Named Austin’s large tree of the year in 2009, the bald cypress tree stands tall at about 100 feet and may live for hundreds of years. It one of my favorite trees at Redbud Isle, which is the perfect location for this tree because it grows best in wet, swampy soils. It is called the bald cypress because it is one of the first trees to lose its leaves in the fall and last to bud in the spring.
I saw this flowering tree while walking in Pease Park and recognized it because I have seen them around my neighborhood as well. The Retama tree is a small tree; the one I saw was about 13 feet tall. It has long, droopy branches with tiny leaves and yellow flowers on each, which is why it caught my eye. It can withstand dry and hot weather so it does well in Texas where we go through long droughts and hot summers. Interestingly, the tree has green bark that helps the tree survive through especially harsh droughts by allowing photosynthesis to continue even when it has very little moisture.
I have been walking my dog in Pease Park for a couple years now and Austin has been revamping the park with new landscape and trail construction. I hadn’t noticed this prickly pair cactus before but its yellow flowers caught my eye. It stood about four feet tall and had only two fully bloomed flowers with several on the way. Prickly pear cacti with their flat pads that look like large leaves are the kind of cacti that pop in my head when I imagine a cactus but I had never seen one with flowers. Apparently, prickly pear cacti can have red, purple, or yellow flowers. I had to snap a picture real quick because my dog was getting just as curious as I was and a little too close.
While visiting my parents in Plano over Easter break, I went hiking with my dog in Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve. I almost didn’t notice this lizard sitting on a fallen tree. Most lizards I have seen have been smaller than my hand but this lizard was gigantic compared to all the other lizards I have seen. It was about 7 inches long and had I not seen its feet I would have thought it was a small snake. In fact, when I uploaded this picture to iNaturalist asking for ID recommendations many people thought it was a snake, so I noted that you could see its feet if you zoomed in the picture. Finally, I got suggestions that it was a skink. Skinks belong to the family Scincidae, which is one of the most diverse families of lizards with over 1,500 different species. Skinks have no pronounced neck, long bodies, and short legs. Some skinks don’t even have any legs at all making them even harder to distinguish from snakes. After I snapped its picture it scurried away, its movement resembling a snake more than a lizard, and hid under a pile of leaves.
I was walking with my dog on Red Bud Isle and noticed a shrub I have seen many times before but didn’t know the name of. This shrub is usually known as the Texas lantana, but despite the name, it is actually native to Central and South America and has spread to over 50 countries. It persists in Texas because it can survive throughout droughts and extreme heat. Of the verbena family, the Texas lantana is a spreading shrub that grows from the ground upward. The clusters of the small four petal flowers appear from April to October. Many people plant them to embellish their gardens and add a bright orange color, but this shrub has actually become an invasive species in many places. It crowds out other species and reduces biodiversity.
I found this little guy crawling across a waterfall observation deck in Colorado Bend State Park. Native to America, the Forest Tent Caterpillar feeds on trees so it was no surprise to find this one on wood. They are identifiable by their dark colored two-inch long bodies with light blue stripes on either side of them and white footprint-shaped spots along its back. The caterpillars, or larvae, appear once a year, usually in April. After about five to six weeks as larvae, they spin solitary cocoons and three weeks later emerge as a moth. The moth stage is the shortest lasting only five days, but in those five days they mate and lay eggs so that the Forest Tent Caterpillar can emerge again in April.
While camping in Colorado Bend State Park, I woke up to the sound of a bird singing and looked outside my tent to find a cardinal. He was a nicer wake-up call than my alarm clock would have been. Its striking red color made it easy for me to spot. I read that the male cardinals and red and the female cardinals are brown so the cardinal I saw was definitely a male. The color was its main identifier, but I also recognized it for his long tail and short, thick beak.
Although this prickly flowered cactus is sometimes referred to as the king cup cactus, it is fairly small standing less than a foot tall. This cactus is also known as the claret cup hedgehog because of its spiny resemblance to a hedgehog and cup-shaped flowers. Its spines help deter herbivores and the flowers retain moisture for the plant. I came across this cactus while hiking a rocky trail in Colorado Bend State Park. As you can see from the picture, this cactus typically grows in gravelly soil. I was drawn to its reddish flowers, which happen to remain open night and day, unlike many cacti flowers that close at night. The flowers bloom for about 3 to 5 days from April to June and are pollinated by hummingbirds.
I almost didn’t spot this mockingbird because of its gray color blending into the tree it was sitting on, but its constant singing was hard to miss. Known for singing almost endlessly, the mockingbird likes to make its presence known. When reading about the northern mockingbird I found out that they continue to add new sounds to their repertoires throughout their life, kind of like their own person playlist. A male mockingbird may know around 200 songs towards the end of his life. I’ve seen and heard mockingbird before and that isn’t surprising since they are very common in towns and cities. I spotted this particular mockingbird in a park less than a mile from my home.
The Texas Persimmon is a fairly small tree standing at about 15 feet. They are very common in central and south Texas partly because they are extremely drought-resistant which is perfect for our blazing hot Texas summers. I personally liked this tree for its smooth, light grey trunk and branches.