Today was a happy day for this blog. We have a new member of the blogging crew. Let’s welcome Terri Brickey to the team! She’s an experienced blogger who just needed a refresher course in how WordPress has changed since she last worked on her own blog. Now when I’m unavailable, we have a helper! And she’s going to contribute more blogs of her own nature observations. We had a fun afternoon looking at the nature where I live and planning future activities.
Terri is also a fan of iNaturalist observations
In nature news, I saw a spider today. It was one of the largest bold jumping spiders (Phidippus audax) I ever saw! Look at those charming green eyes!
a cutie pie
These spiders are often kept as pets, but I enjoy them in the wild. They have nested in our mailbox many times. They’re solitary and carnivorous. Their ability to move quickly and see extremely well makes them quite successful native species. They have iridescent chelicerae, which is one reason I enjoy them so much.
Earlier this week, I worked on adding up how many bird species I observed at our Milam County property, the Hermits’ Rest last month. I keep notebooks that record the species I see and/or hear with help from Merlin Bird ID every day I’m at home. I was happy to have seen 126 different species as the migration season drew to a close. I was wondering if there was a seasonal pattern, because I intuited that the spring and autumn migration seasons would bring in more species.
Speaking of birds, I’m not sure if this sparrow nest addendum was on purpose.
I don’t remember exactly what I did, but somehow Excel asked me if I wanted an analysis of the data. Well, yes, I did, because data analysis using spreadsheets is not one of my skill sets. I had all kinds of questions that I’d like answered, like what were the most common species, which species have been here every month, etc.
Like, am I a bird?
Suddenly, BOOM. a new tab opened on the spreadsheet. It had all the answers. Something had analyzed my spreadsheet. Oh no, I found a use for AI! Damn! I couldn’t not look at the results. I really wanted to know.
Right on top, there was a summary of my ranch bird data:
The sheet is a month-by-species presence matrix: an X means a bird was recorded in that month. Coverage spans Dec-23 through May-26, with 2,804 total monthly presence marks. May-25 is the richest month (129 species); Jul-24 is the quietest (60 species). 18 species appear in every month, suggesting reliable year-round residents. 30 species appear in only one month, highlighting possible migrants, one-off observations, or rare sightings.
That’s all the stuff I wanted to know! To top it all off, there were tables and charts! Look at this.
I was wrong about the seasons. Winter, with all those sparrows, has the second most sightings, after what I expected…that spring gets the most.
This one is probably my favorite. I wonder, though, how we got so many species last June, when the previous June, July, and August were so low (and this June is starting off pretty slow). What I really think is that I need another couple of years of data to see these patterns better. Here’s another graph:
These are the 18 birds we see every month, with two that occur almost every month. I am not at all surprised at the species I see here. I wasn’t sure that Eastern Bluebirds were here every month. I don’t see them every day, but I guess they are here. Okay, one final fascinating thing.
These are supposedly the birds we’ve only seen once. That’s pretty interesting, but look! There are weird spellings on the birds, which I assure you are spelled correctly on the original spreadsheet. I probably shouldn’t have asked for a red border. I wonder what a Swalver is? And I think those last two are both Virginia Rails. But it appears only once on my list. I went too far and AI mauled my data.
What are my conclusions? In summary, AI is helpful upon occasion, but AI also is inclined to do weird stuff to the data. You have to keep your eyes open. Here’s the actual data of birds that were only seen or heard by Merlin Bird ID once. (This does not include a couple of obvious errors where the location got messed up or some other Merlin glitch happened; you’ve got to keep an eye on Merlin, too.)
American Golden-plover
American Tree Sparrow
Barn Owl
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black Capped Chickadee
Black Tern
Black-and-white Warbler
Black-necked Stilt
Boat-tailed Grackle
Canada Warbler
Caspian Tern
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Chuck-Will’s Widow
Common Raven
Crested Lark
Greater White-fronted Goose
Hooded Warbler
Indian Peafowl
Lark Bunting
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Pyrrhuloxia
Rough-winged Swallow
Semi-palmated Plover
Semi-palmated Sandpiper
Spotless Starling
Thick-billed Longspur
Tricolored Heron
Virginia Rail
Western Wood Pewee
Yellow-green Vireo
Dang, I’m ambivalent. But now I have some helpful insights about my bird data. I am pleased about that and look forward to continuing with monthly analysis and getting more information.
I was not quite so pleased when I sleepily ventured onto the screened porch to guzzle some coffee before my 8 am standup (once again it went 30 minutes over). I went to set my coffee down and spotted a snakeskin on the arm of my chair. You know I’ve lived here a while, because all I did was ask Lee if he put it there. Nope. I set the skin on my big turtle shell where it looks quite decorative.
It wasn’t a big one.
I guess the rat snake left the way it came in when it realized there were no birds or rodents to snack on. Ah, it’s always something!
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.
It turns out, the answer is yes, though I am sure many of you already know that. I went on a great adventure on Friday with my fellow Master Naturalist to see for ourselves. We escaped to the wilderness known as her property outside of Cameron and searched for a rumored beaver dam on the spring-fed creek that runs through the land. It was a beautiful warm day for exploring. (Note that I am not providing the exact location to maintain the beavers’ and property owner’s privacy.)
Proof that it was a beautiful day in Milam County
We got into the truck and took off for the spring-fed creek that runs from the property to Big Elm Creek. At first we looked in the wrong place and got attacked by much greenbrier and dewberry vines that tried very hard to trip us (I later determined that I got a tick on my head – darn nature). I did determine that the water was not out of its banks and was very clean.
creek not floodedmany sticky plants in here, mainly Smilax bona nox and dewberrt
My friend called the folks who’d been on the property monitoring their deer lease or something, and they redirected us upstream. There we found what appeared to be weird flat areas with brown vegetation.
looks like a brown patch of dirt
The brown stuff was actually duckweed on a big ole beaver pond! To say I was excited would be an understatement. The dog was also excited and immediately went swimming.
The middle dam and pond
I enjoyed investigating the dam construction and listening to the water trickling through the spillways. It’s hard to believe animals can do this, even though I read a book all about beavers recently (and I highly recommend it to any fellow nature lover).
Also they build a lot of tunnels. Here is an entrance.
We found trees that had been gnawed by beavers (some from the previous dam a few years back). There were also trees whose bark had been gnawed. This definitely points to beavers!
Gnawed trees
We moved upstream some more and found a second dam, which has created a magical pond full of fish, butterflies, and plants. One of the things beavers do is provide an environment for wetland plants, increasing diversity and creating more fertile soil after the dams are abandoned. It was hard to pull myself away from the tranquility.
BuckeyeUpper pond
This is my favorite upper pond photo
I wanted to see if there was a third dam below the first one we found. Sure enough, following the cool beaver trails led to another one that my friend thinks is a reconstruction of the original dam.
beaver trailsperhaps a beaver trackdamdaman entrance hole
Since we had time and a truck, we went off exploring other parts of the property, which are mostly hay fields. We stopped and got to see a spectacular Northern Harrier fly right in front of us when we both had our binoculars. They’re beautiful hawks with a white patch just above their tail.
Northern Harrier from Pexels photo library
We then explored a ravine that lead to the big creek and observed how the creek is slowly moving northward. I did not fall down when I clambered down the embankment. I held onto trees.
You can see where the creek used to be closer to the embankment
We ended our exciting afternoon doing some more birding back by my friend’s house and enjoying each other’s photos. I’m so pleased to cross another mammal off my list of Milam County sightings, even if I didn’t see an actual beaver. All my beaver knowledge really helped me see the signs of them. I’m sure the beavers are glad the prowling humans and dogs are gone!
I’ve been making up for lost time at our Chapter’s little bird sanctuary, Wild Wings. Fall and winter are the best times to visit, anyway, since winter visitors may appear. I brought all my birding equipment for the past few weeks, so I could see all the little guys flitting around with my better-quality binoculars.
I also brought my real camera and telephoto lens, so here come the bird photos!
I got to watch a Red-shouldered Hawk and multiple Red-bellied Woodpeckers last week, but didn’t get many photos. I also enjoyed checking out the plants Gene has put in the beds, too.
Non-native tropical milkweed will be beautiful next spring and summer.
This week, Kit and I spent time at the sanctuary listening to the birds—we have heard 17 species via Merlin Bird ID this week, plus additional ones last week, so this will be a good month for our totals, which have been missing for a while due to our volunteers and their issues/schedules (I mean me).
This Tufted Titmouse on the rain chain did not judge me.
Sitting quietly in the sanctuary with all the feeders filled to the brim by our caretaker, Gene, lets you get some fine photos of whatever birds come to feeders, which means Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, and one Eastern Phoebe.
What’s in here? A new perspective This is high quality stuffWhat are you looking at?Phoebe! Phoebe!My pretty tail!Fun times with birds
The sanctuary also is home to many bees, as it’s near an apiary. The bees love the rain chain that drips into the bird bath. Look at all the bees!
They’re on the right.
We encourage visitors to the Wildscape to come on down for some peace, quiet, and birdsong.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 