Photo Essay
I-20 Pond
Click on each image to see a larger version; use your browser's "Back" button to return to this page.
The bottom of the playa is filled with cattails. Trees surround the playa, and in between the tree line and the marsh is a region of annual weeds, bermuda grass and other disturbed soil vegetation. The tall goden brown weed is the dried stalks of sawtooth daisy. This view looks across the southern end of the playa.
The southwestern shore in closer detail.
Looking north from the same spot, a bright red kochia is in the foreground.
In the close foreground is barnyard grass, then the dark stalks and seedpods of cockleburs and finally the white seedheads of cattails.
In the fall, windblown cattail seed fluff coats vegetation along the edge of the playa. Here it adorns a dried sunflower.
When viewed in closer detail, the above scene becomes a Jackson Pollock painting.
In the foreground is a marshy area filled with duckweed, and beyond are black willows lining the banks of an old stockpond that is now a backwater of the filled playa.
In the foreground is fescue, a common lawn grass in town. Siberian elm leaves frame the view of the old stockpond.
The willows grow thickly, so some lean for the light. The water is dark, stained by organic decay, but it reflects the gray skies.
The large tree is a green ash, surrounded by Siberian elms
Some of the elms are huge and shade the ground which makes the scene more parklike, since few plants can grow in deep shade.
In the foreground is Canadian wildrye grass, a native to the region. Beyond is a native yucca and the background is a multi-trunked mesquite.
Packrat nests are a common sight in the forest, and especially near the edge of the forest where patches of prickly pear grow.
On the prickly pear the cochineal scale grows. This produces a red dye that can retain its color without mordant. The Aztecs in Mexico maintained plantations of cactus to produce the dye, and their Spanish conquerors introduced the dye to Europe, where the color became a symbol of royalty and the church.
On some of the mesquites fresh sign of girdling beetles were found. In some years a population explosion of the girdling beetles occur and thousands of the beetles come to lights in town. In most years however, girdling beetles are few and far between.
Both gray and red fox live on the property. Fox scat in the fall is often full of mesquite beans and cactus fruit pulp and seeds.
On the wet morning, hundreds of roly-polies (pill bugs) feasted on old fox scat moistened by the rain.
Usually the native narrowleaved yucca species do not grow trunks, but in the darkness of the forest, this 5 foot tall yucca was a marvel.
Virginia creeper added bright spots of color to the elm forest.
This huge shelf fungus was amazing and grew on an elm.
Narrowmouthed toads are rare in Midland County, but on this wet October morning, hundreds were spotted.
>
Neptunia lutea, or yellow puff is a plant that normally grows in Central Texas, but was introduced to the site in hay for the livestock that once grazed there. It is a sensitive plant - its leaves fold up when touched.
On the north end of the property is a caliche pit. The huge trunk in the left background is that of a cottonwood.
The caliche pit is a favorite hangout of several birds, and in the fall of 2006 a belted kingfisher ruled the territory.
The old drainage channel "looks like a creek." After the forest grows tall, many lower branches die, making human passage a challenge.
A bluewinged teal lay bleeding (but still breathing.) As the photographer's party approached, a barn owl flew away, upset at being chased from his meal.