Prairie Notes #118: The Essence of Autumn-ness
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.
The Essence of Autumn-ness
Prairie Notes #118
October 1, 2016
1) The Essence of Autumn-ness
2) Field Report - September
3) The Bats of Tandy Hills
4) October Two-fer
5) Giving Day Report
6) SPECIAL Announcement: Tandy Hills Pavilion Project
7) Strange Tales of Tandy Hills
8) Prairie Proverb
1) The Essence of Autumn-ness
April and May are to Tandy Hills in the spring what September and October are in the fall. Those are the four best months to appreciate the beauty of Tandy Hills. As much as I love the dazzling show of spring wildflowers, my soul yearns for the profound stillness, the limited palette, the savory smells of damp earth and limestone, the deeper shadows, cooler temps and shorter days, that is autumn.
Everyone likes the turning of leaves in the fall, but the essence of autumn-ness at Tandy Hills are the grasses. In spring they are nowhere to be seen. But by October, they nearly overwhelm the senses by sheer variety, alone. Tandy Hills is gifted to have several dozen varieties of native grass. Many of them will reach their highest potential in October, and each one has its own special charm in both appearance and common name.
Indian Grass, Big Bluestem (aka: Turkey Foot), Little Bluestem, Seep Muhly (aka: Ghost Grass), Hairy Grama, Sideoats Grama, Switchgrass and Slim Tridens are some of my favorites. They all set their seed this time of year, setting up an incredible cycle of life which nourishes birds, insects and small mammals. Some, like Hairy Grama, are short grasses and others, like Indain Grass, can grow up to 6' tall.
To walk among these grasses on a cool, fall evening is better for you than psycotherapy. Throw in the occasional brilliance of a Maximillian Sunflower or Gayfeather, the distant cawing of Crows, add a light breeze, and the prairie becomes animated in an elemental way that can only be described as autumn-ness. Awesome autumn-ness.
DY
Here's a photo gallery of some of my favorite fall grasses at Tandy Hills:
2) Field Report - September
The amazing autumn grasses dominated the scene at Tandy Hills in September, but there were other eye-catching signs of autumn-ness on the post-equinox prairie. Here's a few I observed in the month of September.
3) The Bats of Tandy Hills
Local bat expert, Dr. Victoria "Tory" Bennett, tells me there are six species of bats in North Central Texas. As one of the experts at the Tandy Hills BioBlitz last April, Tory recorded five of those species at TH. Wow, five species! I was full of pride for Tandy Hills when I saw her recently posted observations on the Tandy Hills iNaturalist project page, HERE.
Just how does one observe and identify bats anyway? Tory explains that, it's more about sound than sight:
"Bat walks are relatively simple - we walked along three 1 km stretch of trails (i.e., a transect) in the park. On each transect we equipped one volunteer with an Echo Meter Touch acoustic bat detector (Wildlife Acoustics, MA – see picture below) to collect high quality recordings of the bat calls so I could ID species and get GPS locations and all other volunteers with a BatBox IIID acoustic detector and a clicker. This count allowed us to measure activity levels of bat. And many of the calls you cannot hear in real time, but if they are slowed down you can hear the bats (this is called time expansion)."
See photos below of the five species observed at Tandy Hills. (Only the Mexican Free-tailed bat was absent the week of BioBlitz.) Tory said that, finding five species was not unusual, however, finding so many of the Hoary bats was something of a shocker.
"We rarely get more than one during a survey. I guess for bats, activity patterns and distribution is more interesting than whether they are there or not. Hoary bats migrate through the area in spring and fall, so we must have caught them during the migration, which is really amazing because we don’t really know much about bat migration (i.e., we kind of guess at when it happens). I would be very interested to see activity patterns in October."
Ah, October, the witching month at Tandy Hills. A perfect time to come out to listen and watch for the Tandy Hills bats.
4) October Two-fer
Bring the whole dang family out to Tandy Hills on October 8th and get a free Two-fer:
Friends of Tandy Hills will participate in the Texas Pollinator BioBlitz (TPBB) starting at 5 p.m. and running until 11 p.m. Pollinator expert, Sam Kieschnick, will be here to help you identify pollinators such as moths, butterflies, wasps and bees. After dark, Sam will have his special night lights to attract all sorts of nocturnal flying things. Learn more about the TPBB here:
http://www.tandyhills.org/events/texas-pollinator-bioblitz
At sunset, the monthly PrairieSky / StarParty will begin with experts from Fort Worth Astronomical Society on hand to show you the night sky through telescopes. Funky Town Food Truck and Steel City Pops will be on-site selling their delicious wares. Learn more about the star party here:
Tandy Hills is an official Monarch Waystation.
5) Giving Day Report
Woo hoo! Friends of Tandy Hills raised $2,370. on North Texas Giving Day. Thanks to the 31 wonderful folks who contributed to our outdoor education and restoration programs incuding, Bill Webb, Roxanne Pillar, Jen Schultes, Ray Regal, Jill & Doug Black, Pamela Campbell, Suzanne & Steve Tuttle, Marsha McLaughlin, Jan Miller, Barb Ohlman, GreatWater Irrigation & Ecoscapes, Jim Penn, Deborah Lightfoot-Sizemore, Don Ferrier, Jim Marshall, Erin Taylor-Fenner & Terrell Fenner, Erin Arendt, Donna S. & Jon R. Kruse, Don Wheeler, Pat Brown, Michelle Schneider, Dainne Anthony, Colleen Butterfield, Dick & Sharon Schoech, Libby Gilmore, Barbara Koerble, Sandy Lamm, Heather Foote and Anonymous.
We are grateful for your support
6) Special Announcement: Tandy Hills Pavilion Project
AIA Fort Worth is partnering with Friends Of Tandy Hills Natural Area (FOTHNA) for a Pavilion Design Competition. All entries will be evaluated for design excellence. The proposed construction budget is $100,000. We are also proud to announce that three distinguished Texas-based architects have agreed to judge the competition entries. Willis Winters, Mark Wellen and Natalye Appel will lead the jury.
This specially-designed public pavilion/shelter will be the first of its kind in a Fort Worth park. We are hoping to have the winning design built by 2018. Stay tuned for more details.
The circle at the end of the sidewalk, in this aerial photo, is the proposed site of the new Tandy Hills pavilion.
7) Strange Tales of Tandy Hills
Macabre tales of strange happenings at Tandy Hills tend to pop up in the month of October. The place tends to draw weirdos this time of year. Chilling stuff can happen unexpectedly. Like, a murder of crows suddenly taking wing and cawing loudly when you are quietly hiking the hills, minding your own business. Dang! I hate it when that happens. Or running face first, after dark, smack into a wobbly bat or a sticky spider's web. Then there's the story of the "Sun-Man". How well I remember that one.
It was just two years ago on a clear, cool October evening as I was finishing up a long hike. I was flat out of breath when I looked up in the gathering darkness to see a strange man on the trail just ahead of me. He was staring into the setting Sun, standing stock-still, with a horrified look on his unblinking, sun burnt face. I walked on by trying not to stare but, man, it spooked the bejesus out of me. I returned the next morning to find him still standing there, like a rigid statue. There's more to the tale but...
Here's two more chilling tales from Tandy Hills that may interest you. The Legend of the Witchey Tree and The Engulfed Death Car of Tandy Creek. Read with the lights on, please.
8) Prairie Proverb
“After the sunset on the prairie, there are only the stars.”
Harvest moon, clouds and stars above the Tandy Hills on a warm, wild and windy night in September, 2016.
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.
