Nature Along the El Camino Real
Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
By Donna Lewis
Can you believe what a wonderful day Sunday, January 30 was?
Mother Nature gave us a little love…
Hope you went outside.
If you are a John Denver fan, I was thinking of Annie’s Song as I walked through the woods. I need to say no more.
by Eric Neubauer
A special spider story: I’ve developed an interest in this Pardosa mercurialis partially because it’s the only Pardosa species in Texas that anyone on iNat can reliably identify. They have particular habitat preferences which make them more common in the hill country than on the prairie. I’ve been looking far and wide for them for over a year and had only found one colony in Milam County. Needless to say, I’d become pretty familiar with the habitats they like.
For the last few months, I’ve been piling up chert nodules around the outlet of a culvert under the driveway all the time thinking the spiders might like it if only they could find it. I could try importing some spiders, but it’s better to let nature do her own thing.
At this point there were about six square feet of nodules, and I was adding half a bucket more so any pioneering spiders wouldn’t laugh at my meager efforts and move on. As I was placing some rocks by hand, I saw movement and realized I needn’t have worried. A well grown juvenile was already there.
When I came back for the empty bucket 10 minutes later, it was sunning itself on a rock the way they do. I’d never seen one on my property or within 10 miles of it before.
by Carolyn Henderson
New trainees for the El Camino Real chapter Texas Master Naturalist learned about extensive programs being implemented by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department with area ranchers to restore grazed land to its native state while still grazing cattle on it. A project in a neighboring county is being implemented by Tim Siegmund, the Private Lands Program Leader for TPWD-WL Division, with Jay Whiteside, TPWD Technical Guidance biologist District 5. They are several years into the 7-year plan, and the results are very positive in proving that native growth on rangeland and grazing cattle on it can be compatible and profitable. Below is a synopsis by Siegmund about the project.
The use of fire to concentrate cattle grazing has led to a recovery of the areas being rested from burning within the pastures. The cattle preferentially graze the freshly burned areas, and lightly or don’t graze at all the areas burned in previous years. This allows the plants to recover, make seed, and persist over the long term in a constant burn, graze, rest cycle. This can lead to better carbon and nitrogen cycling as a result of thatch incorporation into the soil and concentration of animal waste, increased water infiltration as healthy roots grow and rot in place creating pathways for water infiltration, and increased plant and animal diversity as there are a host of niches being created by short and tall vegetation as well as annual, biennial, and perennial plant species. Patch burn grazing can be a great tool to promote livestock production, plant diversity, and wildlife diversity. —- Tim Siegmund
Photo 1 shows the short, grazed grass and the diverse wildflower community not being grazed by the cattle, average grass height was less than 2 inches.
Photo 2 is a picture of a yard stick showing the amount of ground cover now blanketing the ground after 2 full years post burn.
Photo 3 is a picture with Siegmund and assistants in it conducting the vegetation sampling monitoring the changes over time.
Photo 4 shows the year of burn and the annual plant community dominated area as the fire and subsequent regrowth of grass has concentrated the cattle in this area.
Photo 5 is a picture of Jay Whiteside and an intern showing what 2 years of rest looks like by burning other portions of the pasture to focus grazing pressure elsewhere. In 2019, grass height is approximately 20 inches.
By the way, a recording of this session can be found on our website.
by Donna Lewis
Hello folks,
It seems that I am a great landlord to all. Everyone wants to live here.
Right now, my garden is asleep for its winter nap. It is looking pretty sad, but as I told you that will change come spring. So, while the garden sleeps, I had some visitors sneak in.
This is the first time ever that Pocket Gophers have decided to reside in my garden. I should have been more vigilant before so many little gophers and their relatives decided to move in. Free room and board.
Now I have a huge problem. I have been trying for about 4 weeks to nicely move them out. I have bought repellent, used coffee grinds and mothballs, to no avail so far.
I asked at the Coop in Bryan Tx and their only advice was to kill them. I hate to even use that word. I love all nature. I am still looking for something that will run them out of my garden and into the pastures where I don’t mind them living. After all, we are in their hood.
My Brittany Spaniel was our original Gopher hunter, and trust me there were none around her. She always brought her trophies to show her love for me.
Sadly, she passed away two years ago from old age. I miss her a lot.
Our current two children (our dogs) have no interest in chasing after anything but a ball or a cookie. No help there. I must do something soon or it will do a great deal of damage to the garden. I might try cat hair next, as another one of our members suggested (Cathy Johnson ).
Mother Nature, I need some help here.
by Carolyn Henderson
Saturday, January 15, was a very windy day, as everyone in Central Texas knows. That wind deposited approximately eleven diverse types of tree leaves in my garage. I say approximate because neither I nor iNaturalist have been able to accurately identify some of them.
Why are they all in my garage? It has something to do with the aerodynamics of the layout of my house, location, and wind direction. There is a wall that extends from the outer wall of my garage down my driveway quite a few feet. When the wind blows from the north or northeast, all the leaves in my immediate neighborhood blow around that wall into my garage. My neighbor swears this happens to him, too. I’m pretty sure they’re all in my garage.
There were so many Saturday evening, that I became curious about what had found its way there. I have two types of trees in my yard – Live Oak and Texas Ash. The Texas Ash had literally dropped all its brown leaves Friday. Directly below the trees. None of them were there Saturday. Live Oaks are called evergreen, but they do drop large amounts of leaves while replacing them almost immediately. This usually occurs in February. Those leaves were blown off the trees in a green state – mostly.
So, what did I find and identify?
I did a little research on oak trees in Texas since there seemed to be an abundance of them in my garage. Texas has 50 species of oak trees. Central Texas hosts 6 of them natively. We have Red Oak (Buckley’s), Mexican Oak (abundant on the UT campus), Live Oak, Lacey Oak, Chinquapin Oak and Bur Oak. Needless to say, other types of oaks are here, but those are the ones considered to be native to the area.
I have to give the wind a little credit. It took all the Texas Ash leaves and blew them into one large pile in my back yard up against a fence. And, it blew all the leaves off a nearby Chinese Tallow into another neighbor’s yard.
Can you identify the trees these pictured leaves fell and blew from? After you give it a shot, the answers are below. And if you can identify them more accurately or at all for the unidentified ones, I’d like to know.
The identifications are in the order shown: 1> Buckley’s Oak or Texas Red Oak 2> Bastard or Post Oak 3> Rzedowski’s Sycamore 4> Eastern Cottonwood 5> Southern Live Oak 6> Magnolia 7> Texas Ash 8> Texas Live Oak. The other three are unidentified.
