted the parkland dedication shortly after that. Bunton Branch Creek was realigned due to the construction of the Dacy Lane bridge. The project involves restoring the land to its natural state and helping with the maintenance of the parkland.

The project’s main objectives are:

• Restore the portion of Bunton Branch Impacted by Construction
• Plant native vegetation
• Harvest saplings and other desirable vegetation from undisturbed areas of the creek and  replant in the area affected by construction
• Solicit donations from local nurseries for native trees and vegetation

• Help The City of Kyle to Maintain Parkland
• Trash removal
• Identify and remove invasive plant species
• Recruit help from experts on plant identification
• Begin erosion control plan
• Remove creek obstructions

• Help The City of Kyle with their vision for the Park
• Plan garden space and water system and help to build it
• Plan nature trail to an outdoor classroom and help with building it
• Tag, identify and map trees
• GPS trees, log tree type and create a map for future parkland planning

We joined project leader Kimberly Pankratz as well as fellow Master Naturalists Tom Watson, Linda Land, and Dick and Judy McBride. The group worked to identify, tag and record the GPS coordinates of trees, and trash pickup.

Examining an invasive Chinese Lantern.

It was nice to see a bit of water in the creek and several of us observed how different the soil and plants are east of I-35. The most common tree along the creek was the Bois D’Arc (Maclura pomifera) and many still had fruit on them. The Bois D’Arc are relatively rare in the rockier soils of western Hays County. Also common were cedar elms (Ulmus crassifolia). 

Kimberly also gave the group a tour and overview of the park and the work ahead.

That's A Lot Of Seedballs!

Our Hays County Chapter of the Texas Master Master Naturalists recently participated in a neat project which I think exemplifies the kind of work we do and the spirit of our members.

The Healing Hands Healing Lands project was created in the aftermath of last year’s devastating Bastrop wildfires. The best summary comes from the project’s web page:

“This project has been initiated to support those who have suffered loss of homes, lives, pets, and farm animals in areas of Central Texas recently damaged by wildfires. We will act to aid and accelerate "healing" of the natural ecosystems by providing seed balls containing native flower, grass, and other plant seeds normally found in the affected areas. All seed used will be provided by Native American Seed Company and selected and blended for its suitability for those areas. We hope to broaden involvement of the young people in our surrounding communities in this effort. Finally, we see this as an important youth education opportunity to teach younger citizens about the importance of re-establishing the correct native plants in the area's various ecosystems."

Several organizations were involved in the project:

• Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT): Austin, Williamson County, LostPines (Bastrop) chapters
• Master Naturalists: CAMN (Travis), Goodwater Williamson), Lost Pines(Bastrop), Hays chapters
• Master Gardeners: Travis and Hays Counties
• Others: Habitat Stewards (Austin), Taylor Garden Club, and Crown Garden Club of Rockdale (Milam)

The project plan was to make as many seed balls as possible to distribute to fire victims by the end of 2011. The seeds are from more than 50 varieties of plants found in the Bastrop area, such as Little Bluestem, Black-eyed Susan and Indian Blanket. Each ball has nine or 10 seeds and should grow with a little water. The volunteers mixed the dry ingredients, added water, and rolled around 350 seed balls per bag of dry mix. They processed a total of 477 bags of dry mix, which resulted in approximately 165,000 seed balls, or a little over a ton!

Their work also involved boxing the completed seed balls for distribution. An event was held in Bastrop on January 13^th to distribute seed balls.

The Healing Hands Healing Lands is a wonderful, and very visible, example of the work our chapter conducts. It combines ecological restoration, public outreach, and education.

A Turkey Trot

I recently bought a Bushnell Trophy Cam Night Vision Trail Camera. The camera is motion-triggered and takes color photos in daylight and infrared photos at night. It has an infrared flash unit.

I set it up near one of our rainwater collector water dishes, which I've posted about before. I'm curious to see what wildlife is coming to the water dish. I swapped out the camera's flash card after a week and brought the card back to my computer to see what it had recorded. It had shot about 82 photos and here's some of the best.

First, is a great shot of a Rio Grande Wild Turkey. We usually only hear them and spotting one is a rare treat. Interestingly, it's not drinking water, but just walking by the dish which is located along a dirt road. The timestamp shows the photo was taken about 2 pm.

Next, is a night time, infrared shot, of three feral pigs. This photo was taken about 9 pm. It shows two pigs at the water dish and a third one on the left. There were about 6 photos of feral pigs, but this is the best one.

Finally, here is a night time photo of a cottontail rabbit. It was taken about 6:30 am. There were many photos of rabbits, both cotton tails and jack rabbits.

A Wet December

We finished 2011 with a much wetter than average December. I recorded 6.2 inches of rain at our house which happened over 11 days, fairly evenly distributed throughout the month. This was the wettest December since I started tracking the rainfall in 2007. The next highest December total was 3 inches in 2009.

While it was nice, it did little to break the drought we're experiencing. The total 2011 rainfall at our house was 20.5 inches. The average in our part of Texas is about 33 inches.

Here's our monthly rainfall chart.

The Federal government maintains a drought tracking web site, called the National Integrated Drought Information System. You might find it interesting to see how severe the current drought is.

Here's today's version of their overview. Central Texas is in 'Extreme' drought.

The outlook through March 31, 2012 is for the drought to persist with little change.