We are gearing up for the second Nature Days event, which will be each weekend in November. There will be lots of opportunities to get volunteer hours and interact with the public.
Treat yourself and visit the Wildscape now, as the fall flowers are almost ready to bloom. Email me at cpc69earth AT gmail.com, and I will meet you there to show you some ways to get hours or to get seeds for yourself.
Now is also a great time to take pictures. The Monarch and Swallowtail butterfiles have arrived.
The El Camino Real Chapter Wildscape at the Bird and Bee Farm is awash in blooming plants. I went to water early Saturday morning and was quite surprised by the incredible growth since the last time I was there to prep for the award Gene and Cindy Rek received from the Texas Environmental Quality Commission.
Happy verbena
It looks like everything has recovered from the freezes this year and last. Come and see for yourself and water some plants or pull a weed while you’re there.
You never know when you’ll make an interesting nature observation. Today I was walking in my neighbor’s field, getting ready to watch her horse do some dressage. I had noticed some day flowers and sorrel, so my head was down, checking for more flowers. The field was mowed, but not too low.
I saw something new to my eyes, so I took a closer look. It was a most unusual plant and flower, one I’d never seen before. It looked sort of like a jack-in-the-pulpit.
Hmm.
I immediately uploaded my photo to iNaturalist, though I figured it was probably some common plant I’d just missed. But, no! I’d found a swan flower, Aristolochiaerecta.
This plant only grows here in Texas. Donna Lewis will be happy to know it’s important for her pipevine swallowtails. Here’s info from the Wildflower Center:
How cool!
I had no idea these guys existed, but now I know what the host for all the pipevine swallowtails I see around here must be! Here’s another cool fact about this observation—it looks like this is one of the northernmost observations of the swan flower. Wow!
That’s us, up at the top.
I’m thrilled to make this pretty plant’s acquaintance and to learn about it. I found another specimen that wasn’t in bloom, and I’ll be on the lookout for more.
I wanted to show you what milkweed is growing on our property here in Central Texas. The biggest issue is that some of these plants came up very late in the year and by now, all the monarchs have already left the area. That is not too good.
Hopefully, this does not start becoming normal. The plants are reacting to the climate, but the monarchs are reacting to their instincts. The plants and the butterflies need to be ready at the same time.
The first photo is Asclepias asperula or Spider Milkweed. This plant was awarded by a grant to our chapter. Our member Cathy Johnson applied for the grant. It was a lot of paperwork.
I started with twenty-four small plants. I put them in several areas around our pastures.
This is the only one that has returned this year. The rest did not come up.
Photo #2 is the seed pod on the plant, which is about to let loose its seeds.
Photo #3 shows the same plant in our back pasture.
Photo#4 This is another area where we had the plants return for two years, but not this year. There were gophers under the plant. I guess they were hungry.
Photo#5 This shows Zizotes Milkweed on our gravel drive where they just came up on their own. Volunteers for sure. There are three plants near our backdoor.
#6 This is another Zizotes in the pasture that just showed up.
#7 Another Zizotes in a different part of the pasture.
#8 Tropical Milkweed in my garden. This needed to be bigger before now. Tropical milkweed is from Mexico.
You’re too late, milkweed plants. The last monarch I saw here on our property was on 5-17-2022. You can see where the monarchs are by viewing Journey North, monarchs’ migration. It is a great site.
We will have to pay attention and see what happens to both the milkweed and the monarchs over the next few years.
Still, we need to keep on planting the native milkweed to try to help out.
I went out Friday morning to see if I could get a photo of the feral cat that’s showed up at our ranch (brave thing, considering our predator density). Thus, I had my camera out and ready when I detected movement over by my tack room. It wasn’t a cat, though. At first, I thought it might be an armadillo, but as I got closer, I recognized a common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) was lumbering along across the property, heading from one body of water to another.
I’m busy. Leave me alone.
We’ve always had snapping turtles at our ranch. For a long time there was one much bigger than this (those tend to be males), with a head as big as a pro football player’s fist. We’d usually run across it in April or May, heading somewhere across a pasture. The dogs bark at them, but horses don’t seem to mind them. I’ve never seen one snap, though my mother used to tell a story of how she narrowly avoided losing a finger once.
Obviously, it came out of a body of water next to the blooming black willow trees.
These turtles tend to live in shallow water, especially streams and creeks. That’s where at least one of the snapping turtles on our property was for much of this spring. I don’t know if it’s the same one. This one looks less ancient somehow.
This is in the creek in front of our house and is smaller than the other one. Notice the hole in its shell. I wonder if someone tried to eat it or shot it.
These turtles are really cool, and I’m glad they are still around. They seem like relics of a long-ago age, to me. Here’s a fact I found that you might like:
In shallow waters, common snapping turtles may lie beneath a muddy bottom with only their heads exposed, stretching their long necks to the surface for an occasional breath. Their nostrils are positioned on the very tip of the snout, effectively functioning as snorkels.
I’ve seen them doing just that in Austin in the limestone creeks, which was fun. Whenever I saw people and their dogs frolicking along Barton Creek, I remembered how many snapping turtles I had seen there, in Lake Creek, and in Brushy Creek. They are quite common, as their name hints. Still, it’s always fun to see them out of the water, since they spend most of their time submerged and snorkeling along with those handy nostrils out, unless there’s a mating mission or something.
The tail looks pretty scary, too!
What Else Is New?
I’m always on the lookout for new flowers and such, and sure enough, every day seems to bring something fun and/or pretty. Who needs all those bluebonnets and paintbrushes when the other guys are just getting started? My Engelmann daisies are taking over, as usual, but I’ve been seeing some other favorites popping up, as well. Take a look!
fleabaneThyanta custator accerraBarn swallowSmall-flowered catchflyTexas flower scarabWhite blue-eyed grass (with one blue one for comparison)Venus’s looking-glassfemale black-chinned hummingbirdMale cardinal, duh.
I’ve tried my luck at posting sound files on iNaturalist, too. So far, I have a confirmed (and VERY loud) Chuck-will’s widow and dickcissels. You’d think I could get a red-winged blackbird, but there are always bunches of other birds around when they are calling. I could get other birds, but I don’t know what a lot of them are, and there’s no help identifying the sounds if you can’t see the bird.
