The Stengl-Lost Pines Biological Station
Home Sweet Home!
My wife, Pat, and I are in residence at the Stengl-Lost Pines Biological Station. We're having fun trying to keep the pocket gopher (affectionately known as "Gopher Pyle") from digging the house out from under us, watching the birds at the feeders on weekend mornings, putting in a butterfly and native plant garden on the south and east sides of the house, keeping the odd transient (white-footed mice, etc.) out of the house, and just generally exploring the "back 200" and "discovering" the flora and fauna. Most recently we've adopted a house lizard (his name is Buddy) and have enjoyed watching the building of "the persimmon trail" by harvester ants. And I don't know what it is with me, wilderness and stray dogs and cats but we've been visited by a few - including puppies that pop out of nowhere! Everyday is a new adventure...
The first of the scheduled "Biological Inventory Days" (Feb. 21st) was more than a little bit wet! Still, Riley Nelson had his Ecology class out for the day and at least one Zoology grad student "took the plunge". Hopefully, there will be a few more out for Mar. 14th and there'll be less water falling from the sky. Oh, well, at the very least we should get a good show of wildflowers this year.
Well, March 14th has come and gone. And, yes, it was very wet! Boy, can I pick 'em or what? Still, 5 students from Conservation Biology ZOO370c wandered around for a few hours picking up lots of odd fungi, lichens, a few insects and some new flowers. Around the house, the Bluebonnets and the Baptisia are starting to bloom so things are picking up (no thanks to the cold snap of a week ago). I expect (hope, pray) that the next Inventory Day (March 28th) will be both drier and more populated...
Thankfully, both of my last statements were true...March 28th was a great day and there were about 15 people out at various times of the day. The major focus for the day appeared to be reptiles and we managed to more than double the previous list. More and more flowers are blooming and we will definitely be adding some species to the flora in the coming weeks. The butterfly list is also growing in leaps and bounds (or should that be "flutters and flights") and now stands at more than 25 species (a few are still to be identified).
Fewer than we had hoped made it out on the 11th of April, 4 undergrads were the only participants. But the rest of you missed a great day! A student that was surveying the pond for fish caught three different species (2 sp. of sunfish and a couple of "dinner-sized" bass). A second that was looking at algae (and who happened to run into the feral Emu that's running around) found lots to survey (at least 5 genera from the pond). I added six sp. of butterflies to that growing list (now closing in on 40 sp.) and we did manage to add a few new plants to the flora.
April 25th and May 9th have come and gone. If it wasn't for the students in my Conservation Biology class and Sharon Jasper's Ecology course (both of whom are groups that are, admittedly, not being martyrs by helping out!) and the old standbys (Tom, Colin and Pat and I) there would have been no participants! But, even as few as we have been we've managed to add more than 20-odd taxa to the flora, are busily compiling a preliminaryinsect list, have added another half dozen sp. of butterflies, a snake, two mammals and more to the animal lists! Imagine what we could do with a little bit of help...
In between the two inventory days above, the picnic happened. Here are some photos of the 1998 picnic (courtesy of Sharon Bramblett).
The last of the biweekly inventory days was held on May 23rd. It's a good thing that Pat and I were able to do some because nobody else showed up! The vast majority of the "work" done to date has been by students and since they, by and large, have gone home so I guess this shouldn't be surprising. Interestingly, we have yet to see any faculty or staff out helping with the inventory work...
The next Inventory day is scheduled for Saturday, June 2oth. Why not come on out and give us a hand! If you'd like to participate in one of the inventory days (or would like to come out at some other time) then please confirm your participation by email at philjs@mail.utexas.edu or by phone at 512-232-3377 (office) or at the station at 512-237-3864.
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