My Office [pic-heavy]
March 28, 2015 at 1:13 pm
(This post was last modified: March 28, 2015 at 1:14 pm by Thumpalumpacus.)
As y'all may or may not know, I help manage a small nature preserve in Central Texas, Hamilton Pool Preserve. We're part of the larger Balcones Canyonland preserve, a large swath of land set aside in order to protect the mating grounds of the golden-cheeked warbler, an endangered bird with fewer than five thousand mating pairs in the wild.
Hamilton Pool is a little over 230 acres of juniper savannah -- rolling uplands dotted with ashe juniper, black oak, live oak, and cedar elm. The Preserve includes a box-canyon with an entirely different subtropical forest ecology based on bald cypress, , Mexican sycamore, various oaks, and underbrush such as Virginia creeper, acarita, and persimmon.
We've got your usual small mammals here: raccoons, 'possum, porcupines, skunks, grey fox, and the occasion coyote, white-tail deer, or wild hog. Cougars live in the area, but haven't been spotted in the Preserve in some years. Cold-blooded animals include at least nine different species of snakes, including all four North American venomous types, at least four different species of turtles, and numerous lizards and frogs
The Preserve is named after its most amazing feature, a pool, fed by a waterfall, located in a collapsed grotto at the end of a box-canyon. The entire region was once seafloor during the Cretaceous, though sea would recede and then return several times over 230 million years or so. This resulted in thick beds of limestone separated by thin layers of topsoil.
Around 60 million yeas ago, the sea receded for the last time. As the seafloor was exposed to the elements, rainwater percolated through the limestone, removing the soluble layers of topsoil that had petrified between the limeston. This robbed the beds of limestone of support, so that when an underground spring undermined the area, the sheets of limestone collapsed and formed this beautiful grotto:
My job is to process permits, patrol our trails to ensure rules compliance, help keep the Preserve clean, collect data about flora, fauna, and climate, and during the busy summer months, crowd control.
Winter is almost over here, and with an early spring morning and afternoon last week, I got some nice shots.
The other, less popular draw is the trail to the Pedernales River. It's not too long, about one kilometer, but it is a beautiful little hike with sights all its own, running alongside Hamilton Creek (shown in the pics below) downstream of the Pool.
The local residents are rarely visible this time of years. The mammals we have are largely nocturnal, and the reptiles are still in their hibernacula ... but I will be posting pics of them as the season goes along. The snake-squeamish should beware -- others, pull up a chair and we'll take a walk through the summer here in Central Texas.
Hamilton Pool is a little over 230 acres of juniper savannah -- rolling uplands dotted with ashe juniper, black oak, live oak, and cedar elm. The Preserve includes a box-canyon with an entirely different subtropical forest ecology based on bald cypress, , Mexican sycamore, various oaks, and underbrush such as Virginia creeper, acarita, and persimmon.
We've got your usual small mammals here: raccoons, 'possum, porcupines, skunks, grey fox, and the occasion coyote, white-tail deer, or wild hog. Cougars live in the area, but haven't been spotted in the Preserve in some years. Cold-blooded animals include at least nine different species of snakes, including all four North American venomous types, at least four different species of turtles, and numerous lizards and frogs
The Preserve is named after its most amazing feature, a pool, fed by a waterfall, located in a collapsed grotto at the end of a box-canyon. The entire region was once seafloor during the Cretaceous, though sea would recede and then return several times over 230 million years or so. This resulted in thick beds of limestone separated by thin layers of topsoil.
Around 60 million yeas ago, the sea receded for the last time. As the seafloor was exposed to the elements, rainwater percolated through the limestone, removing the soluble layers of topsoil that had petrified between the limeston. This robbed the beds of limestone of support, so that when an underground spring undermined the area, the sheets of limestone collapsed and formed this beautiful grotto:
Picture from Feb 2015
My job is to process permits, patrol our trails to ensure rules compliance, help keep the Preserve clean, collect data about flora, fauna, and climate, and during the busy summer months, crowd control.
Winter is almost over here, and with an early spring morning and afternoon last week, I got some nice shots.
West wall of the box-canyon
The trail leading into the Pool. This view will be radically different in six weeks once spring is in full swing.
The waterfall where Hamilton Creek feeds into the grotto.
Shot from behind the waterfall, showing the sand-spit where sunbathers lay out to sun.
From deep inside the grotto, looking back at its entrance. The tall, bare trees on the right are bald cypress; in another month, they will have a
new set of needles and provide a cool rain-forest type of cover for the undergrowth. Pardonthe color processing, necessary to tamp down the contrast in the shot.
new set of needles and provide a cool rain-forest type of cover for the undergrowth. Pardonthe color processing, necessary to tamp down the contrast in the shot.
The other, less popular draw is the trail to the Pedernales River. It's not too long, about one kilometer, but it is a beautiful little hike with sights all its own, running alongside Hamilton Creek (shown in the pics below) downstream of the Pool.
The local residents are rarely visible this time of years. The mammals we have are largely nocturnal, and the reptiles are still in their hibernacula ... but I will be posting pics of them as the season goes along. The snake-squeamish should beware -- others, pull up a chair and we'll take a walk through the summer here in Central Texas.
