Category: Uncategorized

I have been wanting to take a picture of this bird but they were usually too quick for me to snap picture (or rather, I’m too slow). It is easy to identify them mid-flight by catching a glimpse of two outer white tail feathers, one on each side of the tail and white patches on wings (which also can be visible while perching). 

I see them everyday on SEU campus, and you probably have heard them a lot. Mockingbird adds new noises to their songs and a male bird can learn up to 200 songs. Mockingbirds sing all day and all night and apparently they sing more on night of full moon. They have certain songs for fall and spring seasons. They were popular pet birds between 1700s-1900s for their songs. Because of popularity of having caged mockingbirds, they nearly became extinct as wild birds in the East coast (in U.S.) in 19th century. When cagebird trading stopped, the mockingbird population grew again.

Northern mockingbirds are territorial and aggressive birds, they will aggressively defend their territories – attacking other birds, dogs, cats and even sometime humans if they get too close.

My iNaturalist observation can be found here.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Mockingbird/lifehistory

http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northern-mockingbird

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/northern-mockingbird/

Witch’s Butter, Tremella mesenterica, was found in a densely wooded area of Wild Basin. This fun guy was named “mesenterica” which means “middle intestine” in Latin, and as you can see, the fungus does have to odd appearance of an intestine. It was easy to identify T. mesenterica due to it’s unique shape, texture an color, and it’s seasonal appearance (fall and winter).

This is one of those fun encounters where you see that nature has a sense of humor (that is if you can anthropomorphize nature). The whole invasive species team had to stop to get a picture because we were all very excited, we had seen many “jelly” fungi in Costa Rica so it was fun to see it where we have been working all semester. Because of it’s odd appearance and color I would have assumed for this to be toxic to consume, but it is edible and commonly used to flavor soups. Although the flavor was no described, I would assume from it’s common name to have a rich butter like flavor. Even tough I am certain about my identification, I will not be tasting this Witch’s Butter.

Species information can be found here

Inaturalist  post can be found here

Today I took a morning walk along Barton Creek and came across this mysterious bird sitting on a rock in the middle of creek.

Unfortunately it was too far away to get a better picture but it had a white foreneck, dark colored body (likely black) and light colored beak (I think it’s yellow). I used my usual online bird identification guide whatbird.com but I couldn’t find any that fit the bird I saw. Even without an identification it is still a fascinating find.

Update: The iNaturalist community has identified this as a Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus). Texas is listed as an area where they spend the winter (non-breeding) season. They generally spend the breeding season (summer) in the Northern United States and Canada. There are populations of the Double-crested Cormorant that stay in one location year round. They are colonial waterbirds and may fly up to 40 miles away from a nest to a feeding area. They often perch on rocks or other airy perches after fishing to dry off and digest their meals. 

Reference

All About Birds: Double-crested Cormorant

iNaturalist observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4508647

This weekend our research group spent several days down on the Gulf Coast. There are many interesting coastal species, but these bright flowers caught my eye by one of our research sites. This plant is known as Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis) and I found it growing right along the edge of the beach in the sandy dunes near the water. The stems of this flower are hairy and branched, sometimes red/brown mottled. Some of these Beach sunflowers rise up to 6 ft. tall. Leaves are usually lobed and the flower heads bear yellow rays and reddish disks. As you can see in the picture below, most of the flowers were beginning to loose their petals, leaving behind a dark brown/black mass.

The native habitat of this plant is on dunes and disturbed areas throughout coastal areas. This sunflower is quite salt tolerant, and grows in sandy soil in full sun. It is used for dune stabilization, and is especially useful on banks and slopes in beach-front situations.

Check out my iNaturalist post here.

Source: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=HEDE4

I identified this young sapling as an American Sycamore tree, Platanus occidentalis. The look of these lobed leaves are very similar to maple leaves; however, I was able to differentiate this tree from the maple species based on the fact that the sycamore leaves are alternately arranged, as opposed to opposite. All along Bee Creek at Wild Basin, these young sycamore trees can be seen growing straight out of the holes of rock that line some segments of the creek.

The sycamore is a relative of maples so they can be tapped in late winter for sap. Sycamore syrup is much lower quality than maple syrup and it requires approximately 50 gallons of sap to produce 1 quart of syrup. Generally, this not considered to be worth the effort. However, this sap flows strongly and can be used as an emergency source of water throughout most of the year.

iNaturalist observation.

Sycamore info.

I noticed this tree because its cones looked like bird eggs to me. This is a bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), called ‘bald’ because it is a deciduous conifer. In North America, some of the oldest livings things are these trees: the oldest specimen is in North Carolina, aged more than 1,620 years. They can grow up to 100 feet tall, and the tallest specimen is located near Williamsburg, Virginia. They grow fluted bases to help stabilize in wet soils; in fact, their root system is sturdy enough that even hurricanes rarely overturn them. Bald cypress swamps are some of the most productive ecosystems, and they historically dominated the swamps of the southeastern United States. This is a popular ornamental/landscape tree species, and the wood is also valued for its strong water resistance. The bald cypress is the official state tree of Louisiana.

A few weeks back I set up a few trail cameras around points of interest in South Texas. I was curious to see what all was coming to this water tank and if, finger’s crossed, there’d be a new alligator in there. Alligators will come and go from this tank with the seasonal rains and this year South Texas received a ton of rain. Sure enough, the camera caught this huge guy. My best guess is that he is at least 10 feet long. Very excited!

Alligators in Texas were once considered endangered mostly due to hunting and loss of habitat, however, in 1969 Texas provided complete protection of the species. It took them until 1984 to completely recover and are no longer on the Endangered Species list. Trade is still regulated but the species are once again thriving.

iNaturalist Link: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4471210

This curious wasp hung around us the other day while we were enjoying time outside before class. It didn’t leave until we did. The curious wasp, also known as the common paper wasp or Polistes exclamans, was quite striking due to its distinguished stripes and slender body. Paper wasps contain 22 different species and they are very common throughout Texas. They feed on nectar and pollen, but they also hunt for catepillars and other insects to nourish their colonies’ larvae.

Paper wasps are semi-social insects and have three castes within the colony: workers, males, and queens. Sterile worker wasps spend their lives building the nest, feeding young, and defending the nest. A mature nest may have 20 to 30 adults. In late summer, queens stop laying eggs and the colony begins to decline. In the fall, the mated female offspring of the queen seek overwintering sites and the remainder of the colony does not survive the winter. 

You can find my iNaturalist post here.

References

http://texasinsects.tamu.edu/cimg348.html

There are two species of anoles found in Texas, the Green Anole and the Brown Anole (also known as the Cuban Anole or Anolis sagrei). The Brown Anole came to the United States via Key West in the 1900s and since then have established a presence in much of the Southern United States. The Brown Anole is crowding out the Green Anole in many habitats, but some believe this is causing the Green Anole to move higher up in plants and trees leaving the ground and lower plants areas for the Brown.

Anoles, both Brown and Green, eat live insects and have a life span of 18 to 36 months on average. They grow up to eight inches in length.

Update: According to several observers on iNaturalist the lizard in the picture is actually a Green Anole, which can sometimes be brown in color.

iNaturalist observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4468567

Reference

Brown Anoles

This Giant Swallowtail, or Papilio cresphontes, was found in my hometown of Mason flying around my mom’s garden. Giant Swallowtail butterflies are one of the largest species in the US. They are found in states east of the Continental Divide as well as in the southern part of the western US. Both males and females have dark brown wings with yellow markings, including a large horizontal yellow strip across the wings. The underside and body are mostly yellow. Their habitat includes citrus orchards, wooded areas, and gardens.

Giant swallowtails fly from Late May to August, but in some areas of the southern United States, such as Texas and Louisiana, they may be seen as late as October. All giant swallowtails have a distinctive flight pattern which generally looks as if they are “hopping” through the air. Females tend to beat their wings slowly but move quickly. Because females have such large wings, each wing beat will carry it a long way. Males however, tend to have more of a darty flight and beat their wings rapidly but move slower than females because their wings are smaller and each beat doesn’t carry them far. Giant swallowtails in general fly fast and high and can be difficult to capture.

You can find my iNaturalist observation here.