Ημερολόγιο της/του cosmiccat

So many things have happened lately. Someone told me about Geocarpon minimum, a rare and very tiny plant only found in two counties in Texas, Harrison and Anderson. The plant can only be seen for about two weeks in the year, the end of February and the beginning of March. It's been found in saline prairies, so I thought Grand Saline would be a good place to look for it. However, the Morton Salt Company owns the town's salt prairies, so I looked along the roadside outside of the mine. I had no luck. I wish at least part of the salt prairie could be turned into a preserve because it's such a unique ecosystem.

I ordered a set of extension tubes for my camera so I can take photos of tiny things, mainly bugs and tiny flowers. I've been practicing with them and went to Daingerfield State Park, the park I've picked for a year-long personal bioblitz. The number of species now is just under 300. How high can I get? I'm going to try to pick a different park each year, one that doesn't have many observations.

This Saturday, I have a class on lichens and one on bryophytes next Saturday. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks.

On Friday, Longview will open a new park called The Green.

"Through the Gathering Pavilion, half mile walking trail and six different educational and cultural niches; Creek Overlook, Nature Play, Music Garden, Environmental Aquatics Classroom, Art Round and Recycled Material Showcase, visitors will heighten their appreciation for health, nature, art and music as well as learn through the outdoor environmental education areas. The Green is also a reforestation effort. The 9 acre tract will be enveloped with native trees that will help combat the greenhouse effect, provide clean, oxygen rich air and afford a canopy and habitat for wildlife. The Green is vital to East Texas’ health, growth and lasting future."

http://keeplongviewbeautiful.org/how-we-give-back/the-green/

Am I going to iNat this park? You bet!

In other news, I found a university that will take my dried mushroom collection, Louisiana State University. I've been going through every mushroom to make sure the ID is correct. I've been uploading pictures to Mushroom Observer so the observations can be reviewed by more knowledgeable people. The observations go back three years and I'm surprised at how far I've come not only in IDing things, but in taking proper photographs. Some of my first mushroom IDs were really bad! Fungi are still difficult for me, but I've gotten better.

The fish have finally started biting again, so I spent Saturday at Daingerfield State Park trying to catch fish for observations. The black crappie were biting like crazy and I caught (and released) several of them. After lunch, I walked on the mountain view trail to find more things. The staff had done a controlled burn of most of the park earlier that week, so most of the plants were gone. I walked back downhill and saw a big bass hanging out by the shore. Of course, I had to catch it so I went back to the car to get my fishing pole. After a lot of work, I caught her...and she broke my line when she jumped out of the water. D:

I walked back to my car, disappointed. Some fishermen said that the catfish bite after dark, so I sat on the dock with them until after dark. They got catfish, but not me. I know it's because I didn't have anything to entice catfish. All I had with me were crappie bites and a plastic worm, which the big bass ran off with.

The park's species list is a little over 200 after that visit. How high can it go?

It's surprising how many nature parks exist near me that I've never heard about. I found out about another one from randomly wandering the Internet--I.D. Fairchild State Forest, which has red-cockaded woodpeckers. http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu/fairchild-state-forest/ It's only 1.5 hours away from me. I want to visit it this holiday weekend!