Prairie Notes #201 - News, Weather & Sports
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.
News, Weather & Sports
Prairie Notes #201
September 1, 2023
1) News, Weather & Sports
2) The 2023 Interns: Final Report
3) Field Report - August
4) New Species - August
5) Amy Martin News
6) Prairie-Sky / Star-Party Report
7) Night Mothing Report
8) A Strange World Called Eryngo
9) Prairie Proverb - Harrison Ford
1) News, Weather & Sports
August is the most difficult month to write about Tandy Hills. Especially, this August. So let’s have some fun.
Good evening and welcome to another edition of Prairie Notes, your trusted source for, news, weather and sports at Tandy Hills. I am your anchorman, Don Young, broadcasting LIVE from the Tandy Hills newsroom under the Broadcast Hill tower.
The doggy days of summer have Tandy Hills and and all of us, cooking on a low boil. But never fear. Our Action News Team has braved the heat for you to deliver all the NEWS, WEATHER & SPORTS to your in-box! Now, the news:
Headline News: Other than that hardy mammal known as, the Portrait Photographer (Portratus irritatum), the hills were relatively quiet during the August dry spell. Homo sapiens sightings were few and far between. The key word is, relatively. The Interns and other hired hands were out in force treating several acres of recently cut brush with herbicide. Fort Worth Park & Recreation Department staff assisted them and also posted some nifty new signs. Read more about these in the Field Report and Intern Report, below.
In other news. . . the August heat stressed out much of the wildlife at Tandy Hills but a variety of critters survived, including, the Jumping Spider (Phidippus texanus) pictured on your screen below. The Eryngo plants they call home have been a lifesaver to them and many other insects. We also had reports of Gray Foxes roaming the area in late August. Get the full report in #3, below.
Weather Report: After the record-smashing rain totals of August 2022, we’ve had nary a drop of H2O in 2023. As you may recall, August 2022 was the wettest August on record in DFW with the final total reaching 10.68″ breaking the old record of 10.33″ set in 1915. The deluge also set a number of other records including most rain in a day and in 24 hours in August, and most rain ever in a 45 minute time-span. Additionally, August 2023 may end up being the hottest August ever recorded, especially since July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth—and by a wide margin.
Commercial Break: Have you considered becoming a Friend of Tandy Hills Natural Area? Well, right now would be grand time to hitch your prairie schooner to ours. “When you give, Tandy Hills is transformed.” https://www.tandyhills.org/donate
Sporting News: The August 26, Prairie Sky / Star Party, was a *rain-out due to. . . extreme heat. (*Hat-Tip to Yogi Berra) The home team from, Fort Worth Astronomical Society, lost out to the red hot, Lucky Old Sun, but they are itching for a rematch in September. See the September sky-gazing forecast in #6, below.
The heat did not prevent the Night Mothing event from happening on August 12th. A team of about 45 rookies and Master Naturalists took to the field on Broadcast Hill to observe and document a variety of night critters. Coach Sam Kieschnick, who prefers the term “black-lighting” over “mothing”, led his team to victory with more than 25 new species. I expect his contract will be renewed again next season. Read the full box scores, in #7 below.
Entertainment News: Actor, Harrison Ford, recently had a new, Peruvian snake species named after him, Tachymenoides harrisonfordi. Here’s what the 81-year old Ford had to say about it.: “These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it’s always the ones that terrify children. I don’t understand. I spend my free time cross-stitching. I sing lullabies to my basil plants, so they won’t fear the night,” (Ford, also inspired the name of an ant (Pheidole harrisonfordi) and a spider (Calponia harrisonfordi).) “In all seriousness, this discovery is humbling.” Why am I mentioning this in Prairie Notes? Read his eloquent quote in the Prairie Proverb, below. He’s one of us.
And that’s the way it is on, September 1st, 2023. Thanks for tuning in. See you again next month!
DY
2) The 2023 INterns: Final Report
August 21, was the was the last day for the three young interns who were hired to work at Tandy Hills for the summer. All three have returned to college. It's was a bittersweet farewell for me.
Paige, Kimberley and Jacob were hired in June by, Michelle Villafranca, of the City of FW, from a fairly large group of applicants and did an amazing job dealing with the various issues at Tandy Hills. They cleared trails, removed trash, made plant and animal ID’s on iNaturalist, applied herbicide, helped educate visitors and dealt with rules violators.
I recently asked each of them for some feedback on their time here:
Paige Priddy, who is 19 years old, and attending Tarleton University, said she applied for the job to gain experience in the field. She is studying Wildlife sustainability and Ecology. She said that she was most surprised by the rudeness of the the portrait photographers she had to deal with. Her suggestions include adding better signage about the rules and adding guardrails to prevent horse and ATV access.
Jacob Estes, is 18, and attending Tarrant County College where is studying tree health and forestry. He also took the job to gain natural resource management experience in the field. He was surprised to find out that prairies interested him as much as forests. He suggested adding a kiosk with good signage at the trailhead to let visitors know how more there awaits them beyond the entrance.
Kimberley Villareal, is 21, and will graduate from UTA this December. She is majoring in Environmental Sciences with a minor in Sustainability Studies. As someone who plans to pursue a career in conservation and restoration, she was pleased to find an opportunity to participate in a project that does just that. She was most surprised to learn that most visitors rarely leave the overlook (photo-op) area by the trailhead. She added that, Tandy Hills could greatly benefit from some educational signage to inform visitors why Tandy Hills is such a special place and why prairies are worth saving
Pardon me if I refer to them as "my interns." I fell in love with them on the day we met. I just wish they could stay on forever. Adios and happy trails, Kimberly, Jacob and Paige. See you again soon, I hope.
Read an excellent interview and report by, Jim Domke, of Green Source DFW at this LINK:
3) Field Report - July
It’s hard to believe that, August 2022, was the wettest August in DFW history with almost 11" of rain. Nearly 3" fell in less than 1 hour. (Here's a video from Tandy Hills on August 22, 2022.) On the other hand, 2023 is possibly the driest AND the hottest on record. Not a drop, yet but we did have a tease on August 27th that cooled things down slightly. A team of workers have spent part of August removing and herbiciding invasive species. Progress is being made. Also, the City of Fort Worth Park & Recreation department installed several new signs that describe what this place really is: A Natural Area. There were very few wildflowers blooming in August so this edition is mostly summertime landscapes.
4) New Species - August
Thanks to the Night Mothing event on 8/12, the new species count increased by a hefty, 28, ending up at 1968 total. In addition to several new moths, there was a new bird species, a beautiful cicada, two new spider species and other bugs documented. See a few of the notables below and see all the other species on the Tandy Hills iNat Project Page HERE.
5) Amy martin News
On August 1st, Amy Martin, hosted a book-signing / celebration party for her new book, Wild DFW. A loyal and adoring crowd greeted her with applause and credit cards at, Funky Picnic, in Fort Worth. According to the publisher, at least 2400 copies have sold in only six weeks, a rather amazing feat for a regional book. The book is also a top seller on Amazon. I urge you to grab a copy.
ALSO > > > Mark you calendars for a Picnic Talk & Prairie Walk with Amy on, Sat Oct 21 at Tandy Hills from 1 to 3 pm. Friends of Tandy Hills are co-hosting the event with the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club. After a picnic lunch at the Outdoor Classroom, we’re off to recreate the hike from the Tandy Hills chapter of the book, exploring the prairies in splendid fall wildflowers and the lush riparian corridor rich in wildlife.
Meanwhile, GreenSource DFW and KERA News have recently published extensive interviews with Amy. Check them out HERE:
6) Prairie-Sky / Star-Party Report
The August Star Party was cancelled due to excessive heat and dryness. The next event is, Saturday, September 23rd. Check website for more info HERE.
Here is your September sky commentary by Fort Worth Astronomical Society rep, John McCrea:
Our September 23rd FWAS/Tandy Hills star party will be the first day of Autumn, but we will continue our Summer Under the Stars with some of our favorite summer constellations plus some fall constellations. The center of our galaxy can be found in the constellation, Sagittarius (the Archer). Also, visible will be some of the well-known constellations such as: Scorpius (the Scorpion), Lyra (the Lyre), and Cygnus (the Swan). The remaining are Ursa Major, Cancer, and Hercules. Virgo will be setting, and Pegasus (the Winged Horse) and Pisces (the Fish) will be rising. The summer triangle (Vega (25 LY), Deneb (1,411 LY), and Altair (17 LY)) will still be visible.
The sun will set about 7:24 PM on September 23rd. The moon will be one day past the first quarter in Sagittarius. The “Lord of the Rings” of our solar system, Saturn (♄) will be in Aquarius (the water carrier), and will be up all evening, about 825 million miles away. Jupiter (♃) will be in Cetus (the whale) and will rise about 10:00 PM at 391 million miles away. Our telescopes will become time machines and we will become time travelers, providing a look into the past as Saturn was, about 1 hour and 14 min. ago and Jupiter was 35 min. ago.
The autumnal equinox, on September 23rd, is when there is equal light on the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. It is also when the earth’s tilt causes the Northern Hemisphere to receive less and less direct sunlight.
7) Night MOthing Report
On August 12th, the Friends of Tandy Hills and the Fort Worth Chapter of, the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT), co-sponsored a night of “mothing” on Broadcast Hill. An enthusiastic nice crowd of about 45 people participated. Texas Park & Wildlife Department’s Urban Biologist, Sam Kieschnick, who prefers the word “black-lighting” over “mothing”, had 18 stations set up with black lights and white sheets to attract, photograph and identify moths and other night critters.
There were more than 200 observations and 28 NEW species found. BIG thank you to Sam K, NPAT and all the Master Naturalists who helped make this a special night on the hill. You can see the results of the mothing event on the iNaturalsit website, HERE.
Read about, The Magical Moths of Tandy Hills in Prairie Notes #164, HERE.
8) A Strange World called, Eryngo
Every year, in late summer, I spend a great deal of time observing life on Eryngo. No, that’s not another planet from a Star Wars movie, it’s a native, prairie wildflower. Leavenworth's Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii) is often the only wildflower in bloom in the heat of summer and is also home to an incredible diversity of wildlife that either live or feed there. It’s an amazing cosmos unto itself.
At first glance, all you notice is the complex and rather stunning, native, annual wildflower standing tall and wildly purple among the parched and drab prairie grasses. It resembles a thistle, but is not. “The flowers sit atop elongated stems on spiked leaves and form cones of purple or wine colored, tightly clustered blossoms that resemble small fuzzy pineapples.” (credit: iNaturalist)
A closer look reveals an equally complex world of, often bizarre-looking wildlife, that inhabit the plants. Typically, I start out late in the evening and walk slowly up to the plants, then stop and stare closely. Without fail, something always starts moving. Usually, it’s a Bumble Bee, Honey Bee or other species of bee that I spot first. Looking closer, I see Preying Mantis, Spiders, Stink Bugs, Seed Bugs, Assassin Bugs, flies and other insects.
Some are there for the pollen, some for safety and others to prey. Many of them get trapped in spiky leaves where they become easy prey. I have witnessed Green Lynx Spiders and Jumping Spiders consuming such trapped insects. Same with Carolina Praying Mantis that seem to barely move but are ferocious predators. I have written previously about the Bees who after feeding near sunset, fall asleep on the plants are attacked by these predators after dark. Read those past reports HERE and HERE.
9) Prairie Proverb - Harrison Ford
“This discovery is a reminder that there’s still so much to learn about our wild world and that humans are one small part of an impossibly vast biosphere. On this planet, all fates are intertwined, and right now, one million species are teetering on the edge of oblivion. We have an existential mandate to mend our broken relationship with nature and protect the places that sustain life..”
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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.
