Joann Merritt's Essays

More Native Plants In The Pits
August, 2000

Wildflowers are just one of many families that comprise the native plant community in The Pits; grasses, sedges and reeds, trees, shrubs and even a cactus or two are also included as members. Some of these plants I associate with a particular bird, butterfly, person or event tha makes them special to me.

For instance, in one nook of The Pits a grove of Black Willows (Salix goodingii v variabilis) was given the title of Warbler Woods by local birders because many species such as the Black & White, Nashville, Wilson’s and Yellow Warblers stop there to feed and rest during migration. These small birds in their brightly colored spring plumage sing as they busily glean insects from the branches, leaves and catkins of the willow trees. One year a pair of Yellow Warblers remained into June giving us hope that someday they will make the Warbler Willows their summer home.

Willow trees are used by the Mourning Cloak and Viceroy butterflies as a host plant as well as a nectar source when sap exudes from the branches. The Mourning Cloak, a common butterfly in Midland, has a rather sad name for so beautiful an insect; in England it has the more appropriate name of Camberwell Beauty. Even though we have very few recorded sightings of the Viceroy it has confirmed breeding status because a female was observed laying an egg on the leaf of a willow tree. Shortly after hatching, the small caterpillar constructed a hibernacula by rolling one of the leaves and silking it together - sort of a silken winter sleeping bag. The following spring when the caterpillar emerged to start feeding on the new green leaves it was itself fed upon by a Mockingbird before it could complete its life cycle.

On a hot day in June a row of Salt Cedars (Tamarix chinensis) laden with mists of pink blooms hosted an all-you-can-eat feast for the butterflies in The Pits. Jenna Welch and I delighted in watching Bordered Patches, Buckeyes and others flit from bloom to bloom with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for nectar.

Seep willow (Baccharis glutinosa), a shrub that grows along waterways, is covered with plumes of soft white blooms in summer and is visited by many species of butterflies, especially Queens. When they have served their purpose the plumes fall to the ground in drifts (if the West Texas wind doesn’t blow) making a plush carpet.

I consider my Lucky Rabbit’s Foot to be a species of native grass, Polypogon monspeliensis. It bodes well for the country when Rabbitfoot grass grows in The Pits because this means we’ve had good rains. Rabbitfoot is an attractive grass with silky elongated seed heads resembling a rabbit’s foot and is the characteristic for which the grass is named.

The female Wood Nymph scatters two to three hundred eggs on or near a variety of grasses including needle grass (Stipa), Bluestem (Andropogon) and tridens (Tridens) all of which grow in The Pits. While I have seen the adult Wood Nymph in The Pits I have not found eggs, caterpillars or chrysalides - but some day I will!

The bottom of a single isolated pit that had previously held water was covered with Green Sprangletop grass (Leptochloa dubia) one summer. The tall sprangletop with its many fingers of heavy seeds rippled and waved like an Oklahoma wheat field in the breeze. It was an amusing and unusual sight to see in the bottom of a West Texas caliche pit.

In August of 1983 as I was standing about 20 feet above this pit watching a Yellow-crowned Night Heron, a movement caught my eye and there walking on the white caliche rocks was a Purple Gallinule. His field marks readily identified him. He had a red bill, long yellow legs and in the sun his feathers reflected purple and green. However, in shady areas only the white feathers under his short tail drew attention to his presence. This pit immediately became known as Gallinule Pond.

In December of 1993 this water-filled pond enticed a Clark’s Grebe to stop for a visit. The white grebe with its long slender neck added a touch of grace and elegance to The Pits and was the first recorded sighting for Midland County. There has been no water in the pit since that time and it is now overgrown with Black Willow, Seepwillow and Salt Cedar.

Canary Grass (Phalaris Caroliana) is short with wide leaves and a smooth cylindrical head two to three inches long that is chock-full of seeds for seed-eating buntings to enjoy. It is an early grass that ripens in late April and May just as the buntings arrive from their winter home in Mexico. Both the dark blue Indigo Bunting and the Lazuli Bunting, who wears the same colors of cinnamon, blue and white as the Eastern Bluebird, stop briefly to feed on these seeds before continuing their journey, only the Painted Bunting stays to nest. The Spanish colonists called the Painted Bunting Mariposa Pintada which means painted butterfly, because of its blue-purple head, yellow-green back and red underparts. With sufficient rain Canary Grass grows in 3 different areas of The Pits where all three buntings can sometimes be seen and heard in the springtime.

An especially wet area where sedges and reeds grow is associated with the Prothonotary Warbler as it was sighted there in August of 1985. He popped out of the sedges and reeds just long enough for Don and me to identify him before disappearing into the swampy environs. The warbler’s golden yellow hood and gray back, wings and tail match the gray robes with yellow hoods worn by prothonotaries, chief clerical officials of the Catholic Church and of certain other courts. We immediately returned home and activated our Birding Hotline which our son Wayne declares would put any volunteer fire department to shame.

Later that afternoon the assembled birders had a “Pit Party” waiting for the bird of honor to appear. George Parker, one of the birders present, reminded us that Alger Hiss was convicted of lying about passing government secrets to a former Russian Communism, Whittaker Chambers, because of seeing this bird. Alger Hiss had happily told Congressman Richard Nixon, who was interrogating him, of having seen the Prothonotary Warbler on a spring morning in April which coincided with the time and place Whittaker Chambers had given them, but which Hiss had heretofore emphatically denied. Oops! - he had just dealt himself a Go To Jail Card. Our son Gary opined that if Alger Hiss had been caught lying about seeing the Prothonotary Warbler when he actually had not, his punishment from avid birders would have been much more severe than what the United States Government meted out to him. Although the warbler didn’t put in an appearance the naturalists enjoyed visiting and reminiscing about a bit of history.

Native plants, butterflies and birds are all wonders of nature that make Life in The Pits a Bowl of Cherries.