Last week, I wrote about one weird great egret who wandered the grassy areas of the park, snacking on snakes and beetles. I proposed (and knocked down) three possible reasons and left it as a mystery. Well, the mystery is why I didn’t realize sooner what was actually going on. My big mistake was assuming… Read more »
Henry David Thoreau wrote: If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. I am now persuaded he was speaking of a singular great egret who has indeed stepped far away,… Read more »
Cormorants are not rare, and until I spent some time photographing this pair on Monday, I didn’t think they were particularly lovely. They were interesting but aesthetically challenged. Boy, was I wrong. Up close, they are gorgeous birds. These are Neotropic cormorants. They are a Central and South American bird; the only places in the… Read more »
There is an eye-catching plant in our Park right now. Usually, when I post about an eye-catching plant, it is in glorious bloom. But in this case, the plant is in glorious seed. It bloomed months ago and I have to admit, I didn’t even notice. The plant is Baccharis halimifolia, its common names include… Read more »
First, the tasty. Knotweed (also known as smartweed) is blooming in our Park right now. It is fairly insignificant looking but it packs a heck of a punch! It is spicy. Peppery hot. Indigenous people and early European settlers used it to flavor their stews and salads. When you chew a leaf (only a bit,… Read more »
I am seeing queen butterflies all over the park. I cannot stress how unusual this is. iNaturalist records 331 reports of queen butterflies in Texas last year between October 1 and November 6. This year, for the same period, we have had 1036 reports, a more than 300% increase. Inside the Loop Houston had zero… Read more »
Our Park is part of a prairie restoration project that aims to show off the native coastal prairie ecosystem that was present in this part of Texas for the last 23,000 years. The silt from Hurricane Harvey dealt this project a setback, but there is a stunning patch of prairie plants going strong just to… Read more »
I am in Georgetown this week for the Texas Master Naturalist state conference so no Park blog post, but I did see an amazing Tricolored bat at Longhorn Cavern. It is called a Tricolored bat because each hair goes from black at the base to yellow in the middle to brown at the tip. Tricolored… Read more »
I had hoped to save this for Halloween. Because it’s creepy and gross. But, while a week ago, cold and rainy would have seemed like just the ticket to a delightful ramble in the park, turns out that cold wet feet are not a bonus, so I’m staying inside today and rolling my little friend… Read more »
When I was contemplating this blog, I knew there were a few topics that I would cover early and possibly often. One of the first was any lasting effect Harvey might have on the ecosystem of the Park. Another was one of my favorite flowers, Bidens alba. Funny thing – topic A, seems to have… Read more »