Category: Uncategorized

More south Texas trail camera footage! This week we found several images of different pigs, lots of babies and lots of huge boars. Feral hogs are omnivious, eating both plant and animal matter and will even eat their young under extremely poor conditions. Most ranch owners dislike seeing pigs around their property because they cause destruction to habitat — rooting and trampling around watering holes can cause damage to crops, fields, and livestock feeding. They also destabilize wetland areas, so managers will often find methods of their removal.

iNaturalist Link: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4610966

Several weeks ago I saw a flock of Monk Parakeets foraging on the red fruit of a small tree and since then I have wondered what that tree was. This week I present the Pistacia texana.

This small evergreen is native to limestone cliffs and ravine walls of South Texas and Northern Mexico. It is very drought tolerant but requires well drained soil to prevent moisture build-up.

Pistacia texana is commonly called Texas Pistache or Pistachio but also goes by the names American or Mexican Pistachio (Pistacia mexicana).

The red fruit, described by some as nut-like, fully develop only if if the make tree is nearby. The female tree (pictured here) bears the fruit which is food for birds like the Monk Parakeets I saw several weeks ago.

iNaturalist Observation

References

Texas Tree Planting Guide

Native Plant Society of Texas

I am constantly drawn to the beautiful colors of Texas wildflowers. The bright, multicolored flowers always bring a smile to my face. I took this picture on campus a few weeks ago and recently found it when going through my pictures.

The bush was easily identifiable thanks to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower website. Texas lantana is a spreading shrub that is part of the verbena family. It provides beautiful red, orange, and yellow color from April-October. I must have seen this one near the end of it’s blooming season. The shrub is very attractive for gardeners as it provides beautiful color and attracts pollinators like butterflies. Birds usually stay away from this plant because the black fruit clusters are poisonous. Check out my iNaturalist post here. See what things you can find in your neighborhood and add them to iNaturalist!

References

http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=14955

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LAUR2

This week’s observation comes from Wild Basin while conducting research. At first when looking at this photo, it is easy to see the branch sticking out, which belongs to an agarita (Berberis trifoliolata).

However, the hidden star of this photo is the spider hanging out on that branch. This spider was at first hanging out in the middle of its web, when I almost went face first into it. Thankfully, one of my research team members let out a little scream, keeping me from running right into the spider.

When posting this observation to iNaturalist, I had hoped for the community to return an identification for the spider. However, due to strange disconnects between my photos and the app, I was unable to zoom further in to the spider, and thus the iNaturalist community returned an observation for the easily seen branch. Oh well!

Agarita is a low maintenance, drought tolerant, evergreen shrub. It flowers from February through April, following with a bright red berry that attracts birds and small mammals. Its range is from west Texas to Arizona and northern Mexico, growing on rocky limestone flats and slopes.

My iNaturalist post can be found here, and if you have any idea what kind of spider this is, please comment to let me know!

Sources: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/nativeshrubs/mahoniatrifol.htm

 

An American cockroach was observed falling prey to a very clumsy but persistent domestic cat. Before I moved to Austin, cockroaches were a sign of a dirty house, but now that I have lived in the south for a little over a year I understand that they’re just everywhere.

Cockroaches are amazing little creatures who have survived basically every extinction event since the Permian. As a result of their resilience, they can be difficult to get rid of as pests. Lucky for me, they are my cat’a favorite toy!

 

 

My inaturalist observation can can be found here: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4573249

This magnificent tree is a bald cypress, Taxodium distichum. The name ‘bald’ comes from the fact that they drop their leaves very early in the season. They prefer wet soil and are often fund along river banks. I saw this one on the banks of the Rio Frio, in Garner State Park this weekend. They are slow growing trees can can live up to 600 years, this one must be pretty old, based on its size.. They are native to the southeastern U.S., and the state tree of Louisiana. Their cones produce seeds that provide food for wild turkey, wood ducks, evening grosbeak, water birds, and squirrels or are dispersed by floodwaters.  

My iNaturalist post can be found here.

During our Costa Rican field course we were able to see a large number of beautiful tropical birds, especially since we explored various rainforests types at multiple elevations.  Last week, I was walking around the hike and bike path and look over to see a bunch of what I thought were parakeets.  I was taken back to those birding tours we had in Costa Rica!

After I took the picture I did some research on these birds because I did not think Central Texas was in their range.  I found out that these were Monk Parakeets (Myiopsittla monachus) and even have their own Facebook page!! The Monk Parakeet, also known as the Quaker Parrots, are native to Central and South America and live in dry open habitats. These birds are gregarious (as can been seen in the picture) and can often be heard before they are seen.  The Monk Parakeets are the only species of parrot to build a stick nest, either in a tall tree or manmade structures.

The Austin flock supposedly were first seen in the 1970’s after a few escaped their pet enclosures and have grown in number since. In 2015, the parakeet colony had to find a new home.  Many had nests in the lights of UT Austin’s Whitaker Intramural field, which underwent a renovation project. The removal of the nests was done carefully and humanely.  The question is…where are the parakeets now?  I’ll have to keep up with them on social media!

While interviewing leaders of BatCon International in Austin, TX, I was lucky enough to visit a bat species restoration area with numerous recovering bats. This little guy was hanging out (literally) up in a palm box in the recovery area. I got to watch him feed on small insects and crawl all over the handler’s glove!

A strong flier with yellowish fur, the southern yellow bat (Lasiurus ega) is a lowland species, adapted to both dry and wet habitats. It roosts in trees, particularly palms. These bats are often seen hunting over water, including over swimming pools.

Because these bats typically roost in dreads of palm trees, they are almost always in danger of losing their habitat, as it’s most aesthetically pleasing for people to trim the lower leaves on palm trees, thus destroying the bats’ habitats! Land managers should consider promoting a different approach to maintaining palm trees by allowing the dead leaves to remain on trees. A minor change in our cultural taste in landscaping may be the greatest help we can provide for the southern yellow bat. With the increasing numbers of ornamental palm trees

being planted in commercialized areas of South Texas, these bats may actually be gaining roosts.

You can find my iNaturalist observation here.

This past weekend as I was walking in my neighborhood, I spotted this large Magnolia tree that covers most of a front yard. I’m somewhat familiar with Magnolia trees because of their long, dark green leaves and their large white flowers, but I wasn’t sure of the exact species. Through Googling and by looking at other iNaturalist observations, I was able to further identify this individual as a Southern Magnolia, or Magnolia grandiflora.

 Magnolia grandiflora are native to the Southern U.S., and as they are commonly used as an ornamental because of their distinct white flowers, they bloom in May through June. More on the Southern Magnolia can be found here.

My iNaturalist observation can be found here.

This flower was actually pretty difficult for me to identify, because of all the look a likes. I am still not 100% certain this is the correct identification, but time on iNaturalist will tell. As far as I know, this is Camellia sasanqua and it is native to China and Japan, but found frequently in the south, here in the United States. It is an evergreen shrub and is sought out for its flowers. They range from 1.5 to 12 ft tall and can tolerate many different soil types.

my iNaturalist post can be found here.