Aransas Wildlife Refuge

Jeremiah, Is That You?

~ shoreacres ~ 82 Comments

 

One of my greatest frustrations over the years has been an inability to see big frogs in the ponds and sloughs I visit. I often hear them — their croaks, and their splashy retreats into water — but I never have seen more than the ripples they leave behind.

That ended last weekend at the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. Standing on a bridge that crosses a pond, I was idly scanning the water when I noticed a bit of bright green. Looking closer, I realized it wasn’t another clump of algae. It was a frog; even better, it was a frog who seemed willing to tolerate my presence.

After a few photos, I realized the frog wasn’t about to move, so I moved to a different vantage point on the bridge, where I was able to catch this wonderfully typical froggy expression.

Eventually, a noisy conflict between two bull alligators caused the frog to disappear into the reeds, but I had my photos. Only two days earlier, on March 3, I had expressed my hope to Steve Gingold, frog photographer extraordinare, that this year I finally would find a bullfrog. On March 5, I did just that.

Leaving the refuge, I was filled with the kind of joy that only a true Jeremiah could evoke. I’d gone for flowers, but found a bullfrog. It seemed a fair trade, and reason enough to break into the song that you know.

 

Comments always are welcome.

Mooo-ve Over, Belle

~ shoreacres ~ 75 Comments

One of Texas’s best-known advertising logos — for Blue Bell ice cream — includes the image of Belle, an entirely sweet cow known for standing in fields of central Texas bluebells. Lacking bluebells (or bluebonnets, for that matter), this cow chose to pose in a field of scattered white prickly poppies (Argemone albiflora) on the historic El Capote ranch near Seguin.

Farther down the road, the hills were alive with the sight of poppies.

When their numbers are fewer, the poppies still make a lovely counterpoint to other Texas delights. Here, they’ve taken up residence next to a grove of gnarled oaks at the Aransas Wildlife Refuge.

Even a single poppy can please. Rooted in sand at the edge of San Antonio Bay, this one matches the whitecaps of a windy day.

 

Comments always are welcome.
For more views of this flower in a different part of the state, visit Steve Schwartzman’s Portraits of Wildflowers.

Gulf Coast Autumn: Red

~ shoreacres ~ 48 Comments
Carolina wolfberry (Lycium carolinianum)

As if trying to make amends for our relative lack of autumn color, the vibrant fruit of Carolina Wolfberry shines among Gulf coast ditches, ravines, swamps, and marshes. Also known as Carolina desert-thorn, creeping wolfberry, or Christmas berry, the plant is found from Texas to Georgia: one of several salt and drought resistant plants known as halophytes that thrive here.

Its rounded, succulent leaves serve as a clue to its identity, as does the fruit’s resemblance to a cherry tomato. In fact, Carolina wolfberry is a member of the potato-and-tomato family, the Solanaceae. Its flowers recall the various nightshade species, although the plant is distinguished by having only four petals rather than the five common to nightshades.

Once recognized, the plant seems ubiquitous, appearing even in urban ditches and sometimes in standing water. Its toughness is important to over-wintering whooping cranes at the Aransas Wildlife Refuge, which depend on its fruit for energy restoration after their migration. Although the bulk of their winter diet is comprised of blue crabs, Carolina wolfberry can contribute 21–52% of crane energy intake early in the wintering period.

Attractive and nourishing, the fruit is a delightful addition to the landscape, and a reminder that not every bit of autumnal red needs to hang from a tree.

 

Comments always are welcome.