Pictures from Barton Creek Habitat Preserve Marbleseed Survey

Ramona Urbanek and I (Tim Scoggins) participated in a survey for the Edwards Plateau endemic Marbleseed at The Nature Conservancy's Barton Creek Habitat Preserve (BCHP) on 16 May 2004.  We covered both banks of a mile long stretch of creek in a remote part of the 4000 acre preserve.  We managed to take 4 hours covering the one mile going in because of all the cool stuff we saw.

Just about every rock overhang had several masses of granddaddy longlegs.

I have heard of these, but this was my first time to see them bunch like this.  I'm told they will sometimes pulse in unison, but these did not;  not even when I aggravated them with my stick.

We saw lots of these cocoons.

The ones that had fallen to the ground had what looked like an exit hole, and were filled with white fuzz.  Anybody know what they are?

Several of the dry washes coming into the creek exhibited this "scooped-out-stair-step" look.

Apparently, the rock layers catch pools of water and leaves pile up on the edges as they dry out.  The "leaf dams" in some places had melded and solidified until is was easy to think they were part of the rock.

This plant (anybody?) looked at first like it was growing out of the water.

We could actually follow it back to where it came out of the ground, but it was still cool looking.

Here is a great patch of palmetto, Sabal Minor.

In a hundred years, some of these should grow into trees suitable for landscaping a Taco Cabana.

Oh, yeah, we also found tons of Marbleseed.

This was the kind of outing I dreamed of when I joined Capital Area Master Naturalists (CAMN).  Many thanks to BCHP's Land Steward Matt Fagan for providing the opportunity.

posted 17 May 2004 by Tim Scoggins