Trinity River Audubon Center - June 28, 2013

It was supposed to be 104 today so I got out early, arriving at Trinity River Audubon Center at 7:30.  Luckily, it was a cloudy morning and by the time I left at 11:00 am it was only 89 degrees.  It was plenty hot, but the clouds saved me.

While clouds are good for staying cool, they are not so good for my point and shoot camera, but I still got so decent images of lots of flowers and insects.

First, lets take a look at some plants.

This is a plant that I saw everywhere this spring - Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota).  This is a very prominent roadside wildflower in North Texas and it is not uncommon to see entire fields of Queen Anne's Lace.  It is an alien species to our area. (1)

Next is the Partridge Pea (Cassia fasciculata).  According to Southwest and Texas Wildflowers, this should be in bloom from June through October. (1)

The image above shows the pea pods and red center of the flowers that help to identify it.  The leaves are supposed to be sensitive and fold up when touched, but I didn't test this (or at least notice it) in the field.

 

 Large stands of partridge peas at TRAC.

 This image shows some unopened buds as well as some drops of water resulting from a process called guttation - the forcing of water out of the plant due to root pressure.  This usually occurs early in the morning when the soil is damp.

In this image you can see the leaves of the partridge pea.  They are pinnately compound.

 



 Here is our old friend Coreopsis tinctora. 

 A close up of Coreopsis with a dried seed pod.

Today Coreopsis has a little surprise for me - a red and black beetle munching away on pollen and nicely camouflaged on the center of the flower. 

This where I wish the sun had been out.  My little point and shoot camera took a very slow exposure making the beetle a little out of focus.  Dang!

 

 Here is another look at a wildflower we have seen here before, Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella) (1)

The pom-poms are flowers that have been pollinated are are setting seed.

 

 Helianthus annuus - The Kansas Sunflower. 

Woolly Hibiscus (Hibiscus lasiocarpos)  Absolutely beautiful.  I had to thrash my way through lots of brush to get to this plant. 

 



Here you can see the deep red in the throat of the flower and several unopened flower buds.


 A small jumping spider on one of the Hibiscus flower buds.



I believe this to be an Ivyleaf Morning Glory (Ipomoea hederacea) due to the variable leaves - some heart-shaped and others trilobed on the same vine.  (1)

 Here you can see the two different types of leaves. 

 

This is Oenothera speciosa, also known as Pink Lady.  These really enjoyed the unusually wet spring that we had this year and are at the end of their season. (1)

 

 

Next is a plant that I see everywhere at TRAC.  The insects love it and I have been watching it grow, waiting for it to bloom.  I am pretty sure that it is ragweed so I probably shouldn't be so excited for it to bloom.  I noticed that the snout beetles I had found before are all over this plant and copulating like crazy, sometimes 3 or more piled on top of each other.  (In my field notebook the notation reads, "SEX, SEX, SEX!")

 

I also noticed some interesting damage on the stems of the plants and was wondering if these snout beetles were burrowing into the stems and laying eggs. 

 

 

I decided to take some of the damaged stems back to the lab and made another interesting observation. 

 

These plants produce a dark red pigment when cut.

 



And you get to see my pocket knife.  The red on my finger is plant pigment, not blood.

 



 

One last plant is the Texas Thistle (Cirsium undulatum).  Notice the shiny flowerhead bracts that are long and narrow.

 Here you can see a leaf-footed bug on a Texas Thistle that has gone to seed.

Here is another hemipteran that decided to land on me instead of a plant. I guess he wanted his picture taken.

I I I II a
Ia Ialso found this very pretty hemipteran nymph nicely camouflaged on a leaf.  Notice it doesn't yet have wings.

This little guy is Graphocephala coccinea. (2) I remember this bug from when I was a youngster.  When I found one I couldn't believe the colors.

I I_also ran into a turtle taking advantage of the trails at TRAC. 

Because of the weather forecast of excessive heat I had considered skipping this trip to TRAC but am delighted that I didn't because it turned out to be a great day.

 

References:

 

(1) Niehaus, Theodore F. A Field Guide to Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers. Illus. Charles L. Ripper and Virginia Savage. Boston: Houghton, 1984. Print.

(2) Borror, Donald J., and Richard E. White. A Field Guide to Insects: America north of Mexico. Boston: Houghton, 1970. Print.

If you have any questions or comments about this blog please do not hesitate to contact me at Eastfield College in Mesquite, TX.

All images are under a  Creative Commons License and you are free to use them anyway you like with attribution to Eastfield College.  They may not be sold.