About the Center
Nature Trail Tour - August, 2006
Take a virtual tour of the Sibley Nature Tour!
[Additional Tours: February, 2006 | April, 2006 | May, 2006 | July, 2006 | October, 2006]
After the August rains...
Honor the rain! Take the time to walk and see how it transforms the landscape. Rain is the ultimate blessing for an arid land. Rain creates growth - just look around you! Plants have bright new leaves, and a flush of blossoms quickly follow. In the years with late summer rains the Llano Estacado has a second spring. Oh, yes, take a walk and witness the rebirth of the landscape - it is an enriching spiritual experience. You, too, will feel rejuvenated! We all know the feeling of gratification of thirst, but rain brings a thirst-gratification to our souls!
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The morning after a night-time thunderstorm pulls a naturalist outside - What has happened? Will there be pools of water? Will anything be in the pools of water? How long will they last? Beyond this pool in the southern part of the playa basin at the Sibley Nature Center, an observer can see the intense new green growth.
Even a pile of dirt dumped by a dumptruck tells a story and raises a question. At the base of the hill the soil is much darker, for it is still saturated with water. The side of the hill is smoothed and compact - instead of loose sandpile, the hill is now "glued together" by moisture. What is the white line at the base of the hill - is it fine silt deposited at the edge of the rainwater pool?
The trunk of one of the Siberian elms near the pond at Sibley was completely blanketed by green - algae? Moss? This is how trees look in a rain forest, not dry West Texas! (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
The morning after a rain the ground turns green. What had been hard black crusts on the bare dirt become green - several species of algae, liverworts, and other primitive plants interact with the nitrogen in the rain. Bluegreen algae process the nitrogen into the soil. If it was not for the "cryptogamic" crusts, there would be almost no fertility in arid soils. If the crusts are trampled by hundreds of feet or wheels, it does not recover for years - which is why a person in a plane can see where wagons in 1875 crossed Midland County just west of Midland. (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
Rebecca found a damselfly on a mesquite twig on the ground laying on soil speckled green with the cryptogams.
Ants had swarmed and mated the day before this photograph. The new queen dug non-stop, and created the half-moon crater in the foreground. The piebald pattern of the soil comes from the cryptogams.
A person can usually spot lichen on the mesquite trunks anytime, but it becomes very bright and noticeable after a rain. (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
Rain also brings decay. The microbes of decay need moisture. Rebecca found this long-dead jackrabbit (which had been just bones and dried up hide) but after the rain the tissues were soft, and an odor of decay had returned.
Rain also brings mushrooms - the "flowering" stage of fungi. Mushrooms emerge from the soil to full size within 24 hours, and within another 24 hours release their spores. This mushroom has already released its spores. Its spores are almost microscopic and are transported by wind.
This is an edible mushroom. When the picture was first on the website, Sibley staff thought it might be a poisonous variety, but a mushroom expert surfing the net contacted us and told us it was of the genus Coprinus and was edible. People should not pick mushrooms for eating unless guided by an expert, however.
One of the most bizarre fungi in West Texas is the "bird-poop fungus." This species does not release spores that drift in the air - instead, the spores are within the gelatinous mass at the top of the white crust of the fungus. Flies and other insects land on the goo, and the spores are carried elsewhere on the feet of the insects.
Late summer is also when a number of birds molt, replacing worn out feathers. Rebecca found this grackle feather.
She also found a downy dove feather.
The cottonwoods at the pond show signs of the coming fall season. This leaf had fallen after it slightly yellowed - the wind and rain may have knocked it off of the tree. The holes of the "shot hole miner," the larvae of a small fly speckle the leaf. The tip of the leaf appears to have suffered minor drought damage, too. (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
After a rain, insects swarm to mate. And when that happens, birds feast. As the photographer walked the trails, dozens of swallows were flying low over the mesquite. Two finally briefly stopped on a telephone line.
This dragonfly was waiting for its wings to dry so it could fly and hunt insects. With the 100 percent humidity condensing on the camera lens Rebecca's photo it appears to be foggy.
The landscape after a rain glows with the most intense green. Even the soil glistens - right at the turn of the footpath sunlight creates a spot of glare off of the wet soil.
Within a week of the rain, the leaves of the perennial wildflower devil's bouquet have grown quickly. In another two weeks, clusters of beautiful red flowers will be present. (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
After a rain, the tissues of cactus swell with the moisture. In July, this horsecrippler looked wrinkled, and was half-buried in the soil. (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
The tasajillo (another cactus) has soft new green growth at the tips of its branches. The tiny green flaps on the tips are the true leaves of the cactus.
Perennial wildflowers bloom again after the rains. Chocolate daisy and spiny yellow aster surround the dried seed stalks of the annual Indian blanket.
Portulaca germinates with summer rains - and the moss rose sold in nurseries was developed from our little native. A person can add the leaves to a salad for a new taste. (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
Perennial wild zinnia came back into bloom after the rain as well. It has become a popular xeriscape plant for drought-adaptive gardens.
Cowpen daisy is pretty, but the leaves are stinky. Some west Texas folks of hispanic descent hang dead cowpen daisies from the eaves of their roofs so lightning will not hit the house - an interesting story of cultural transference, for the belief originated with Navaho Indians who live 400+ miles from the Llano Estacado. (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
West Texas can become lush. The rain germinated the goathead (already blooming), while making the non-native Johnson grass grow rapidly. (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
A prickly pear shows new growth, but the tumbleweeds that germinated with the rain will soon shade it - and will the tumbleweeds "starve" the cactus of water and light? (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
Even plants that grow next to the pond have responded to the rain. The buttonbush grew 4 feet in a week, and began blooming. (photo by Rebecca Arenivas)
Rebecca also witnessed some interesting interaction between Aphanogaster ants (spider ants) and rainbugs. Two spider ants grabbed a rainbug in their hole and hauled it out.
Finally just one spider ant was able to carry the rain bug and it carried the rainbug a few feet and then dropped it. The riinbug then ambled away, none the worse for being carried. Check out these links (Rainbug photoessay | Rainbug essay) to learn more about the rainbugs.