Sometimes it’s fun to observe a natural object over time. I tried this with a mushroom I found on my property, the Hermits’ Rest Ranch in northern Milam County. On March 29, I saw what appeared to be an egg in the field in front of our house. When I looked more closely, I realized it was a large mushroom. Of course, I photographed it. My whole family laughs at how I photograph everything.
Wikipedia tells us that it’s the most common of its ilk in both the US and the UK. I’d never seen one before, however. It sure was large. Here are some facts about the earthball:
Earthballs are superficially similar to, and considered look-alikes of, the edible puffball (particularly Apioperdon pyriforme), but whereas the puffball has a single opening on top through which the spores are dispersed, the earthball just breaks up to release the spores. Moreover, Scleroderma citrinum has much firmer flesh and a dark gleba (interior) much earlier in development than puffballs. Scleroderma citrinum has no stem but is attached to the soil by mycelial cords. The peridium, or outer wall, is thick and firm, usually ochre yellow externally with irregular warts.
Scleroderma citrinum can be mistaken with truffles by inexperienced mushroom hunters. Ingestion of Scleroderma citrinum can cause gastrointestinal distress in humans and animals, and some individuals may experience lacrimation, rhinitis and rhinorrhea, and conjunctivitis from exposure to its spores.
The next day, when I came back, the earthball had grown a lot. I used my ear bud as a comparison (I didn’t have a coin, which is traditional).
Next time, it had grown even more. Luckily I’d just been gathering eggs, so I got some nice shots. That’s the biggest mushroom I ever saw.
Big, very big
After that, I got curious about its lifecycle, so I decided to photograph it every day. Since it’s poisonous, I didn’t lick it. And, before you ask, the dogs are on the other side of a fence from it.
This was day before yesterday, when it was starting to ooze a bigThe many very similar moods of the earthball
I was afraid I’d miss yesterday, since I was scheduled to go to a conference yesterday and today. “Luckily” the conference was canceled. Unluckily, I didn’t find out until I had already spent a night in Kerrville. (The TXPWD were kind and repaid my hotel bill, since it was their error that some attendees weren’t notified.) Anyway, I got home to find it had finally burst open.
This was in the late afternoon, so not great light, but look at all that spore material in there!
There sure were a LOT of spores in there. Since yesterday was so windy that there was a Red Flag warning in the county, I figure there may be future earthballs all over the place!
Sad earthball. You’ve been fun to watch!
This morning, my buddy looks pretty sad. But I’m impressed the mushroom hung around for over 11 days! I’ve learned something about the Common Earthball, and so have you!
I went on a field trip to the Leach Teaching Gardens at Texas A&M and saw some burgundy bluebonnets (genetically altered). I’m not sure what to think about that, being from Austin and a UT fan…
I decided to take the back roads coming back to Cameron so I could stop along the way and take pictures of wildflowers. Several times I saw flowers, then had to find a safe place to pull over and hike back to the flowers to get pictures.
Hairyflower Spiderwort
It was worth it, I saw flowers that I’ve never seen before and huge pastures of flowers, it was so beautiful. I continue to be amazed at the beautiful things of nature that are everywhere around us.
Drummond’s Stitchwort
You really just need to take the time to stop and see the small things.
It was Wednesday, March 16, 2022, and we were enjoying spring break. My wife was on her way to Bryan, Texas, with her mother, to pick up our niece for a spring break visit. It was about 3:00 pm and past Milano on the south side of highway 79, she saw a hawk just standing there. She thought the hawk must have prey on the ground and is trying to get. The hawk was standing right in the grass and almost on the shoulder of the highway. She continued her way and was in Bryan for several hours. Upon her return home, she noticed the hawk in the same location, when she passed the area. She turned around and pulled over in the grass passed the shoulder to see what was wrong.
The hawk
My wife, her mom and our niece got out and saw the hawk was standing there looking around, but it was not moving its feet or wings. They were careful not to get too close because they did not want the hawk to fly into the highway. Her mom said the bird looked so pitiful, like it was seeking someone to help it. It was about 7:30 pm by the time they got back in the car and started calling any wildlife rehab center they could find on google. My wife knew there had to be a place to take the hawk, because when we go to the Renaissance Festival, we like to watch a presentation called “Birds of Prey.” In this live show, they explain how they acquired each bird and how it came to be rescued and rehabilitated. The birds in the show were not able to be released back into the wild, so they used them for educating the public. Everyone they called was closed and they could only leave a message. They did not want to leave the hawk there, but they were running out of choices. They did not have a cage or any idea of how to approach a hawk to attempt to detain it.
After she got to rehab
Then my wife remembered our friend, neighbor, and fellow master naturalist Catherine Johnson. My wife called Catherine’s daughter Rosie Johnson and then Rosie and Catherine got on the phone together. They gave my wife the number to the wildlife rehab called All Things Wild. However, All Things Wild is only an intake center, so they were still in the same boat, no cage, and no knowledge of how to capture the hawk. But thankfully they also gave her the number to another fellow master naturalist, Donna Lewis. My wife called Donna, and Donna was on it. Donna started calling all her contacts for wildlife rehab. Before Donna hung up to start her search for help, she mentioned the Game Warden.
My wife’s mom looked up the Game Warden, Derrik Rennspies, and my wife called and talked to him. He agreed to come and bring his raptor cage and secure the hawk. Before he got there, Donna and her neighbor and friend, Holly Jentsch, showed up. Holly put a white sheet on the shoulder of the highway so approaching vehicles would be cautious. When he arrived, the Game Warden turned on his lights to caution other drivers. He then put the white sheet over the hawk and the raptor cage, then carefully got the hawk inside the cage. When he was putting the hawk in the cage, he saw a dead animal, maybe a mouse or rabbit close to hawk. The hawk was most likely trying to get it.
Her red tai,
Now they had the bird secured, but there was still the problem of where to keep it overnight. Donna and Holly agreed to keep the hawk overnight and then my wife and I would transport it to College Station the next day. Game Warden Rennspies put us in contact with a wildlife rehab that would accept the hawk.
The next day, 3/17/22, my wife and I, along with our niece, met Holly in Gause at Coats Grocery to pick up the hawk for transport. Once we secured the raptor cage in the inside of the truck, we took off for the wildlife rehab in College Station.
She still had some energy!
Once we got there, we met wildlife rehabilitator, Krista Bligh. Krista is a wildlife rehabilitator through Texas Parks and Wildlife with mission of taking in injured or orphaned wildlife and releasing them back into the wild. She is not funded by the state, so she does wildlife rehabilitation out of her own pocket, as well as donations. She currently takes in a wide range of species, and she never knows what she will get. Currently she is feeding a litter of baby opossums as well as nursing other red-tailed hawks. Last year, she got in two orphaned baby bobcats, three orphaned baby foxes, and numerous injured and orphaned opossums, raccoons, squirrels, and the list goes on. She explained that a huge part of wildlife rehabilitation is also educating the public. Not many people are taught about wildlife, so it is common for people to accidentally kidnap a baby from their mom, since they are left in odd spots for a wide range of time. The most common kidnapped wildlife are fawns (baby deer) and baby bunnies. By educating the public, she can save more animals by allowing the animals who are not needing assistance to stay and free up her time for those that do.
Removing her from the box
Krista is currently a senior Wildlife and Fisheries Zoology major at Texas A&M University. She aspires to attend Vet School with the eventual goal of opening an official wildlife center for the Brazos Valley since it is so incredibly needed.
Krista and Cherie Kocian
Once we got the hawk out of the truck, Krista was prepared to pick her up out of the cage. Her first impressions were the hawk had some neurological damage and possible internal injuries. She examined her and said she must have been grounded (not able to fly and hunt for prey) for a while because she was emaciated. Neurological damage can also come from eating poison or poisoned prey. Before we left, she said ask for updates at your own risk because the hawk did not look good. Based on the hawk’s size and weight, Krista believed the hawk was a female hawk.
We contacted Krista the next day, 3/18/22, and the hawk was doing well. She had her on oxygen to give her a boost while she was rehydrating her as well. She was going to start her on semi-solid foods that night. She had no apparent external injuries, but she was not quite stable yet. She wanted to go very slow with her since she suspected she had internal injuries on top of the neurological issues and slight emaciation.
Coming out of the box
Update a week after finding the female red-tailed hawk 3/23/22: She is doing great. She has been eating like a champ and Krista will be evaluating how well the hawk can fly very soon.
Update as of 3/25/22: She is doing well and will be doing a test flight tomorrow to see how strong she is and how far she can fly.
Update 3/28/22: After a few days of building her strength flying, she flew like a champ and is back into the wild.
Back in the wild!
What a great ending to this story. After 13 days from being found on the side of the highway, the hawk was rehabilitated and returned to the wild.
Spring bloomers are out in force this week. In two quick roadside stops, I found 17 interesting bits of nature, and 14 of them were native flowers. I was headed to the ECRTMN Birds and Bees Wildscape, but got sidetracked, so I thought I would see what’s blooming instead.
Fantastic shot of this vesper sparrow!
It started near the wildscape where I photographed a Vesper Sparrow, which is more common in New Mexico and Arizona than Texas, but it’s here. And then I found a Wild Turkey running down FM 334. I got one picture of it before it jumped/flew/ran from me.
Turkey time!
Via Rockdale, I went down Spur 77 toward Cameron. There are lots of Texas Bluebonnets out and Texas Paintbrushes are starting to come up. Southern Dewberries are in profuse bloom. If there are no more freezes this spring, there should be plenty of dewberries. I also found Wood Sorrels, Sword Leaf Blue-eyed Grass, Tenpetal Anemones and Imported Red Fire Ants in very large ant hills.
BluebonnetDewberryBlue eyed grass
Moving on to Hwy 36/190 headed east past the Y, I found Eastern Redbuds still in bloom but changing over to leaves, Texas Toadflax, Drummond’s Phlox, Slender Vetch, Narrowleaf Puccoon, Hairyfruit Chervil, Texas Prairie Parsley and Groundsels.
PhloxToadflaxChervilVetchThis must be the narrowleaf puccoon
There is an array of colors on the highways and byways of Milam County. In another week or two I suspect wildflowers in a massive bloom (assuming no late freeze). I hope you can take a drive to enjoy it.
Posting all these on iNaturalist has given me a new quest – to figure out where they get these names! I mean “Hairyleaf Puccoon?” “Texas Toadflax?” Almost every plant was picked up by Plants of Texas in iNat, so they are native.
Finally, love is in the air. There is a Mockingbird across the street from my office admiring and attempting to attract this other bird (him) reflected in the window. I’m amused. He’s frustrated.
More and more of the native wildflowers are blooming, but the other sign of spring here in northern Milam County are birds working hard to make new birds. This morning, I looked out at the pond behind our house and saw a Great Blue Heron in breeding plumage.
Look closely
I realized he had a big stick in his mouth. He’s making a nest! I think the nest is over by the creek. I do look forward to seeing the family.
Off to the nest.
I spot lots more little flowers on my walks. I often have to memorize where I see them when I’m horseback so I can come back and get pictures. Here are some recent arrivals.
Dewberry. Yay!One of the cornsalads Toadflax. Roadside gauraBlack willow putting out leavesCatchweed bedstrawCretanweed. Honest. It is cut off.
Butterflies are everywhere, too. They are enjoying the dandelion blossoms mostly. I still haven’t gotten a red admiral to sit still, but they are also here.
Checkered skipperOne of the lady butterflies Not a butterfly. American lady Carpenterworm moth Black swallowtails First dragonfly of the yearBlack vulture, not an insect
It’s so much fun to watch the seasons unfold. It’s also fun to listen. Cardinals are calling loudly this morning, but they have competition from a woodpecker who’s giving a concert by pecking on different parts of a tree and varying the tone of its pecks. What fun. Barn swallows are swiping and chirping.
And the heron is chiming in, along with the crows. I miss the flock of starlings that descended yesterday and really made things loud!
The source of morning concerts at the Hermits’ Rest Ranch.
But wait! Late addition! Just now I found Snappy, or more likely child of Snappy, one of our big snapping turtles. The original Snappy is much larger.
If you want Latin names for my observations or to see more, visit the Hermits’ Rest Ranch Flora and Fauna project on iNaturalist!
Nature Along the El Camino Real 