Month: September 2016

The purple vetch (Vicia americana), is a flower that grabs my attention every time I pass by it in my friends apartment complex.  Even though it can be found in an apartment complex landscape, it has a history in agriculture.  The leguminous vetch plant has the ability to produce its own nitrogen (a limiting nutrient in the environment) through a symbiotic relationship between Rhizobium micro bacteria that colonize the roots of the plant.  The nitrogen production makes this an attractive cover crop for agriculture, and now has been used in gardens as a form of natural fertilizer. The purple vetch is also known to attract butterflies and other insects that prey on pests that may cause herbivory.

The purple vetch has also been used by Native Americans as food, as a treatment for spider bites, and an aphrodisiac.  An interesting fact is that Native Americans would get horses to smoke the plant to increase the horses’ endurance. It is a nice looking plant and has multiple benefits!

While taking a very unexpected trip to Galveston, TX this weekend, I ran across this beautiful Brown Pelican (Pelicanus occidentalis) hanging out in the bay. It’s surprisingly only one of three pelican species found in the Western Hemisphere, and their numbers have only skyrocketed since the 1970’s when they were put on the endangered species list from pesticide pollution (now removed).

These giant birds are typically found along the Southern and Western coasts of America dive-bombing into the ocean to stun the fish they eat. When they’re not foraging, they love to glide just over the water and waves, catching the updrafts in their large wingspan.

 

I saw many pelicans during my visit to the Texas coast this weekend, but just the sheer size and beauty of this particular one captured my eye. You can see my iNaturalist observation with comments here.

Today by my parents’ house I spotted a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). This species is highly adaptable and ranges widely across the US year-round. They prefer marshland habitat and mostly nest in trees. It is the largest of the North American herons, but despite their size, they typically weigh around 5 pounds partially due to their hollow bones. The oldest documented Great Blue Heron was found in Texas, aged at least 24 years and 6 months old. I’ve always enjoyed watching their slow, deliberate walk through the water searching for something to eat, similar to their calm, unhurried wingbeats when they take flight.

 

www.inaturalist.org/observations/4143234

On a beautiful Texas Sunday morning I was hiking at Inks Lake State Park and found this lovely blue and yellow flower. It’s common name is Widow’s Tears or Dayflower (Commelina erecta) and can be identified by the three blue petals with yellow at the center. I found it scattered in an open field near the trail with butterflies and bees flying around the flowers. This leads me to the conclusion that it is an important pollinator wildflower and could be used in pollinator gardens to attract butterflies, bees, and birds. Pollinator gardens are a focus for urban ecology because many of the important pollinators are disappearing due to humans activity according to the Xerces Society. If you are interested in planting a pollinator garden in your community see here.

My iNaturalist post can be found here.

 

The Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) has been my favorite tree since childhood. Our house growing up in Houston had a large Live oak in the front yard, with ample branches to climb and construct make-shift tree houses on. Walking around my apartment complex near Walnut Creek, I happened upon this beautiful Live oak (pictured below) and knew I had to make this my next biodiversity blog post.

The Live Oak is “the iconic tree of the South” (Arbor Day Foundation). This tree is commonly planted by arborist because it is known for it’s wind firmness, adaptability to various soil types and tolerance to soil compaction and salt spray. It’s wide canopy provides much shade by blocking out sunlight. The Live Oak grows to a height of 40–80 feet and a spread of 60–100 feet at maturity. It can live for centuries and it’s acorns provides food for many species including birds such as wood ducks, wild turkeys, quail and jays, and mammals such as squirrels, raccoons and white-tailed deer.

Find my iNaturalist post here.

Source: https://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/treedetail.cfm?itemID=876

This squirrel was suspicious of me when I watched it hiding nuts inside of tree. I was just trying to figure out which kind squirrel and I’ve come to conclusion that its fox squirrel, not eastern gray squirrel as I’ve assumed. I’ve fostered baby eastern gray squirrels a couple times and this squirrel looked different than squirrels I used to take care of.  It helped me with determination of which type of squirrel. Eastern gray squirrel have gray back and white belly and fox squirrel have reddish-hue brown/gray back and orange/rust belly. More comparison can be found here.

Fox squirrels have wide range of woodland habitats and because of it, according to TPWD, its Texas’ most common squirrel and it is one of important game animals. Fox squirrels are among seed-eating mammals that help to shape forest composition because their tendency to bury seeds in ground and forget about them, and then seed eventually will sprout.

Reading about fox squirrels and I found it interesting that some say that fox squirrels are least concerned species but others say subspecies of fox squirrels are endangered because of overhunting and habitat loss of mature forest.

Fun fact: fox squirrels have pink bones because they often accumulate chemicals in teeth, tissues and bones.

My iNaturalist observation can be found here.

Four P. iotor individuals were observed hanging out in the Chernobyl-esque vintage car junkyard which my balcony overlooks in Brentwood. In the above image, one can be observed hanging out of the driver’s window. In the below image, one individual may be seen on the hood of the car and another adjacent to the front driver’s side wheel. 
As you can see, they don’t mind interacting with my overly curious domestic Felis catus (Manx variety) from a distance, as about 15+ feral F. catus individuals also live in this junkyard and they appear to coexist peacefully when they are not competing for resources such as the old corn and cat food that my significant other likes to throw down to them. This particular F. catus individual is extremely vocal, and his chittering consistently drew squeaky responses from the raccoons. It was cute as all get out.

Today, Americans often consider P. iotor to be pests, disease vectors, and road hazards, but Native Americans respected the raccoon as a symbol of the trickster, much like the Greek god Pan or the Road Runner of Looney Tunes. This archetypalization stems from the raccoon’s intelligence and dexterity. They can remember solutions to puzzles for three years, and their long-toed paws lend them the ability to manipulate objects much like primates do.

My iNaturalist observation can be found here.

So, there are a few routes around Austin where you almost always see cyclists.  Usually it is on a road with a bike lane, large shoulder, or where there is less traffic.  Anyway, the reason I am saying this is because I always see different types of vegetation depending if I am going North, South, East, or West on a bike.  Going out west I always ride through Rollingwood, which has some nice houses with the manicured lawns and beautiful gardens.  One day I passed by this huge, I mean huge Agave.  The flower spike extends into the sky like 20 feet.  I always make sure to pass by this beast on my way out west.

A little more on this species of agave.  It is called the Weber’s Agave, Agave Weberi, part of the Agavaceae family It is found throughout the Southwest of the US and Mexico.  The impressive flower panicle can extend more than 26 feet and bears clusters of little yellow flowers.

I’ve seen this plant in many places and recently noticed it all around my apartment complex when taking my dog, Franklin, on his daily walks. It has a grass-like look to it, however, it actually belongs to the lily family. It is native to the Australia-New Zealand region and was named and classified by french botanist, Jean Baptist Lamarck. It is commonly used near pools, in garden beds and can act as a border. It blooms in the summer and does well in sunny or shaded areas. According to my research, it does have small flowers that appear in the spring, however, I have never seen this plant flower. An interesting fact, it was used as a medicine for colds by the aboriginal tribe, Nagarrindjeri, of Tasmania by chewing its roots. This is actually something I could use right now, after coming down with a cold over the weekend. If I get really desperate, I’ll give it a try!

This Ashe Juniper (Juniperus ashei) was found just behind my apartment complex in Austin, TX, where an abundance of this non-native species can be observed yearly. It is tough to determine whether or not to love this species!Because it is non-native to this area, it takes up natural resources that native trees need, but it also provides homes to species prevalent to Austin, such as the protected Golden Cheek Warbler.