Archivos de Diario para abril 2018

03 de abril de 2018

Berry Springs Preserve Herps of Texas report, 31Mar2018

After recent heavy rains, we decided to make a special visit to Berry Springs Preserve and check out the wet weather pond north of the improved campground. Jim lives nearby, and although he said that he got three inches of rain at his house, the wet weather pond was not very big – a shorebird (Lesser Yellowlegs ?) was picking off insects along the perimeter, and Amy saw one Blanchard’s Cricket Frog (Call Index = 0) jump into the shallow water. It seemed like there had been very little runoff because the ground had been so dry.
So after about 45 quiet minutes, we moved to the ditch in the pecan orchard and the main ponds. There were a couple of Rio Grande Leopard Frogs in the ditch (CI = 1), and Blanchard’s Cricket Frog (CI = 3), Rio Grande Leopard Frog (CI = 1), and American Bullfrog (CI = 1) in the main ponds. However, seeing newly-returned Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and a beautiful full moon rising made up for a rather uneventful amphibian evening.
The monitoring period was 19:00 – 20:30.
Participants were Kathy, Mike & Amy, Christie, Jim, Diane & Donna, Mike & Mariah, Sue, and Hunter.

Publicado el 03 de abril de 2018 a las 10:53 PM por k_mccormack k_mccormack | 3 comentarios | Deja un comentario

24 de abril de 2018

Berry Springs Preserve Herps of Texas report, 21Apr2018

We saw and heard lots of summer breeding and resident birds before sunset (e.g., Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Eastern Phoebe, Summer Tanager, and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher). At sunset, bats were zooming over the ponds feasting on big, green mayflies and a pack of coyotes let off a howl across the creek. About half an hour after sunset, a Barred Owl called for several minutes. The ground fog was thick over the fields when we arrived, and it got worse throughout monitoring hour.
It took three tries, but Nikki and Hunter finally caught a Blanchard's Cricket Frog (Call Index = 3) that persisted in climbing up onto a patch of algae near the shore. There were at least three American Bullfrogs (briefly up to CI = 2) that we could see - one near the fishing pier walkway on the "well" side of the pond, one in the slough by "beaver lodge point", and one farther up the slough near the footbridge by the playground. I wasn't able to get a decent photo of them in the dark, but I did get three recordings. There were only a few Rio Grande Leopard Frogs (CI = 1) calling, but with Marc's help I managed to record one croak.
The last people in the parking lot felt the cold front blow through and knew that it was our cue to leave.
The monitoring period was 20:00 - 21:00.
Participants were Kathy, Christie, Sondra, Nikki, Marc, and Hunter.
Environmental conditions at the main pond at sunset:

  • Air temperature = 66.9 deg F
  • Water temperature = 68 deg F
  • Sky = No/few clouds
  • Water level = Average
  • Relative humidity at sunset = 71 %
Publicado el 24 de abril de 2018 a las 11:53 PM por k_mccormack k_mccormack | 3 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

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