Thursday, September 30, 2010

Flora of the Red Corral Ranch

 Conditions seem to be just right all along a swath of south central Texas for Snow on the Mountain.  Everywhere you look it seems to be “snowing” even in September.  We’ve found this flower from Round Top to Austin, to San Marcos to Wimberley.  The Red Corral Ranch is no exception.
 On our walk to the pond, populated by about a gazillion frogs, we found bees quite attracted to the Buffalo Bur which lined the sides.

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Saturday, September 18, 2010

Who won the Battle?

 On a morning’s walk at Red Corral Ranch we headed toward The Pond.  On the way we found a spider and a grasshopper in a life and death struggle.  One would have bet on the spider.  However, we watched for some time.  All of the sudden, the spider disappeared having been viciously kicked by the grasshopper.  The grasshopper eventually broke the web and escaped

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Porcupine Texas

 Porcupine Texas is not Porcupine, Texas.  Porcupines in Texas are even more surprising.


We have a favorite spot we enjoy for escaping the hustle-bustle of every day duties and obligations. Part of the reason for coming to the Red Corral Ranch near Wimberley, Texas is the wildlife. We have always seen deer and Golden Cheeked Warblers and Ladderbacked Woodpeckers. This time we were treated to porcupine. I don’t know about the rest of you, but the western US is associated with porcupines in my mind. In point of fact, the only other porcupine I’ve ever seen was in Colorado. So, to discover one in Texas is a big deal. This one ambled along slowly chomping on the woody vegetation. We had almost begun to prepare our breakfast when, out the kitchen window of the cabin, we saw this clumsy dark ball of an animal engaged in its breakfast.



Porcupines are supposed to enjoy forested areas or areas where there are rock ledges which afford crevices where they can den or hide.  They are supposed to enjoy pines but will inhabit brushy areas.   Okay, most of that fits this ranch.  Much of the ranch is forested, but not with pines.  The surrounding forest consists of Scrub oaks, Live oaks and Western Red Cedar.  There is considerable relief to the topography, and limestone ledges are present everywhere.


We did approach the animal cautiously.  No, they don’t shoot their quills, but for a clumsy animal they can quickly jump and flap that tail at you.  You’ll regret that.  Okay, close enough for a few pictures and that’s all.

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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Barn Owls

 Barn Owls have been located just west of downtown Bastrop in an old two story house. The owner believes they have been there for several years. These photographs were taken just prior to dusk and do not approach anything close to National Geographic quality.




Several members of the Bastrop County Audubon Society have observed these birds since August. Having been able to photograph one adult early in September, I drug my family out the following evening and found three more out. The second photograph is of two on the house. The third was in the pecan near the house. Incidentally, Barn Owls hiss and wheeze when calling. They do not hoot as other owls do.

       
These are nocturnal and hunt rats and mice. While hunting it relies on sound as well as sight. Its eyes are not large for a nocturnal hunter. Yet, the facial feathers and tufts are arranged in such a way as to funnel sound to their ears. The ear canals are directed differently which is thought to assist the owl in triangulating the source of the prey.




Barn Owls are one of the most widespread species of owls. They occupy every continent except Antarctica and the major islands of the Pacific. In The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, however, there is a warning as to the disappearance of Barn Owls from parts of the United States owing to several recent developments. One is the regeneration of forests in the Northeast, conversion of land to row crops in the Midwest, and to the clearing of old buildings and barns elsewhere. Providing Owl boxes and platforms may be the best way to counteract this.

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