Summertime at Peaceful Springs
My name is Kaylen and I am an intern here at Peaceful Springs this summer, as well as Karen's niece. I'm here to update you on what we've been doing since my arrival!
After becoming acquainted with the land and some of the more recognizable flora and fauna we got right to it. First things first, the invasive and aggressive Johnson Grass patches had to be taken care of. Snappin' heads and takin' stems, we had their (gr)asses running for the hills- meaning we were successful in pulling patches along the drive in and by the windmill pond. Eight years of this treatment before I got here significantly cut down on the amount needing to be taken care of, and all without using machines or pesticides!
As many of you probably already know, but I quickly was made aware of, this part of Texas has been in a drought for around eight years. So, Aunt Karen, our friend Bill, and I trekked to examine a few springs on the property to see how they were doing. Two of these were unfortunately devoid of standing or running water, but still appeared a little moist; although there were destructive signs of hogs wallowing. The last, but most certainly not the least, we were relieved to find still running (although the creek it previously fed had long since dried up) and still untouched by hogs. We also happened upon three Golden-cheeked Warbler fledglings playing and bathing in one of the pools, not bothered by us one bit. A real treat to see, as they are endangered.
Although beautiful, it was a tad overgrown, so we decided to go in and do some selective clearing to cut down on the amount of water-suckers pulling from the spring and clear ourselves a little path. Careful to leave the birds lots of levels of branches to choose from and not to pull up roots (to keep the banks from eroding), I'd say we did a pretty good job.
For a change of pace, and to get a handle on Trimble's GPS Unit loaded with ArcPad, next was the Red Harvester Ant survey. A long running tradition here on the preserve, this survey was important to keep data up to date and provide time-lapse comparison of their activity. They are an important food source for the still unseen (other than their droppings) Horned Lizard. This means a lot of walking, looking, and waiting on that dang GPS to find itself out in the field. Harvester Ants are fascinating to watch, however, so it wasn't all that bad after all.
Yesterday, graduate students from Texas A&M came out to do a vegetation survey on the preserve. I got to tag along, assisting one of the students. I learned a lot more of the trees and shrubs around here. Also, it really helped with my mental visualization of meters and cardinal directions, which I now know I have to work on.
Around the house, we've been up to quite a lot. In the barn we created an organized recycling system, as well as clearing it out enough to make room to park the mower, 4-wheeler, and a truck if we wanted! (An impressive feat, if you would have seen the barn beforehand...) A lot of mowing has also been going on, in the fields surrounding the house and the firelines surrounding the property. I've been down to the range a few times learning how to shoot from our friend Rick, and I've been told I've got a good grouping- so watch out. Keeping up with the hungry hummingbirds has been a real chore, even with 6 feeders we have to fill them every other day.
Our wild friends and neighbors have been out and about living their lives as well, and here are some glimpses we have caught of them on our remote cameras:
After becoming acquainted with the land and some of the more recognizable flora and fauna we got right to it. First things first, the invasive and aggressive Johnson Grass patches had to be taken care of. Snappin' heads and takin' stems, we had their (gr)asses running for the hills- meaning we were successful in pulling patches along the drive in and by the windmill pond. Eight years of this treatment before I got here significantly cut down on the amount needing to be taken care of, and all without using machines or pesticides!
As many of you probably already know, but I quickly was made aware of, this part of Texas has been in a drought for around eight years. So, Aunt Karen, our friend Bill, and I trekked to examine a few springs on the property to see how they were doing. Two of these were unfortunately devoid of standing or running water, but still appeared a little moist; although there were destructive signs of hogs wallowing. The last, but most certainly not the least, we were relieved to find still running (although the creek it previously fed had long since dried up) and still untouched by hogs. We also happened upon three Golden-cheeked Warbler fledglings playing and bathing in one of the pools, not bothered by us one bit. A real treat to see, as they are endangered.
Although beautiful, it was a tad overgrown, so we decided to go in and do some selective clearing to cut down on the amount of water-suckers pulling from the spring and clear ourselves a little path. Careful to leave the birds lots of levels of branches to choose from and not to pull up roots (to keep the banks from eroding), I'd say we did a pretty good job.
Spring after clearing
That's me wrangling some vines
For a change of pace, and to get a handle on Trimble's GPS Unit loaded with ArcPad, next was the Red Harvester Ant survey. A long running tradition here on the preserve, this survey was important to keep data up to date and provide time-lapse comparison of their activity. They are an important food source for the still unseen (other than their droppings) Horned Lizard. This means a lot of walking, looking, and waiting on that dang GPS to find itself out in the field. Harvester Ants are fascinating to watch, however, so it wasn't all that bad after all.
Yesterday, graduate students from Texas A&M came out to do a vegetation survey on the preserve. I got to tag along, assisting one of the students. I learned a lot more of the trees and shrubs around here. Also, it really helped with my mental visualization of meters and cardinal directions, which I now know I have to work on.
Around the house, we've been up to quite a lot. In the barn we created an organized recycling system, as well as clearing it out enough to make room to park the mower, 4-wheeler, and a truck if we wanted! (An impressive feat, if you would have seen the barn beforehand...) A lot of mowing has also been going on, in the fields surrounding the house and the firelines surrounding the property. I've been down to the range a few times learning how to shoot from our friend Rick, and I've been told I've got a good grouping- so watch out. Keeping up with the hungry hummingbirds has been a real chore, even with 6 feeders we have to fill them every other day.
Attempted to be artistic with the labeling
Hummingbird flying in to slurp down the sugar water
Growing an onion from one we found sprouted in the pantry
Molly the Papillion peeking
Our wild friends and neighbors have been out and about living their lives as well, and here are some glimpses we have caught of them on our remote cameras:
Mama Turkey started with 9, but now has 6 babies. Not bad!
Mama deer had triplets! Pretty rare to see in the wild
Deer and fox- secret nighttime rendezvous? Forbidden love?
Bipedal raccoon
A couple foxes, maybe this is Two-Bumps and Piper (former 'pet' foxes released on property long ago)
Some vultures trying to block us from seeing they were eating fruit
Thanks for sticking with the long post. Now that you're up to date, keep checking back for our upcoming projects and activities, we've got some good ones planned!
Very cool... Keep blogging. XO Daddio
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