Nalle Bunny Run 2018-09-15

This morning was the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run. Only three people had registered for the walk and no one showed up! So for the first time in ages I got to tromp around the place by myself. There have been recent rains, including last night, and the preserve was quite wet. Nearby rain on the weather radar caused me to leave my big camera behind, so I only took iPhone photos.

I was happy to find this little Lace Cactus off trail. There's a small patch of them on the westernmost trail that I always point out to visitors, and I'm glad they're growing in more spots!

Near that patch of other lace cactuses, I found two strange fungi that looked like whitish brains! A naturalist friend told me they're probably puffballs:

I was hoping to see south-bound migrating birds and there were a few around. The most numerous were over 20 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers throughout the preserve, usually in the tree canopy. Briefly, I spotted a soaring Osprey, the first I've seen this fall. A Belted Kingfisher flew by, also a first-of-fall observation for me. And down on the sandy prairie I found a Baltimore Oriole, a common migrant moving through Austin right now.

A few interesting resident bird observations: Two Common Ravens flew over the gate while I was waiting for attendees. On the lake in front of the rental house I saw a Wood Duck that at first I thought was a juvenile bird. But actually it was a male in non-breeding plumage, something I was not familiar with! The Northern Cardinals I saw were almost exclusively on the sandy prairie. I've noticed before that there seems to be some seasonality to where cardinals occur on the preserve. In the spring and summer they're spread out all over it. In the fall and winter they're almost exclusively on the sandy prairie area. A "micro migration" perhaps?

Water was flowing in the drainage just east of the main driveway, and there were some beautiful little pools, sometimes rimmed with cedar elm leaves:

I made a few plant observations (see attached) including one I was especially happy about. Back in May 2013 I found this Southern Catalpa tree in the dense oak-juniper woods just east of the gate. I haven't been in this area for a long time since it's usually not so interesting to visitors, and the trail through it has become overgrown. But today I decided to try and find this tree again and I did! Now it's over 12 feet tall!

See the attached iNaturalist observations.

Here's my complete eBird list.

And here are a few more photos on Flickr.

Posted on September 15, 2018 08:55 PM by mikaelb