× For the latest information on trail and area closures, click here.
  • Visit
  • Cistern
  • Events & Tours
  • Support
  • Donate
  • Plans & Programs
  • About Us
  • Public Art
  • Rentals & Permits
  • Calendar
Menu
donate trail map
Buffalo Bayou Partnership
  • Visit
    • Buffalo Bayou Park
    • Cistern
    • Sabine Promenade
    • Sesquicentennial Park
    • Allen’s Landing
    • Buffalo Bend Nature Park
    • Public Art along Buffalo Bayou
  • Events & Tours
    • Calendar
    • Cistern Tours
    • Boat Tours
    • Walking Tours
    • Underground Sounds
    • Summer Species: Bees
  • Rentals & Permits
    • Sunset Coffee Building
    • The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park
    • Eleanor Tinsley Park
    • Barbara Fish Daniel Picnic Pavilion
    • Permits
  • Support
    • Join as a Member
    • Become a BBP Patron
    • Volunteer with Buffalo Bayou Partnership
    • Donate
    • The Currents
    • Buffalo Bayou Boutique
  • Plans & Programs
    • Buffalo Bayou East
    • “Deeper Dive” Virtual Presentation Series
    • Waterway Clean Up
  • About Us
  • News
    • Press
    • Newsletters

Other Nations: A Naturalist’s Blog about Buffalo Bayou
by Alisa Kline

Mar 20

Tiny spring has sprung

Field madder. Clustering waves of tiny blue flowers.

Big spring arrives soon with fields of wildflowers buzzing with bees, birds migrating through, butterflies flitting hither and yon, and mosquitoes. That last one isn’t a delight, but reality is what it is.

But before big spring gets here, you might take a moment to enjoy tiny spring. I should note that tiny spring is pretty tiny. The plants springing up all over the Park aren’t showy (except that field of bluebonnets and if you haven’t gone yet, what the heck are you waiting for?) and you probably think of them as weeds. But a weed is only a weed if nobody loves it and since I love tiny spring, there are no weeds in our Park right now.

The entire weed category really does require reexamining. What is important about a flower? I suggest the most important thing about a flower is that it supports the insect life that pollinates our crops and thus feeds us. These tiny, unloved flowers are powerful pollinators and that’s probably because we have no interest in them.

When we take an interest in a plant, we set about making it showier. We like showy. Insects like nectar and pollen and many of their larval precursors like leaves. To find pollen and nectar, insects use guides we can’t see. There are probably many of them; we don’t know nearly enough about sensory input in insects. But we do know that many insects can see in the UV spectrum. What a plant looks like to a pollinator is often a literal bullseye around the tasty bits and pollen positively glitters. There can be stripes like a landing strip leading to nectar. When we set about creating a showy flower, we often accidentally eliminate the secret signals. How would we know, we can’t see them and don’t care about them. This is why you can see gardens full of beautiful flowers and practically no bees. They can’t find the pollen and nectar without a map. Unmarked flowers might as well be rocks to the insects who seek them.

The weeds, however, are full of bees, and hover flies, and soldier flies, and beetles and all nature of flying and crawling things that will also, as the food chain keeps on truckin’, feed us!

Tiny spring. Gotta love it.

Every insect below was photographed
within about an hour spent communing with weeds.
There are many, many more but I decided not to include the bees. Too obvious!

Margined calligrapher (the fly) on scarlet pimpernel (the flower). The flower is about a quarter inch across.

 

Mason wasp and hover fly on fleabane. Fleabane is so named because we once believed the flowers could repel fleas. We should be so lucky, however the leaves are edible, but given how hairy they are, you would have to be a bit desperate.

 

Margined caligrapher on fleabane

 

Oblique stripe tail hoverfly on Virginia pepperweed.

 

Snout moth. This guy was super fast. I can’t believe I got a photo.

Metallic woodboring beetle that is apparently very difficult to identify for sure.

 

 

Mexican honey wasp on bidens pitosi

tags: Buffalo Bayou Houston, Buffalo Bayou Park, Buffalo Bayou Wildlife, Houston, Houston flora, Houston flowers, Houston green space, Houston insects, Houston Parks, Houston Wildlife, Master Naturalist, Other Nations Blog, Texas flora, Texas Master Naturalist, Texas Parks, Wildlife blog, wildlife houston

categories: Insects

“[Animals] are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”

—Henry Beston, The Outermost House

 

For sightings, questions or comments email blog@alisakline.com.

Blog Categories

  • Bats
  • Beavers
  • Birds
  • Buffalo Bayou Birds
  • Fish
  • Flora
  • Galveston
  • Houston Naturama
  • Hurricane Harvey
  • Insects
  • Reptiles

Blog Tags

Beavers in Houston bee bees bees in houston Birding Bird Watching Buffalo Bayou Houston Buffalo Bayou Park Buffalo Bayou Wildlife butterflies butterfly carpenter bee Cliff Swallows Cormorants Dragonfly european honey bee European Starlings Green Tree Nature Trail Herons honeybee Houston Houston Animals Houston Beavers Houston Birds Houston butterfly Houston flora Houston flowers Houston green space Houston insects Houston Parks Houston Wildlife Master Naturalist Native Birds Other Nations Blog pollinators Starlings texas bees Texas Birds Texas flora Texas Master Naturalist Texas Parks Texas reptiles Urban beavers Wildlife blog wildlife houston

Get Involved

There are plenty of ways to get involved with keeping our parks and trails growing and the bayou flowing! Check out our Volunteer Opportunities or become a Buffalo Bayou Partnership Member today.

Membership Volunteer

Stay Connected

Buffalo Bayou Boutique

Looking for a unique gift? Shop our Buffalo Bayou Boutique!
Shop Now
  • Home
  • Visit
  • Support
  • Plans & Programs
  • About Us
  • News

1019 Commerce Street, Suite 200
Houston, TX 77002

t : 713.752.0314    f : 713.223.3500
info@buffalobayou.org

© 2022 Buffalo Bayou Partnership.
website by CORE Design Studio. Log in

Back to Top Events & Tours