Early Prairie Field Work

This past weekend (March 15-17), Mary Kay and I headed up to Northeast Texas to examine several native prairies and help on a work day at one of them. We are long-time prairie enthusiasts. Even at this early date in the growing season, there was plenty to perk our interest and remind us of just how rare and special all of Texas' native prairies are. Our itinerary included visits to:

Clymer Meadows ("West Tract"), Hunt Co.
Mary Talbot Prairie and Talbot Brothers Prairies, Bowie Co.
Daphne Prairie, Franklin Co.

I'll be uploading observations in the near future. This visit offered a good opportunity to encounter many species that were new to us and some I had been wanting to study including such things as:
Carolina Anemone, Anemone caroliniana. Fairly common in several prairies. (No Ten-petal found!)
Early Buttercup, Ranunculus fasciolaris
Prairie Groundsel, Packera plattensis
Both Tiny (Houstonia pusilla) and Southern Bluets (H. micrantha), growing side by side.
Flatwood Plum (Prunus umbellata)

We also studied (??) all the prairie grasses but of course it's the wrong time of year to learn these. This included such species as Long-spike Tridens, Silveus Dropseed, Florida Paspalum, etc., etc. Northeast Texas has had a very wet winter so the blooming season for everything ought to be awesome!

Despite the cold mornings (32-35F), I still managed to find 3 spp of moths and we saw a handful of butterflies. The best bird sightings included a Sora at Clymer Meadow and two Crested Caracara at Daphne Prairie. I was able to add to my Hunt, Franklin, and Bowie county bird lists a little bit.

We especially want to thank Kirsti Harms (Exec. Director, Native Prairie Assoc. of Texas) and Brandon Belcher (TNC Land Steward) for their guidance and expert knowledge. Here are some useful links:

http://texasprairie.org
http://texasprairie.org/index.php/npat_prairies/location/mary_talbot_prairie/
http://texasprairie.org/index.php/npat_prairies/location/daphne_prairie/
https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/clymer-meadow-preserve/

Julkaistu maaliskuu 18, 2019 07:38 IP. käyttäjältä gcwarbler gcwarbler

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Nice! Thanks for the update and links!

Lähettänyt lovebirder noin 5 vuotta sitten

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