On Sunday morning, I went for a walk at sunrise. The fog made the morning quite beautiful over my property.
As I walked I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the garden spiders’ webs looked with frost on them.
The wildflowers added to the beauty!
I got curious and looked up how the dew and spiderwebs interact. The droplets condense on the webs, and when the sun comes out, the droplets can create prism effects.
Shiny!
The webs are present all the time, but usually the spider silk is so thin that we humans can’t see it. Thanks to Nature for providing these ephemeral beauties!
On Saturday, May 23, our chapter finally enjoyed our long-delayed field trip to the Muller property on the border of Milam and Burleson Counties. It’s probably a good thing there were delays, because ample rain in the last couple of months prompted the May wildflowers to make up for a lackluster March and April.
In preparation for the field trip, Terri Brickey created rustic signs pointing to trails and other landmarks, and she also made beautiful maps of the property and the trails AD Muller has carved out through the woods, meadows, pastures, and scenic vistas. This undertaking was much appreciated by those who explored the trails. The property has many interesting trees, shrubs, forbs and wildflowers, so it’s a dream for iNaturalist fans. I also heard or saw 25 bird species, which is pretty darned good, too.
The Zombie YrailTerri identifies beesOne of the signs
Some of the chapter members didn’t explore the woods and fields, but that’s okay, because Carolyn’s front porch is a prime nature watching location. We enjoyed watching Rocky the friendly raccoon (no, no one touched him), a mother Phoebe and her nest, a large swamp rabbit, the resident catfish in the pond, and plenty of songbirds. If we’d stayed longer, we could have seen the many armadillos and deer.
RockyPhoebe nestMrs PhoebeSwamp rabbitSquirrel in charge of the trough
Those of us who like insects and reptiles were not disappointed, either. I found many butterflies (including an elusive small sulphur) and various wasps. Terri tried to get photos of native bees, but they were very active!
Can you see the lizard?Ringed paper waspCommon checkered white Common whitetailTed harvester antsPipevine swallowtail Dusky-blue groundstreak
And of course, there were plants! I uploaded 125 or so observations to iNaturalist, with only a few duplicate entries. There were a few rare plants that I’d seen last year and was hoping to find again, and I did see some of them. There was also a new plant for us, the Fourpoint evening primrose (Oenothera rhombipetala). It apparently will grow up to five feet tall! There have been a few observations in the area, and it appears to not be seen west of I-35. Another fairly uncommon plant is Texas Sandmint (Rhododon ciliatus).
Fourpoint evening primrose Sandmint
There was lots and lots of Gaillardia sp. and spotted horsemint (a type of beebalm, Monarda). Plus other beauties.
Maroon blanket flower (Gaillardia amblyodon)Spotted horsemintPrickly poppy in monarda Drummond’s phloxSpiderwortActually not quite sure what this isWinecup mallowRattlebushPurple pleat leaf
We enjoyed some teeny tiny flowers, too. Both Terri and I like those.
One of my favorite sites was all the blossoming American beautyberry. That is one fine plant when it’s not drought conditions.
When we finished walking around (and stepping in lots of mud), Terri fed the resident catfish. Of course, we also took lots of photos of the wetland plants, which were many rushes and sedges.
It was extra pleasant to just hang around on the porch for a while, too. We do get excited about all the natural wonders we encounter, and we love to share!
Screenshot
There were many more sights, but you’ll just have to come on our next field trip to see for yourself!
Stereum
Photos by Sue Ann Kendall and Terri Brickey. Thanks to Carolyn and AD Muller for sharing their property.
While my crew was out putting up the Bat Acoustic device Friday, I stumbled across an iNaturalist’s heaven. The pasture was covered in wildflowers – and all the butterflies, bees and other flying insects in Central Texas, it seemed.
Chad Cryer and Teri Brickey had gone to explore the Little River, while I took pictures. I found two species that I had never seen before Friday. And I found a Texas Vervain that was five feet tall. The height seemed to throw off the identification for it on iNat. I was pretty sure it was a vervain, but iNat was unsure. Luckily, Linda Jo Conn verified it for me.
Texas Vervain – 5 feet tallTexas Indian Mallow – flower has a unique colorMexican Palo Verde – a tree-like plant growing under a larger tree;
Wildflowers that were removed to make way for paths have returned and native trees are thriving after the rains. Work on the H-E-B grant is nearing the end and we are looking forward to Blooms and Pollinators.
The Pollinators for Texas project is a collaborative effort with H-E-B and the Texas Master Naturalist (TMN) Program focused on enhancing native pollinator conservation across the state by promoting awareness, conservation efforts and creating sustainable pollinator environments. The initiative aims to engage communities in supporting pollinator-friendly practices through funding TMN chapter-led projects and programs.
In late April I made my first extensive visit to South Texas. My primary goal was to explore the ranges of three closely related wolf spider species/subspecies, only one of which has been officially recognized. I was successful in that although populations along the Rio Grande appeared reduced by an extended dryness there. South Texas has a broad range of habitats from coastal grassland to dry thornscrub, and each of the three species/subspecies has found a different niche there. Going by iNaturalist observations, they are endemic to South Texas and Reynosa, Mexico.
This effort was suddenly interrupted when I started looking for them at Mustang Island State Park and found something else. Along the road near the park office I came across a bunch of “little brown spiders” except that they were more like medium size with body lengths of up to 12 mm. I immediately knew they were an unusual species for me and photographed 6, which thankfully included both male and female adults. The ones below are all males
After I got home and started uploading them to iNaturalist, I was unable to find an exact match. I thought Alopecosa was best choice for genus based on face and general appearance but none of the described species in the genus were a match. Granted that no images of some small species exist, wolf spiders of this large size are pretty well documented. I was very lucky to discover a whole population in this case. We are aware of a couple of larger spiders that also defy identification, but these are known from just a few observations and remain paused due to lack of evidence.
At 11:30 PM, it was time to drive back to the motel after spending hours in the dark with wolf spiders at Port Aransas and the State Park.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 