Prairie Notes #198 - Gobsmacking Prairie
Prairie Notes are monthly photo/journal observations from Tandy Hills Natural Area by Founder/Director, Don Young. They include field reports, flora and fauna sightings, and more, mixed with a scoop of dry humor and a bit of philosophy.
They are available free to all who get on the FOTHNA email list.
Gobsmacking Prairie
Prairie Notes #198
June 1, 2023
1) Gobsmacking Prairie
2) Field Report: May
3) Friends in the News
4) New Species - May
5) City Nature Challenge_2023 Results
6) Prairie-Sky / Star-Party Report
7) Fascinating Fasciation
8) In Memoriam: “Wild” Bill Hall
9) Prairie Proverb - Sir David Attenborough
1) Gobsmacking Prairie
As chief cheerleader and promoter of Tandy Hills I have been guilty of employing a host of superlatives over the years to express my enthusiasm and get your attention. But it seems my thesaurus well was running dry. As I sat down to compose this newsletter I was having trouble finding the right word to describe the unparalleled beauty and diversity of the Tandy Hills meadows in 2023.
I used to think that the jaw-dropping meadows of 2019 were the gold standard. For sheer variety of species, it certainly was. But as the 2023 season progressed and the rains kept coming, I had a change of mind. I now see that the word “jaw-dropping” just won’t do. I now say, without exaggeration, that the wildflower show this year is truly gobsmacking!
There are seas of Prairie Bishop, unlike any before. Multitudes of Indian Blanket. Eye-popping vistas of Wavyleaf Thistle. Super-blooms of Yucca. It’s like a big, thick California King-size mattress stuffed with wildflower species. In mid-May, I counted 22 species in one small 10’ x 10’ patch. To top it off, we’ve had lots of colorful sunsets as a backdrop.
Alas, this epic season has about reached its highest potential. The prairie grasses are filling in and the spring wildflowers will soon fade. These landscape pics are meant to inspire you to visit real soon and immerse yourself in Tandy Hills before the summer heat kicks in. (See close-up pics in, Field Report.) And, remember to stay on trail, ya’ll.
PS: Take a 1-minute, virtual walk with me on the Iconic Meadow from early May, HERE.
DY
2) Field Report - May
A nearly perfect amount of rain and sunshine aided the gobsmacking wildflower season. There were lots of nicely paired combinations of species. Lots of critters taking advantage of it all. We also had a few work days to remove invasive species, which are also having a good year. Finally, the iNaturalist species count reached 1900 in early May and is already well on the way to 2000 species.
3) Friends in the News
Suzanne Tuttle and Jeff Quayle, are two good “Friends” of Tandy Hills. Both were featured in news reports last month. Suzanne and Friends of Tandy Hills go way back to 2004. She generously helped me as I was learning about the various plant species at Tandy Hills. She also led wildflower tours at Prairie Fest for many years. She was a Master Naturalist hike leader on the very first Kids On the Prairie team. She helped write a trail grant. The list goes on and on and that’s just at Tandy Hills. She has been a key supporter and volunteer of other local organizations. As I wrote about her last year, ”Suzanne is one of the pioneers of the environmental movement in north Texas.” She is profiled in a recent post on the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT) website. You can read the NPAT post HERE.
Jeff Quayle, is a walking encyclopedia of botanical knowledge. He was a great help to me learning plant names in the early days of Friends of Tandy Hills. Jeff also was a hike leader at Prairie Fest and led a Trout Lily Walk in the early days. Recently, Jeff has been leading plant survey hikes at prairies all over the region. He recently got a well-deserved write-up by, Jim Domke, on the GreenSource-DFW website. Check it out HERE.
Also, in the news, is Amy Martin, whose much-anticipated new book, Wild DFW is scheduled for release on July 11, 2023. I received an advance copy of this beautiful and useful guide book. There are chapters on all the natural areas in the DFW region including, Tandy Hills. Information on pre-orders is available at the Timber Press website. We hope to have Amy lead a Book Walk/Talk at Tandy Hills, later in the year. Congratulations Amy!
4) New Species - May
The species count took a HUGE leap in May, from 1,873 to 1939. The City Nature Challenge helped up the count but, so did the spring weather. The 66 new additions include an array of interesting insect species including, the first sighting of a, Emerald Ash Borer. Most observations are by Sam Kieschnick. See a few of them below and see all 1,935 at the Tandy Hills iNat Project Page HERE.
BTW - I want to emphasize how special and important it is that Tandy Hills passed another milestone in early May reaching - 1900 species on the iNaturalist website and already hurtling towards 2000 species. That's second only to FW Nature Center in this area. Not only is Tandy Hills right in the heart of a major metro area adjacent to a major highway, the natural area has relatively little water when compared to the FW Nature Center and most other natural areas. It's remarkable that this 220+ acre, urban natural area is so rich in biodiversity from the microscopic organisms to rare plants and a mulititude of insects. THAT is why we work hard to keep it protected.
5) City Nature Challenge_2023_Results
The 2023 City Nature Challenge, is complete and the results are in. The DFW region team had another smashing year. Here are the stats:
Number of Observations:
#1 in the USA
#3 in the world
Number of Species:
#3 in the USA
#7 in the world
Number of Observers:
#6 in the USA
#8 in the world
On one hand, I am rather amazed that the heavily urban and conservative DFW area ranks so high every year. On the other hand, the nature/prairie movement has caught fire here over the past 20 years. People are hungry for a connection to the natural world. And, it must also be noted that, we have, Mr. iNat: Sam Kieschnick. Check out Sam’s full CNC report on iNaturalist HERE:
https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/79708-results-of-city-nature-challenge-2023
6) Prairie-Sky / Star-Party Report
The next event is, Saturday, June 24th. Check website for more info HERE.
Here is your June sky commentary by Fort Worth Astronomical Society rep, John McCrea:
For our June 24th FWAS/Tandy Hills star party, we will have a combination of spring and summer constellations. The most popular can be seen in the night sky from about late March to late June. As we progress through the season some of the constellations added are Scorpius, Lyra, and Cygnus (in the northeast). The remaining are Ursa Major, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, and Hercules. The summer triangle (Vega, Deneb and Altair) will be visible.
The sun will set about 8:40 PM on June 24th. The moon will be at 37% illumination and will be between the constellations Virgo (the Virgin) and Leo (the lion). Venus and Mars will both be visible and between the constellations Leo and Cancer (the crab) during the star party.
The globular cluster, Ω-Centauri will still be visible. It will be 5 degrees higher than Canopus was during our March 12th TH star party. It will be at 193O compass heading (south/southwest) or RA 13hr 28’, Dec -47O 37’.
7) FaScinating Fasciation
I learned a new word this month: FASCIATION. While admiring a super-bloom of Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella) I saw this odd-looking specimen sticking up above the others. I’ve seen a lot of these flowers but never one like this. The stem was about 1/2” wide and flattened, ribbon-like, nothing like the normal, rounded stems. The flower itself was also misshapen.
According to Wikipedia, “fasciation or cresting is a relatively rare condition of abnormal growth in vascular plants in which the growing tip, becomes elongated perpendicularly to the direction of growth, thus producing flattened, ribbon-like or elaborately contorted tissue.” Even though it is relatively rare, it has been observed in more than 100 plant families. Causes of this unusual deformity include hormonal, genetic, bacterial, fungal, viral and environmental causes. Some of you may be familiar with the old-fashioned ornamental flower known as Cockscomb, which is a fasciated variety of a species of Celosia genus.
I‘ve observed that the larger the superbloom the greater chance of fasciation and other uncommon characteristics such as, uncommon color variants. And this year was the largest superbloom of Indian Blanket I have ever witnessed at Tandy Hills. I observed two different specimens of fasciation. Other observers found all-yellow flowers variants.
8) In Memoriam: “Wild” Bill Hall
We just recently learned that our good friend, Bill Hall, passed away on March 30, 2022. Bill was a Master Naturalist and Master Gardener who was a key member of the Kids on the Prairie team. Being fluent in Spanish, Bill had a special connection with the kids, many of whom were Hispanic. HIs nickname, Wild Bill was an inside joke because Bill was actually a soft-spoken easy-going guy. He had a big heart and a generous spirit. Obit HERE
9) Prairie Proverb
“Spending time with nature offers us all precious breathing space away from the stresses and strains of modern life, it enables us to experience joy and wonder, to slow down and to appreciate the wildlife that lives side-by-side with us.”
Photo by Sam Barber (BBC)
Prairie Notes© is the official newsletter of Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. All content by Don Young except where otherwise noted.
