Category: Field Notes

  • Texas Amphibian Watch Monitoring in 2014

    By Sandie Mayfield, Sue Anderson, Beth Duncan, and Kathy McCormack The Capital Area Master Naturalists (CAMN) had five teams performing TPWD’s Texas Amphibian Watch (TAW) Adopt-A-Frog-Pond monitoring in 2014. Nocturnal frog and toad calls were monitored on a monthly basis at Bauerle Ranch Park (formerly Slaughter Creek Greenbelt) and Mary Moore Searight Park in south […]

  • Trail Building at the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve

    Nine hard-working members of the Central Texas Trail Tamers and Capital Area Master Naturalists had a fun and productive day at the City of Austin’s BCP Reicher Tract Saturday, February 14th (Valentine’s Day). We worked on an old trail originally put in by volunteer groups in the 1990’s. Frequently used for docent-led hikes (many of […]

  • Blanco River–Trinity Aquifer-Barton Springs Connection

    Nico Hauwert, CoA’s Watershed Protection Department senior hydrologist and teacher of Geology for the current CAMN trainees, provided us some links concerning the connections between the Hays County instance of the Trinity Aquifer, the Blanco River, and their roles in keeping area springs – including Barton – flowing during times of drought. Previous thinking linked Barton […]

  • Canyon Lake Gorge Advanced Training Trip Recap

    Eighteen CAMN’ers and enthusiastic friends and family members had a successful Advanced Training trip to the Canyon Lake Gorge  Saturday, 1/24. We were hosted by the Gorge Preservation Society. Great hike and lecture on the canyon and its geology. Thanks to Jaynellen Ladd at the Society for helping set this up. And a special shout-out […]

  • Camouflage

    [This is a post I originally wrote for my personal site, gardenaustin.com.] I never really thought about it until now, but translucency is a pretty efficient form of camouflage. Why waste energy on pigments that may not meet all your needs? I spotted this common green darner (iNaturalist) in my tomato vines on a cold morning. […]

  • Winter Rains

    The weather has been somewhat cold and soggy over the past few weeks, and cabin fever has been a nagging companion at least to some (says the guy who has rearranged his garage at least twice this past month). But there are the upsides to it. While our local rains haven’t done much to change the […]

  • Integrating Nature into the City with ImagineAustin

    Imagine Austin is a 30-year plan established by the City of Austin aiming to help Austin grow in a compact and connected way.  In order to involve the community in this effort, the ImagineAustin Speaker Series was born. Every few months, a collection of speakers from all over the country join one another to discuss quality […]

  • Creekside Story

    Nice little portion of the Austin webpage in a blog format featuring local riparian stories, info and issues, and maintained by Austin Watershed Protection. Nice plant ID photos and simple key in the entry about our species of indigenous holly, the possumhaw and the yaupon. (But not the Buddy. Sorry, couldn’t resist.) http://www.austintexas.gov/creeksidestory  

  • Field Notes from WQPL Biologist Matt McCaw

    Many CAMN volunteers contribute hours to Austin Water Utility’s Water Quality Protection Land preserves. This short reflection by WQPL field biologist Matt McCaw encapsulates a little of why these lands are so special to Central Texas and the City of Austin, and why so many of us work to make a difference there. http://austintexas.gov/article/notes-field-austins-wildland-artifacts

  • Just some pretty pictures…

    If you volunteer on the City of Austin’s Water Quality Protection Land preserves, these are some of the things you might see. Including Kevin Theusen, the program manager. These photos are by Marc Opperman, CAMN class of 2012. [soliloquy slug=”wqpl”]