Photo Essay
Nature Trail Tour - September, 2007
Take a virtual tour of the Sibley Nature Tour!
[Additional Tours: February, 2006 | April, 2006 | May, 2006 | July, 2006 | August, 2006 | October, 2006 | January, 2007 | February, 2007 | April, 2007 | May, 2007 | June, 2007 | July, 2007 | August, 2007]
September 2007 brought even more rain. What a year!
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Every September broomweed begins to bloom, whether it has rained or not. If some rain has fallen, then the gray leaved Espantes Vaqueros begins to grow and eventually bloom, too. The photographer took to the trail on a morning after over an inch of rain had fallen the night before. The sky was overcast, with areas of patchy light fog that made the mesquite patchy mysterious.
A side trail beckoned. A mesquite leaf is in the foreground, and beyond are broomweed and more mesquite. The taller yellow flowers are cowpen daisies. The trail had changed its appearance - parts of it appeared whitish, and other parts very dark.
On almost flat ground, rainwater "sheetwashes" until it finds a lower place. Trails are compacted, so they become lower than the surrounding areas, so they become "streams" carrying sand and organic detritus. What is the darker "stuff" in the ripples of the sand deposited by the fast moving water?
On closer examination, the water has carried yucca seeds (the black flat wafers), mesquite leaflets, but what are the chunks?
On even closer examination, the chunks appeared to be pieces of cryptogamic soil. (Type cryptogamic soil in the website search engine on the left side of this page and learn more about cryptogamic soil.)
The cryptogamic soil chunks were in the center of the trail, but the lighter detritus was at the side of the trail. Why?
The sheet erosion had removed some of the sand from underneath a cryptogamic soil clump. This would lead to the clump breaking apart and forming the chunks found in the trail.
Earthworms came to the surface during and after the rain and deposited their wastes at the soil surface under other chunks of the cryptogamic soil.
This strange material was woody to the touch. The green "leaves" of one of the "non-flowering plants" is seen in two locations within the woody mass.
When examined closely, the woody clump remained a mystery.
A tiny spider had opened its hole after the rain, but it soon built a web over it. Heavy dew collected on the silk strands.
A wild onion had been dug up early in the morning (probably before daylight) by a rodent - possibly one of the native species of mouse, pocket mouse, or even a kangaroo rat.
The rodent ate the soft juicy center and left the tough stringy outside of the bulb scattered on the soil.
After the seedpod of yucca dries it cracks open and usually remains upright. When a thunderstorm arrives with strong winds and hard rain, the seeds come flying out to land on the soil. Mesquite leaves are also knocked off of their branches.
If the soil remains moist for a couple of days, the yucca seeds germinate, even if they are still on the soil surface.
When the yucca seedpods are beginning to crack open, they are often black. The stress of seed production will sometimes cause a number of the leaves of the yucca to become yellow.
Since the yucca moth is the only insect that pollinates the plant, the number of seedpods varies on each bloomstalk. This stalk has an above average of seedpods.
Looking straight down into the pod, a person can see the seeds. Hundreds are tightly stacked in each channel of the seedpod. The center of 10 to 20 percent of the seeds will be eaten by the caterpillar of the yucca moth.
Some pods have a reddish blush to them. The hole is where the caterpillar of the yucca moth emerged and then lowered itself to the ground on a silkline. Once on the ground, it dug into the soil, where it will pupate and remain until the yucca is again in bloom the following year.
An unknown invertebrate attached a silkline to four separate yucca leaves, and then spun a cocoon that was suspended over the center of the yucca. This yucca is a resprout from a few months before - it had been broken off at the ground by human activity.
Early fall colors on the Llano Estacado are subtle - the blue green of the yucca, and the off-white of the Lehmann's lovegrass are subdued next to the cheerful yellow of the broomweed blossoms.
In the foreground is saltbush with its surprising fall colors. The white are insect galls on the plant, while the gold are its seedpods. Beyond is a yucca with its seedstalk and pods, and further are green mesquites. The bright red spots to the left of the yucca is tasajillo, or Christmas cholla, a species of cactus.
September is usually the time of the year when tasajillo berries begin to turn red.
A dead tasajillo is seen against the blue green of popotillo (ephedra or Mormon tea). Learn more about popotillo in the search engine!
The dead tasajilo might have died from competition with the popotillo or from redspider mites that often cover some plants in a wet year.
This tasajillo is offset by the bright pink blossoms of hierba de hormiga (Allionia is the Latin name of its genus).
Allionia is a species of the four-o-clock family. Its leaves are grayish and are sticky to the touch.
The saltbush galls form on the flowering branches and reach this size when the seedpods have matured. A small insect, probably a species of wasp, "stings" the branch by inserting her ovipositer, This causes a "plant cancer" to grow around the egg it leaves behind, and the larvae will eat the inside of the gall before it later pupates.
The seeds of saltbush turn a beautiful orange for a week or two, and then fade to a goden brown.
Galls and seeds adorn the saltbush very attractively.
It is easy to see why the species is known as 4-winged saltbush - the wings on its seeds.
In front of the tasajillo berries and partially hidden in the broomweed is a pale moth.
This moth is also often found in the broomweed. Later in the year, several small branches of the broomweed will be pulled together by webbing. In the winter these "nests," probably the winter location of the caterpillar of these moths will become more obvious.
If September rains come, then next year's wildflowers begin germinating. These seedlings will be huisache daisies next year. The seeds visible are possibly huisache daisy seeds that have blown over the soil all summer long.
Harvester ants gather seeds and remove a tiny portion of it to feed to their young. The young chew it and then feed the adults with their "vomit." Even though the harvester ants gather seeds, they don't really "eat" them. A smaller ant is investigating this brand new harvester ant nest. Within the last month a newly mated queen had landed at the edge of a trail and dug a shallow hole. Since there was not a "midden" or trash dump around the nest, this group of ants is the first generation of workers.
The smaller ants had their own nest.
Since their nest was long and had many entrances, Sibley staff guessed that it was in an underground mesquite root that had become partially rotted. The ants appear to be Crematogaster ants (and use the search engine to learn more about them!).
Wolf spiders build a turret of sticks and leaves around their hole - and from a distance are often quite noticeable.
The wolf spider nest in closeup reveals the structure of the turret.
This ground squirrel hole is probably its main hole, since it is hidden under a plant. Their "escape holes" that are only a foot deep or less are often out in the open.
One year the staff of the Sibley Nature Center collected every species of "spurge" they could find. Spurges have milky sap that can severely burn the eyes, or if on the skin, allow the sun to severely burn the skin. The plants are small and usually flat on the ground. We found 15 species. This photoessay will show 3 species.
This is Euphorbia lata, as was the first picture of the series.
This staff could not remember what species of Euphorbia this was, and the dried specimens in our herbarium did not reveal a positive answer either!
This is a closeup of the second species.
This is Euphorbia albomarginata. (We think!)
This photo of E. albomarginata in closeup reveals the white rimmed blossoms. All spurges have seeds with three sides or lobes.
As the photographer was photographing the spurges, a young morning dove walked within a few feet, totally unconcerned about a potential threatening presence.
Broomweed and Espantes vaqueros are beautiful together, and when in bloom the espantes vaqueros is one of the most sweetest smells of the Llano Estacado.
The Latin name of the small-leaved gray groundcover under the mesquite is Tiquilia, but in older books the Latin name is Coldenia. It has miniature lavender flowers only a few millimeters across. It is sometimes sold as an ornamental plant. Behind it are the seedheads of sleepy daisy.
After the long drought of the late 1990s and early 2000s the floor of the small playa at the Sibley Nature Center was mostly bare except for where we pump 15,000 gallons of water a day into a plastic lined pond. This bare ground has become a tunbleweed forest - thousands upon thousands have grown as high as 6 feet tall.
When a person looks at a field of tumbleweed the first thing that is noticed is that there are "white spots" in the jungle - so what are they?
On closer examination the white spots are revealed to be blossoms, but what strange blossoms! Look closely at the center of several of the white spots - it appears that some have more "stuff" there. Do the stamens and pistils fall off? Or does something eat them? The brown discs are the seed structures. We would like a student to put these structures under a microscope and draw their "parts" for us.
Here and there in the tumbleweeds were masses of webbing. Despite the photographer pushing at them with a stick, nothing emerged, and when one was torn apart nothing was found.
Since the pond was not far away, several dozen little blue damselflies were resting in the tumbleweeds. The prickly growth gives them a safe place to spend the night.
Saltmarsh caterpillars were much more common in late July and early August, so it was a surprise to see one in September. They turn into a beautiful white moth with an orange body and black spots on the wings.
Seepwillows are often found in playas. Some of these shrubs can reach 15 feet tall and 15 feet across. When they bloom in September, the shrubs become very showy.
When seepwillows release their nectar (and it seems to happen all at once during a short period of time) many insects come to enjoy the bounty. A wasp had arrived early. Adult wasps nectar, but also catch caterpillars to feed to their young.
Near the pond the allergen ragweed carpets the ground. Closer to the pond a band of Marsh Fleabane (Pluchea) begins to bloom in September. Cattails and bulrushes are seen to the right, and a salt cedar is seen to the center and left.
Pluchea will attract many butterflies. The cattails were used by many people for many things - the roots for food (and they taste like potatos), the pollen to make pancakes, and the leaves have been woven to form roofs, hats, and even small watercraft.
Sunflowers are also a common feature in playas. This year sunflowers have been blooming without stop for over four months. Lesser goldfinches visit this patch every day to eat the seeds, but on this cloudy and chilly morning neither bird or butterfly was present.
Cocklebur blooms are bizarre.
The cockleburs were full of tiny flies on the leaves. They appeared to be "lekking," gathering for mating.
In closeup the flies were beautiful.
Water, cattails, and cottonwood - a classic southwestern scene at permanent water. Cottonwood wood is easy to carve. Hopi kachinas are shaped from them. The inner bark of cottonwoods was an emergency food for the horses of the plains Indians during cold winters.
Giant sacaton is a rare plant on the Llano Estacado. When near water, it reaches an impressive size - 7 feet tall and 7 feet across.
The top butterfly is a monarch butterfly that was probably born on milkweed in Midland County When other monarchs from further north arrive in the first week in October, it will join them on the long flight to Mexico. The bottom butterfly is a viceroy butterfly, a mimic of the monarch. It does not feed on milkweed, so it is edible for birds.
In the close-up of the viceroy butterfly, the black line across its hind wings is clearly visible. Monarchs do not have that black line. Thank you Michael Nickell for noticing the subtle difference!
Unfortunately the Argentine fireant was brought to Midland in sod and landscape timbers. When the fireants mate, the fertilized queens that were lucky enough to land near irrigated land or permanent water are able to survive. We attempt to eradicate the nests when we find them, but it is an ongoing process.
On the trail near the pond a robberfly had caught a small black wasp.
Chaff flower prefers tight clay soil and is often found in city parks and schoolyards. Since the seeds are in a fuzzy burr, chaff flower hitches a ride on the feathers of a bird. The species has just begun to grow near the pond at Sibley, although it has been in the soccer and baseball fields of the park for over 30 years. A green grasshopper lit near it as the photographer walked up.
Sibley staff has been photographing grasshoppers to try to record the species that are found in the region, and to try to record their preferred habitats.
The grasshopper moved when the photographer moved closer and it landed in a area where the old dead stems of weeds littered the ground. It wiggled under one of the weed stems for protection.
On one of the sawtooth daisy blooms a whitish "piece of fluff" hovered above the bloom and then returned to the flower. Upon examination of the photograph, it appears to be a tiny fly - can you see the "big" eyes on the right side? After the photograph was taken, it disappeared. Was it really an insect, or was it a tiny down feather from a bird? How bizarre!
In September 2007 the mesquite beans finally began to lose the red color that indicates ripeness. Some of the leaflets began to turn yellow.
Finally the clouds broke and the sun shone on a mesquite bean clump that were still quite reddish.