Water pooled at the creek
Proof of the weathered rock
I revisited Blunn Creek Nature Preserve this month to observe the differences between what I saw last time and what is happening now. It was a breezy 79 degrees on a Friday afternoon between 4 and 5 pm and the sun shone above the canopy of trees, creating a nice shade below. Near the creek, I wanted to see if the water levels were the same as last time and if the tree conditions had improved. I found the water in the creek to have filled more than my previous visit, but only towards the bottom where the water had pooled together. In other places, there were still dry spots of rock that were weathered and had deep grooves indicating the presence of water that had been there previously. The stream that was flowing last time still had water continuously coursing through a rock with a waterfall effect. There weren’t very many visible bugs except for some gnats floating above a puddle of still water and a lone bee. There were no flowers, so I’m not sure what the bee was doing.
A lot of trees and foliage were knocked down over the stream; I think these are remnants of the flood that happened during Halloween. It made me wonder why no one has cleaned up the area yet. Similar to last month, the leaves on the trees are either brown and dead or green, there’s really no in between. I knocked on a few tree trunks and experimented with the pieces of trees that were strewn around. I found that both were extremely dry and brittle, probably due to the drought that Austin is going through. Finally, I noticed on my way out that the trees that were cut down and collected in the front because they were an invasive species had started to be removed.