Although I did not have a chance to go back to the same place I discovered near my apartment last month, I did spend some time out in nature this month. On February 7, 2015, I biked around Lakeshore (located near Oltorf and Riverside), which is an outdoor park that is right by Lady Bird Lake. This month I also went to “Secret Beach” which is located on the Colorado river, but I did not take pictures of my time there, and I also did not make as many observations as I did when I went to Lady Bird Lake, so I’m going to elaborate more on my adventure at Lady Bird Lake. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was bored so I decided to get on my bike and go to Lady Bird Lake since it was such a beautiful day. I spent some time there enjoying the warm weather and the sun (which had finally made an appearance after two weeks). It was beautiful. I had never before stopped to really enjoy the view of downtown Austin from the Colorado river, and it was magnificent. Many people had the same idea as me and decided it was the perfect day to bike, and walk their dogs. I stopped on many occasions to play with the dogs, and admire the view of Austin.
I realized there were not only a lot of dogs and people at the park, but other creatures made an appearance as well! I saw so many duck –at least in that moment I thought they were ducks. I took a seat near the river and did some research as to what the name of these birds were. As you can see in the fourth image published above, there were a lot of birds swimming in the water and basking in the sunlight including the American Coot. American Coots are small and have a white bill, red eyes, and a small matte black head and body. Although they may look like ducks, they are not ducks. They belong to a completely different family of birds! They are more closely related to cranes than ducks. But they often mix and mingle with ducks.
In my research I also found out that this park is part of the Trail Foundation, and the Blunn Creek Delta Ecological Restoration. The Trail Foundation is working to enhance the Blunn Creek Delta area. A delta is a shallow area at the mouth of a watershed, where a new land is created by sediment deposits. In 2002, this delta island started forming where Blunn Creek meets Lady Bird Lake. I also found that non-native plants took the places of native plants that better support native birds, like the American Coot, and other wildlife. The purpose of this restoration project is to increase biodiversity by removing non-native invasive plants and add native wetland species that are not currently present in Austin city parks.
“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac.
I really enjoyed exploring this city park more than I did the Mabel Davis park from last month. Here, there are more plants and creatures to observe and document. I think I will dedicate the remaining of my blog entries on this park and river.