Pictures and sounds from Mesquite Wildlife Area

People
The trailmaker
The volunteer(Charles Tubbs)
Garden designer(John Siemsen)
Bob Norris starts a bird census,  counts ducks  counts more ducks,  checks elm grove, checks dickcissels in weedy field
Victoria Manning announces a party at the barn
BBQ and burger man
Comalbirders visit 11/21/2009
wet-footed birders; David Pueppke, Charles Tubbs and Bob Norris
David Pueppke, Bob Norris, and Charles Tubbs view ducks
Birding in the fog, David Pueppke and Bob Norris
Lee Pasquali  photographing a Say's Phoebe

Flora
    Woody
        Acacia      
        Pommegranite
        Daggers   more daggers  early bud, mid bud, late bud
        Huisache
        Cedar Em 
            young leaves 1, 2
        Gum bumelia;  leaf variations    Tree form variation in 15-20' trees  large size
        Hawthorn 
buds
        Live Oak   treespring pollen tassels, acorns, discussion and more pics
        Chinaberry  1, berries

          Elbowbush
         Poison Ivy  rash    
    Non-woody
        Buffalo Gourd
        Blue-eyed Grass      
        Erect Dayflower  close up, carpet
        Devil's Claw      
        Skullcap
        Mealy sage  plant  close up

        Scarlet (Tropical) Sage      
        Bluebonnet  
1,   clump at dawn  close up

        Agarita    buds  early flowering
, peak flowering
        Prickly pear  growing on old mesquite,  flowering, more flowering, blossom
        Tasajillo cactus

        Verbena  typical,  albino
        Southern Anemone  1,  2,  seeding
        Indian Blanket (Firewheel)  close,  plant
        Sow Thistle
        Texas Thistle
        White Prickly Poppy      
        Texas Yellowstar
        Umbelliferae
        Yellow Evening Primrose plant,  close up
        Pink Evening Primrose
        Dandilion
        clover
        Vetch 
        Stiff-stem Flax
        Venus Looking Glass?  plant,  flower
        wild mustard  flowerhead,  scene
        Smartweed  plant,  flower      
        Texas Bindweed
        Yellow Wood Sorrel 
        wild onion
        puccoon
        Phacelia  plant 1,  2  close up
        Silverleaf Nightshade
        Misseltoe
        Blackbery  close up blossoms,  vines flowering
        Balloon Plant   
        Lily Pads  in the lake      
        Old Man's Beard
        Stinging Nettle

Lichen
    Teloschistes chrysophthalmus (Gold Eye Lichen)
    Lichen assemblage on a limb
Parasitic
    Japanese Dodder  plant,  close up

Fungus
    Toadstool in a tree
    Toadstool on the ground

Fauna

Mammals
Whitetail deer
    Deer horn by Kolenberg elm woods
    Buck skull by Schwarzlose
    Doe in Schwarzlose woods 3/14/2010
    Buck near Kohlenberg  4/21/2010
Gray Fox

    encounter 7/22/09  both adults carrying Mourning Dove and headless cottontail to den
    photos  2/15/2010  1st, 2nd, 3rd
Coyote   print in mud, another mud print,    poop with cottontail fur
Raccoon  1,  2   tracks, better tracks
Cottontail  1, 2  seen 3/14/2010  3 seen 8/8/2010  4 seen 9/4/2010
Feral cat  by the barn

animal paths  12


Reptiles & Amphibians

Snakes
    Diamondback Watersnake

        young, dead at Kohlenberg bridge,  5/31/2009 
        adult  9/18/09
, below the dam   same adult 3/13/2010adult's head
    unidentified nonpoisonous watersnake with no body markings, reddish-brown  3/26/2010
    Prairie Kingsnake  body,  head
Turtles
    turtle crossing Kohlenberg  2/21/2010
    turtle in un-named pond between garden and little elm grove  4/25/2010
    Red-eared Turtle at Kohlenberg  3/13/2010, crossing the main dam  4/12/2010,  head closeup
Frogs and Toads
    Gulf Coast Toad   audiomp3 format  Heard and recorded 4/23/2010   Images from 7/24/2010: 1, 2  3
    Spotted Chorus Frog   picture, 4/25/2010  audiomp3 format  in flooded grass  2/27/2010  
more audio 3/6/2010
   Blanchard"s Cricket Frog  sitting,  croaking,  4/25/2010   audiomp3 format  Heard 3/6/2010 & 3/13/2010; recorded 3/26/2010
                                           sitting 8/8/2010
Fish
   
minnows in main creek 8/8/2010  1, 2

Invertebrates
Snails
    flat snail  Polygyra?
    elongate snail  Radbotus?
    Exotic snails
       Rumina dicollata  1, 2
       Milk Snail or Brown Garden Snail

Worms
    Earthworm
Arthropods
    Crustacean
        Isopods
            Pill Bugs
      
Crayfish carapace,  living  
Spiders
   
typical orbweaver web
    tiny spider, maybe Branch Tip spider
    Yellow Garden Spider  close up,  with prey
    Banded Garden Spider
    unidentified sticky donut spinner
    unidentified small furry spider
    Green Lynx Spider
    Crab spider
    Long-jawed Orbweaver Spider
    Agriope aurantia Orbweaver
    Wolf Spider
Insects
  
Dragonflies
      
a nymph in the main creek
       Green Darner  1, 2
       Comet Darner  female
       Spangled Skimmer
       Variegated Meadowhawk  on ground  more on ground  on plant
       Easteren Amberwing male     
       Eastern Pondhawk  male,  female
       Blue Dasher  1,  2
       Yellow-sided Skimmer
       Widow Skimmer  male,  female
       Common Whitetail male, female 1,  2
       Red Saddlebags males 1,  2
,  female 1,  2
       Four Spotted Pennant
       Halloween Pennant
       unidentified dragonflies:   1,
    Damselflies
       Bluet  below dam,  behind dike east side of lake, eating a corn borer
       Common Spreadwing  1,  2
       Orange Bluet
       Argia lipunctulata
       Argia fumipennis violacea
       Vivid Dancer
   Mayflies
       Small mayfly(Baetidae sp)

    Crickets
       Gryllus Field Cricket
       Eastern Striped Cricket  sonogram,  audio(.wav file)

    Katydids
     
  Thread-legged Katydid
    Grasshoppers
      
American Bird Grasshopper  1,  2
      
tiny infant grasshopper
       Spur-throated Grasshopper
       Pallid-winged Grasshopper
       Two-striped grasshopper
       Xanthipus.corallipus Grasshopper  

    Termites
    Aphids  aphid parade,  parade close up
    Gall-inducing insects
       hackberry gall
    Bugs
       Aquatic bugs
      
    Water Boatman  in the pond below the dam  3/13/2010
           Waterstriders  swarm on lake 7/24
       Assassin Bugs
         
Pselliopus barberi
        Box Elder bugs at a decaying willow,  in the woods   
        Scarlet Plant Bug
        Eastern Leaf-footed Bug  1,  2
    Stink bugs
        Podisus.sp  stink bug
        Southern Green Stinkbug
        Conchuela stink bug
        unidentified stink bug
    Beetles  
       ladybugs  larvae
            Nine-spot  1,
            Asian Multicolored Ladybug

        woodborers  
    Lacewings

       Green Lacewing

    Owlflies
    Ant Lions
  group, close up  
    Butterflies
        Giant Swallowtail      
        Black Swallowtail
        Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
        Checkered White     
        Gray Hairstreak
        Juniper Hairstreak
        Clouded Sulphur  1,  2     
        Dainty Sulphur
        Little Yellow
        Sleepy Orange      
        Orange Sulphur
        Variegated Fritillary
        Bordered Patch  1, 2, 3
        Question Mark Comma Butterfly  male
        Red Admiral     
        Common Buckeye      
        Goatweed Leafwing
        Common Mestra
        Monarch  1,  2
        Queen
        Checkered Skipper
        Funereal Duskywing Skipper      
        Fiery Skipper  1,  2
        Clouded Skipper (Northern Cloudywing)  male  1,  2     
        Olympia Marble
        Hackberry Emperor, 1, 2
        Snout
  
    Moths
        Grapeleaf Skeletonizer
       Bagworm moth cocoon
       micromoth
            European Corn Borer  1,  2
       Tiger Moth  odd patterned
       Io Moth  1,  2
    Flies
        Housefly  1,  2,  3    
        Flower Flies  irridesence in the wings
            Sphegina sp?
        Robber Flies
            Laphystia sp
        Bee Flies
            Exoprosopa  1,  2
       Tachinid Flies
             Archytas.sp  1,  2
             Trichopoda.sp

    Domestic Bees (honeybees)
       Mesquite tree hive, west side of wildlife management property
         in summer 2009 slightly blurry
          in winter, late 2009 fairly sharp pictures
          winter January 2010, better pictures
       Oak tree hive, far east side of wildlife management property
          hive entrance  3/20/2010
       pollenating flowering bushes  3/13/2010  pollinating a primrose 4/21
    Wasps
       Yellowjacket nest in Palo Verde  Yellowjacket close up
       Sphecid wasp
       Red Wasp
       paper wasp Polistes.exclamans
       unidentified wasp
    Green Bees(Halictinae)
       Green bee  1,  2
    Sweat Bees
       
Halictidae 
    Bumble Bees
        American Bumble Bee  1, 2
    Woodwasps

          Xiphydria.sp
          Carpenter bee 1, 2
    Ants
       fire ants mound
       ant, unidentified but not fire ant
        Velvet Ant
           Timulla.sp  1,  2

Birds

Pied-billed Grebe   1,   2
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Egret  1,  2
Tricolored Heron
Little Blue Heron
Green Heron
Cattle Egret
Snowy Egret  1,  2
Turkey Vulture  1, 2, 3
Black Vulture
Blue-winged Teal   1,   flying
Cinnamon Teal
Shoveler
Ring-necked Duck
Hooded Merganser

Ruddy Duck
Mississippi Kite
Northern Harrier  female,    male  1, 2, 3, 4
Cooper's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk   on a dark day  at dawn  flapping  soaring1  soaring2  gliding
Red-shanked Gas Hawk
Caracara
Bobwhite call: 1st, 2nd

Coot
Kildeer
Caspian Tern  1,  pair
Eurasian Collared Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Ground Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barn Owl
Chuck-will's-widow  (audio from 4/23/20101  2
Chimney swift roost

Black-chinned Hummingbird
Golden-fronted Woodpecker  1,  2
Ladderback Woodpecker   on a tree   on a pole
Eastern Phoebe  1,  2
Say's Phoebe  1,  2, 3
Vermillion Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Shrike  1,  2
Crows
Tree Swallow   1,  2
Rough-winged Swallow  1, 2, 3
Cave swallow  1,
Barn Swallow  1,  2
Chickadee
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   1,   2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Robin  1,  2
Mockingbird 1st, 2nd3rd
Cedar Waxwing   flock   group, eating missletoe berries,  close up
Rear-tailed Evader
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Summer Tanager
Cassin's Sparrow habitat, and song, and spectrogram

Clay-colored Sparrow  1,  2,  3
Field Sparrow 
at Domino's pond   near Schwarzlose woods
Vesper Sparrow 1,  2
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow  below dam  along the creek,  at the lakeshore,  in weeds

Grasshopper Sparrow   at the gate   near Schwarzlose woods,  in mesquite woods,  with a Vesper Sparrow,   singing in Palo Verde
Le Conte's Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow   in habitat   close up
Harris Sparrow near headquarters   near Schwarzlose woods
White-crowned Sparrow    male     female   eating hackberry   eating bugs
Cardinal   dark day
Blue Grosbeak
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel  1,  2,  3
Red-winged Blackbird 
perched,  singing,  flock
Meadowlark
Brown-headed Cowbird
single malepair
Bullock's Oriole   female
House Finch 
1,  2
House Sparrow

Fossils
Cretaceous pelecypod  Exogyra ponderosa, Exogyra holding rainwater

Time Lapse 
late winter to spring from the dike overlooking the north shore, 2012

Landscapes and scenics

A dry pond
Mesquite grassland
Huisache grassland
Edge of Schwarzlose woods
Cold morning on the nature trail
wet pasture   more wet pasture
feather floating in a pond
Eagle Scout Pond
little elm woods in early spring at sunrise
Early dawn
cemetary
wildflower mix
Schwarzlose Pond with water in spring
bird tracks along the creek

Barn pictures;

click here for barn article and pictures

Other
possible artifact
burl on mesquite