May 29 - Bastrop State Park

It was calm, overcast and 78º when I got up this morning. I breakfasted on the Texas-shaped waffles in the motel’s breakfast nook, and worked a bit on my blog, as I’m ‘way behind on my attempts to keep it current.

I drove on out to Bastrop State Park, where I bought the Texas State Parks Pass for $70.  I figure that I’ll be in the State often enough this year that I’ll break even.  I parked at the Scenic Overlook and walked the Scenic Trail and Lost Pines Loop, logging about 6½ miles.  This would be a great birding spot in the morning, before the heat and wind came up.

Mockingbirds are ubiquitous in the region, but a cool bird for a Northwestern boy . . .

The Park was established in the 1930s, in a disjunct population of Loblolly Pines.  Besides these “Lost Pines”, the other members of this species grow in the Piney Woods forests to the east.

Then, there was a stand-replacing fire that ravaged the Park in 2011.

This fire and the Hidden Pines Fire in 2015 burned over 34,000 acres of land, affecting thousands of private landowners and degrading the highly sensitive Houston Toad ecosystem.

In just 5 years, TreeFolks planted over 1 million Loblolly Pine saplings as a way to mimic and speed up the natural reforestation process.  To this day, TreeFolks continues to give free saplings and education services to affected landowners.

Many of the native oaks are ecologically adapted to fire, and re-sprout from the base following a conflagration.

The resulting re-growth is evident in small pines and a blanket of wildflowers.

The flowers certainly draw in the butterflies, this time of year.

Common Buckeye Junonia coenia

This little guy will be a butterfly some day . . .

Besides butterflies, there are a number of other invertebrates to catch one's eye.

Such as grasshoppers

And spiders.   This orb-weaver hides behind a cool web pattern.

And lizards!

There are lots of the Common Spotted Whiptails here - Aspidoscelis gularis

It was a warm day, and I only got turned around on the trails a couple of times, but made it back to the car with just enough water.  Note:  Always take more water than you think you’ll drink when walking . . .  My rule of thumb has always been: “When the water is half gone, the hike should be half over” . . . 

It took me a while to realize that much of the grass I have been walking through for the past couple of days has been Bahia Grass.  This is a native of Mexico, south to South America, and is often planted in the southern U.S. as a forage grass or is a 'weed' in lawns, and has naturalized through the area.  It has a pretty distinctive flower head.

Bahia - Paspalum notatum

Under the pines and oaks, the sensitive plant is blooming.  When I was a kid in Oregon, I remember these being sold as curiosities, as the leaves fold up as soon as you touch them.

I don't know if this is the native Mimosa microphylla, or an escaped M. pudica, or ? ? ?

I saw a Red-headed Woodpecker foraging among the snags, and saw that the eBird program 'flagged' the species as 'rare'.

Leaving the Park, I drove south as far as the town of Eagle Lake, where I will stage for tomorrow’s foray over to the Attwater Prairie Chicken refuge.  I checked into the Sportsman’s Motel for $67.80, after which I had supper at the Texas Seafood and Steakhouse in town.

Eastern Bluebird

Bastrop State Park eBird Checklist is Here