Archivos de Diario para octubre 2022

25 de octubre de 2022

Berry Springs Preserve Herps of Texas report, 22Oct2022

In spite of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there was a small group outing to Berry Springs Park and Preserve again this month.
Four amphibian species were observed in the ponds: Rio Grande Leopard Frog (CI = 2), Blanchard's Cricket Frog (CI = 0), Gulf Coast Toad (CI = 0), and Western Narrow-mouthed Toad (CI = 0). Audio recordings were obtained for Rio Grande Leopard Frog, and photos were obtained for all four species.
We saw an armadillo at sunset and a mother wolf spider carrying her babies on her back.
According to the USGS gauge station at Berry Creek at Airport Road near Georgetown, TX (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/tx/nwis/uv/?site_no=08105095&PARAmeter_cd=00045), there had been 0.88 inches of rain five days before monitoring. The sloughs were still dry, the ponds were still lower than normal, no water was flowing over the dam, and the flow in Berry Creek was lower than normal.
The monitoring period was 18:50 - 20:20.
Participants were Kathy, Christie, Amy, and Carrie (welcome !). In addition, a family of five found three species (Blanchard's Cricket Frog, Gulf Coast Toad, and Western Narrow-mouthed Toad) for us within the first 30 minutes of monitoring.
Environmental conditions at the main ponds 40 minutes after sunset:
Air temperature = 77.7 deg F
Water temperature = 67.9 deg F
Sky = no/few clouds
Water level = much below average
Relative humidity = 36 %

Publicado el 25 de octubre de 2022 a las 01:20 PM por k_mccormack k_mccormack | 5 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

29 de octubre de 2022

Freshwater Mussels of Texas report, 27Oct2022

On October 27, 2022, two people did a random shoreline freshwater mussel search where Backbone Creek empties into Lake Marble Falls (i.e., the back side of Lakeside Park in Marble Falls). Lake Marble Falls is one of the Highland Lakes located in the Colorado River basin in Burnet County, Texas.
Water levels were down approximately seven feet in Lake Marble Falls due to an intentional drawdown by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) for continued maintenance, cleanup, and repairs after historic flooding in the fall of 2018. The weather was sunny with mild temperatures.
The monitoring period at Lakeside Park (lat/long approximately 30.567, -98.279) was 11:00 AM – 12:45 PM and we walked approximately 400 feet. The substrate was mostly silt.
Non-native Asian Clams and Zebra Mussels (both too numerous to count) were observed. Note that Zebra Mussels were not observed when we performed a similar survey at this location on January 12, 2019 (https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/k_mccormack/21654-freshwater-mussels-of-texas-report-12jan2019).
Two native freshwater mussel species were observed:
• Giant Floater – none alive, five shells, and seven valves; and,
• Paper Pondshell – none alive, one shell, and no valves.
Note that Threeridge (two valves) and Tampico Pearlymussel (two valves) were observed at this location in the previous survey (which covered approximately 1,200 feet and spanned 2.5 hours), but the Paper Pondshell was a new observation for us this time.
Survey participants were Kathy and Amy. Many thanks to Marsha May for remote help with identification (texting with photos !) during the survey.

Publicado el 29 de octubre de 2022 a las 06:52 PM por k_mccormack k_mccormack | 6 observaciones | 1 comentario | Deja un comentario

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