You might never have noticed the sign pointing to the Green Tree Nature Trail on the north side of the bayou just east of the bat bridge. Or, if you did, you might have thought twice because the trail is dark and isolated. But, if you summon your courage (it is, by the way, absolutely… Read more »
According to a 1998 Gallup survey, more Americans were afraid of snakes than of anything else. In 2001, again, snakes led the way. In 2014, surprise, it was SNAKES! You can safely say that at almost any point in human history (I mean, it was a serpent in the Garden of Eden) humanity’s chief fear has… Read more »
Usually, when I’m on my Buffalo Bayou Park rambles, I will encounter something interesting, take bunches of photos and then use my nature library, knowledgeable fellow Master Naturalists and the Internet to figure out what the heck I saw and then write it up in an authoritative tone as though I had come armed with… Read more »
If you are in Buffalo Bayou Park looking for butterflies, find a stand of Bidens alba and stay there. Every butterfly in the park will stop by for a visit. Because of this, Bidens alba is one of my favorite plants. It’s no show-stopper. You’ve undoubtedly seen it; in summer months, it is ubiquitous. If… Read more »
We live in a world divided. Inside and outside. Everything inside is ours and we try very hard to share inside with only invited guests. We try that outside as well, making decisions about what plants to put into our ground and which insects we will tolerate in proximity. The park is outside, but it… Read more »
When I’m out walking on the bayou, my two most frequent thoughts are: 1) what is that? and 2) what’s that critter doing? As to the first question, I knew this was a dragon fly because that’s easy. Although you should pause a moment when you’ve got a really slender dragonfly because it may be… Read more »
There are a ton of mulberry trees along the bayou. They bear sweet black berries (that look kind of like blackberries) in the spring. They are a very important food source for wild critters. They are also a decent food source for us more civilized critters, too. Right now, the European Starlings are feasting on… Read more »
I’ve lived along Buffalo Bayou for 30 years. I’ve seen big storms and big floods and in all that time, but I never saw anything like the silt from Harvey. It was as though a silt factory in Katy broke and the contents washed into the park. Well, it turns out, there is a silt… Read more »
For the next few weeks, there is a spectacle of nature taking place right under the Waugh Drive Bridge. Not the bats, although they live there, too, but the Cliff Swallows. The colony has almost 100 birds. Each Spring, the colony returns from South America and refurbishes their mud nests that are built on the… Read more »
One of the things I have always loved about Houston is how persistent our natural world is. I’m from up north, where each spring you race to coax the season from the ground hoping that life will finally return to the world. Here, you spend all your time hacking back everything you have declared unworthy,… Read more »