I told you in my last post that I would publish some LOTUS pictures in BLOOM if I could get back out there and get some. Well, I DID get back out there and I DID get some great shots of beautiful LOTUS flowers in bloom! It is interesting to note that all the while I was wading and shooting (you see, it is quite difficult to get out to these particular Lotus so I had to wade waist-deep out to them!) I kept hearing these 'bleating' noises all around the pond area. I recognized the sounds as something frog-related, in fact, green tree frog-related to be exact. Well.....I took this shot (above) and I didn't realize until I downloaded the picture that there was a GREEN TREE FROG sitting right there inside that bloom looking out at me taking his picture! This was a great surprise to me and it really made my evening to see that little frog peeking out at me in my picture. I had no idea he was in there. This of course is now my favorite of all these LOTUS BLOOM pictures, and maybe even my favorite plant picture of all time. Anyway, here are some of the others pictures too. Isn't the AMERICAN LOTUS a beautiful native Texas plant?!!!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Wow. Well I haven't posted an entry on my blog in a really, really long time - too long! And so I'm sorry to any of my loyal followers out there (!) It isn't that I haven't been having any fun adventures or exciting nature trips,- just that time and activities have pulled me away from my logging duties and I've neglected to share with my followers, whoever they may be! Anyhow, it is way past time for an adventure update so lets get back to it!
I have to share one of my most recent kayak excursions with you.....on a hot, sunny day in August I decided to grab my kayak and paddle out to see one of my favorite lake spots and check out what nature was displaying. Summer was just starting to wind down and the plants here in central Texas were finally starting to breathe a little bit with the (slightly) cooler weather and ever so little bit of rain. They were finally starting to show some signs of life after our (typically) brutally hot, dry, and crackly-crunch summer! One of the neatest native Texas aquatic plants (in my opinion) is the AMERICAN LOTUS (Nelumbo lutea) and on this day I got to see them ALL OVER the lake!
Lotus plants seem to hide inconspicuously under the water all year long and then in the late summer - boinggg! They pop up all over the water's edge! They have great big, full, flat leaves, that are round and velvety green. They bob on top of the water or they poke straight up on a single central stem, but either way they are impervious to water as you can see from this picture of a water droplet on a leaf.
Apparently, one of the differences between a Lotus and a Water Lilly is the 'crack' along the topof the leaf. A Lotus is completely round without any break on the leaf and Lillies have that pie shaped section removed.
The shallow lake water was also filled with some sort of aquatic plant that looked a lot like 'Anacaris' which is a Texas native, but I am not positive of the ID. Anyway, it made for some thick paddling at times, but the little fish I saw seemed to like it just fine - they were scurrying around in huge schools just under the greenery and flashing their white bellies with just about every paddle stroke.
Lotus plants seem to have 3 growth stages. First, they pop up with that big, beautiful green leaf, and then an awesome bloom comes out! Lotus have a most exquisite white flower. You might be able to see one of the creamy, white blooms in this mostly camouflaged, green shot I took (!) These Lotus were just going into bloom and it was really tough to get close enough in a kayak to get a picture. And believe me, I had my snake eyes open! I am actually surprised I didn't have a visitor while I was snapping up shots (!) but no snakey adventures on this day :) I'm hoping to get back in a few days and get more bloom pics, if I do I will try post them in a follow-up. For the final stage of growth, after the blooms are finished, a brown seed head appears above the water with tiny seed 'container' holes. These seed heads are really beautiful and they make excellent cut flower arrangements too. They are great for decorating - last a really long time.
I wish you could see how beautiful this day was! The wind so calm, the water so still. The air was just barely moving - I even had a dragonfly stop to keep me company.....!
Anyway, it was hot, hot and hotter, but the Lotus didn't mind and a quick dip in the lake now and then was sufficient for human cooling too. It was lots of fun on this day and a pleasure to share some AMERICAN LOTUS pictures with you - Enjoy and Happy Nature Adventures!
I've been slowly learning more and more about tracking over the past several years and I really like it! I recently attended a short tracking seminar and so I thought a few tracks would make a nice nature adventure post! Here are some pictures of tracks & signs that I've collected fairly recently and a few pictures from a local seminar. I think tracking is a really amazing 'hobby'. Once you start paying attention to the little subtleties found on the ground, on branches, or in the brush, a whole different world is revealed to you. You really start paying attention to little things that you might easily have overlooked before. You start searching around for evidence that something was there and you want to know more about what it was doing, where it was going, and what it was. Tracking makes it all possible!
I've read a few books on tracking and listened to a couple of speakers talk about the 'spiritual' nature of tracking and the more I get into it, the more I understand what they mean. The tracks, the scat, and all sorts of other signs left along a trail or in the dirt are the remnants of the presence of an organism without necessarily having any physical parts of the individual remaining at the spot. Tracking reveals the 'essence' of the being. You can see what was there and how it moved, and if you are really, really, good you might be able to tell how much it weighed, whether it was sick or well, or maybe even the specific variety of a certain species. I'm definitely not a very good tracker yet, but I can tell a deer track from a raccoon from a opossum and think thats a fairly good start anyway! Oh, and I do find it harder and harder to look up from the ground when I'm walking!
So I guess I've got the tracking bug and I can't imagine not stopping to take pictures of good tracks, scat, and signs of wildlife - because it is just so cool. I love to learn about it. Here are some pictures taken at our local wildlife association meeting last week where the subject was - you guessed it - TRACKING!
Some raccoon tracks taken down by the coast last spring:
And some sort of Heron tracks were there too:
Deer tracks from the trails near my house:
Cheating by leaving a little snack out to collect some more deer tracks!:
Domestic animal tracks.....! Here is an unshod horse:
And Homo sapien (wearing shoe) over mountain bike!:
Deer Scat (which is a nice way of saying, "Poop"!):
In late May 2009 I made a trip to the new SHANGRI LA Botanical Gardens & Nature Center in Orange, Texas to see what it was all about. Orange Texas is situated just a few miles west of the Texas Louisiana border in the far southeastern corner of the state of Texas. The Shangri La facility sits on 252 preserved acres and is now run by a non-profit organization. There are educational boat trips along the Adams Bayou to view the interior of the bayou preserve from boats and boardwalks. I didn't take the boat trip on this visit but I did walk the garden trails and I was significantly impressed enough to blog about here on my nature forum. Shagri La had been listed as one of the field trips on the Texas Native Plant Society's 2008 symposium. Since I missed that event I had promised myself to keep the listing of recommended sites and visit at least some of the areas they highlighted when I got a chance. Upon arriving I was surprised to learn they had recently been chosen as a Top 10 World Green Project by the American Institute of Architecture. I'm not usually too impressed by man-made garden centers as I prefer natural and wilderness settings, but I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed their main focus was on wetlands conservation and education and a native bayou experience. It was really refreshing to see this new nature center incorporating the existing wetlands on the property and preserving the wildlife habitat already there. They pretty much built this facility around a preserved bayou area and one of the main focal points was the walking trail out to the bird observation blind. Nice! The natural landscaping began right from the parking lot area where the short stroll along the walkway led past native beds of woodland plants and leaf litter providing an example of native piney woods this area is known for.
After the visitor entrance and main educational buildings there was pathways through various themed gardens like the Children's Garden, Line Garden, Color Garden, etc... Even for adults a walk through the Children's Garden was pretty impressive. This area was all about sensory gardening! Little handmade signs encouraged younger visitors to see, touch, smell, listen, and even taste a variety of botanical friends growing in raised beds at perfect 'kid height'. Really spectacular rows of blue bottle trees with hanging bird house gourds were amazing and they just burst with color everywhere! Martin house condos were erected in a long line suspended high overhead on sturdy support structures. Even on this overcast day it was quite a sensory experience to stroll through this section and it was definitely not just for children!
...we passed through an Epiphyte greenhouse with Spanish Moss draped down from tree branches and a curvy path leading past some gorgeous specimens of orchids and other tropical bloomers....
...A couple of frog lily ponds.............
...and the interior of the courtyard which was made up of WETLAND squares! What a unique concept! Right next to the picnic/concession areas were square pockets of wetlands with native wetland plants growing in them! How's that for an intimate experience with a wetland environment?...
...In fact, I think the central theme here was wetlands, bayou country, and waterways and I can see how it earned the respect of the architectural community. They had these cute little flowing water trough canals connecting one garden section to another throughout.....
...many native Texas plant selections and adapted plants as well along the pathways...........
...but the best part came at the HERONRY!....
...After turning down the path away from the garden areas, the trail veered off through more natural terrain and past more mossy-covered bayous and Cypress trees with their knobby knees jutting out from watery depths. Even before reaching the 'Heronry Blind' sign I could hear distinct sounds of water birds - and it sounded like there was A LOT of them in there somewhere!
We headed past the sign and into this little outpost building which was really a specially designed observation blind! You could gently lower certain board slats in order to observe the nesting birds out in the bayou without disturbing them too much! I thought this was really cool and I'd never seen anything like it set up for the public to observe bird behaviors in a natural setting before. I was pretty impressed with this part and it really stole the show and sold me on this new Shangri La nature education facility.
This seemed to be a very popular part of the tour as there were people in and out of the blind cabin commenting on how beautiful the birds were the whole time I was there. This was part of the old bayou that had been here for years and served as a hatchery and nesting area for several species of heron. The nature center had now acquired the land and preserved the existing bayou, incorporating it into their exhibit! Neat huh? They made this section into a birding observation and education area for the public! What a great way to help local residents realize the importance of something they might see right in their own backyards everyday, and a great way to help visitors from other areas understand and experience the coastal bayous of south Texas up close and personal! I don't know if I've ever been as close to a Roseate Spoonbill in the wild as I was here, and I'm sure I've never witnessed the nesting behaviors as closely as I was able to do on this day. A Snowy Egret carefully pruned while the nestlings sat patiently waiting in the precariously balanced bundle of twigs for a nest. The Roseate male defended his mate sitting on the nest from other birds and the constant chatter of bird communications filled the air as we all watched in awe of these magnificent creatures and wondered how those big birds managed to successfully nest on those skimpy bare branches. With the small slats in the cabin only occasionally opening and closing, the birds didn't seem bothered at all by the human presence close by. I hope they can keep it that way as more and more people travel here to visit the gardens. It certainly looks as if they are on the right track and I would recommend a stop here if you are traveling the I-10 corridor between the Louisiana and Texas border. It is only a short 2 or 3 mile drive off the hwy. and well worth the effort. For more information you can visit their website at:
