A small but intrepid group took on the fight of the non-native, invasive plants in the Wildscape – again. Chad Cryer, Alan Rudd, Liz Lewis, Phyllis Sheffield, Pamela Neeley and I implemented a new method to attempt to get rid of the seriously invasive persimmons and Tree of Heavens.
Small but mighty
I would call it isolated poisoning. Chad clipped the multitude of pomegranate trees, many that had managed to reach at least 5 to 6 feet this season. Alan then put a tree poison only on the cut limbs. We cut them back in February. Alan had already done it to the Tree of Heavens that weren’t as numerous.
The invasives elimination committee.
We put all the limbs in Alan’s pickup bed. The pile stood taller than the truck cab.
We also fought off the Tievine that had totally covered the Gulf Muhly grass among other things. We also removed the other invasives in the Wildscape. A good deal of what had been planted was there, but scraggly looking from being overshadowed by all of those. It knocked out a few completely.
The weeding committee
We vowed to be back in two weeks to evaluate our efforts.
On Saturday morning I took a side trip to the El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist City Wildscape to find a pleasant surprise in the overgrown mess. Queen butterflies had found the place. I counted about 20 that morning – all on the Gregg’s Mist. That is by far and away the Queens’ favorite nectar producer.
Not only had the Queens landed, American Bumblebees had also located nectar sources for themselves – mainly the Common Sunflower that planted itself in the city wildscape and reproduced many more this year.
I also saw Ligated Furrow Bees and Jagged Ambush Bugs. Those are pending identification verifications in iNaturalist. I also saw Oblique Longorn Bees – a second time for a new to me bee. They are very tiny and in near constant motion. All of these were on the Sunflowers.
Other things we planted were in bloom, but they are mostly overwhelmed by the terrible invasive “Tree of Heaven” and the Persimmons. Persimmons have taken over the right half of the wildscape (if you’re looking at it from the street) and the Tree of Heaven, an invasive from China, has the left side.
I met with the church directors Sunday morning, and they agreed to let us make a last ditch effort to eliminate both of those. Crape Myrtles also are spreading, which are not native to this area either. They have lots of pretty blooms, though. More Queens had arrived.
Alan Rudd has devised a plan to kill these invasives. We believe that we can do it without harming the Pecan tree in the wildscape, but there is no guarantee of that, so we needed approval from the All Saint’s Episcopal Church to do it. They were in agreement, since they also were dealing with the Tree of Heaven in most other parts of their landscape.
Liz Lewis is having the source of the Tree of Heaven, three trees nearby, removed, too. Otherwise, they’ll just come back. No one knows where the Persimmons came from, but we hope we can get them out, too.
Once that is done, the wildscape needs weeding. Good for volunteer hours, everyone.
A new invasive plant has made it to Texas. It has only been spotted with verification nine times in the state, and one of them is in Milam County. The other eight are in a small area of Burnet County.
During the field trip to the McCormack Purple Martin conservation place, I took a photo of a flower I had not seen before. Of course I put it on iNaturalist. It got one “favorite”, but it couldn’t be verified as the Viper’s-Bugloss (genus Echium ) I had chosen to identify it. I had noted that I wasn’t sure, but it looked just like it.
My original observation image
Then an iNaturalist ecologist took note of it. He was very concerned about it, and he asked if I would go and take more photos of it for verification purposes. The gentleman has a PhD from the University of Texas and is a retired Wildlife Biologist at Balcones Canyonland NWR.
Mike McCormack said I was welcome to do that. I met him out there last Saturday and we went looking for some. McCormack noted that they had been dying out when I called, so he watered for me where he knew a cluster of them to be growing. They were blooming. The blossoms were smaller than the one I had seen earlier and had different colors.
The ecologist had warned me to wear heavy gloves and not touch them otherwise. They sting severely and cause a rash. You’ll see an ungloved hand in one of the photos. That’s Mike. He had handled them before and he said it wasn’t that bad, but they do cause an uncomfortable rash. I didn’t risk it. Mike said he first noticed them two years ago. He didn’t know their name until now. His theory is that they were transferred here via a pair of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks that were nesting in a tree above the main site of their location.
I posted several more photos, and the ecologist verified that they are Viper’s-bugloss plants.
They are native to Europe and temperate Asia. They are used in landscaping in a few European countries. They have been spotted in the northern United States and some other countries that didn’t use to have them.
These plants are actually harmful to horses and cattle because they produce a type of Alkaline that harms their livers. The ecologist recommended strongly that “the plants should be herbicided and dug out, bagged, and disposed of – being very careful not to drop any seeds.”
Years ago in Asia, they were thought to resemble snakes on some parts and were used to treat snake bites. Needless to say, that practice fell by the wayside. If you see any, it’s advised you remove them quickly – wearing heavy gloves.
On a quest to take more photos for another iNaturalist on a possible Viper’s Bugloss plant, I discover baby Purple Martins and something else. There is always something new to discover in nature.
Purple Martin nests
There are photos of parents feeding the recently hatched Purple Martins. Plenty of the houses at Mike McCormick’s considerable housing for the birds are occupied with hatchlings and eggs.
McCormick says the majority of them will take flight in mid-June. He also noted that the late male arrivals are fighting the older males for housing. This is apparently common. The debate is over whether they are drawn to their nest they were hatched in the year before or they are trying to establish territory.
While standing out among the martins, I noticed a ball on the ground. It was between cow patties, but it was too perfectly round to be that.
The bi-annual trip of the El Camino Real chapter – Texas Master Naturalist to the Purple Martin conservation project of Mike McCormick was both awe inspiring and amusing. McCormick had hundreds of Purple Martins making his place home for the nesting season while a notable number of dumped roosters were fighting it out on the ground.
Purple Martins in the sky.
McCormick, who started the Purple Martin conservation project at his place south of Buckholts at least 40 years ago, estimated somewhere between 800 to 1,000 Martins in residence this year. It is nearly triple what has come around for the last two years. He attributes it to milder weather so far this year.
McCormick talks about the birds.
He has a few hundred Purple Martin houses set up. They are particular about their “homes.” They like them to be a certain level above the ground away from trees and buildings. They need a pond or stream in the near vicinity. They also do their hunting of insects at a high altitude, although they have been known to hunt over ponds and even on the ground if the weather is bad.
Chapter Members enjoying the talk.
McCormick will walk around under the many houses to get them to come out then the sky looks like it’s covered in Martins. Many are pairing off. Once the babies are hatched, they take about a month before they leave the nest. By early fall, these Martins have flown to Austin, where thousands meet up to then fly to Brazil or other points south for the winter.
Purple Martins’ primary natural competitors are European Starlings, which are invasive to the USA, and sparrows, many of them also invasive. They take over their houses. McCormick has styled a large cage to catch those competitors in and remove them. Human expansion is also a problem for martins wanting to nest in natural spots.
The resident Barn Swallows build their own nests. These are hungry babies!
McCormick and his sister have added a nature trail on the site to let visitors see the natural habitat there. They also have created a sort of refuge for other native bids and those ever-invasive non-natives. They use a small corral that used to be used for training horses. They have a birdbath, several feeding sites, and a few bird houses.
Repurposed trah-bin lid makes a great birdbath.
He puts birdseed on the tops of all the fence posts, which brings Cardinals, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and and few other species to the little refuge.
Male eats while female Cardinal darts away.
The piece de resistance is new bathroom facilities with running water and full plumbing.
Visits are more pleasant with these available!
To top it all off, they had at least 15 (my sort-of count) roosters dumped on their place. I’m used to dogs and cats being dumped – but not roosters. They were in a fighting mood while we were there.
Innocent rooster just hanging outFighting stancePreparing to go at itFight time – who would dump 15 roosters, knowing they do this?
It’s worth a trip to see all the sites and have McCormick impart much knowledge about Purple Martins.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 