October arrives colorful and damp

More than 6 inches of rain has fallen in the past day or so. There was some wind, too, so I checked out things, especially the south tract, which I hadn't visited in a couple of months.

I had a couple of surprises in the south tract.

On the plus side, Polygonella basiramia was doing well in the northeast fire lane. I thought it would be overcome by Natal grass, but the grass has subsided and there were several basiramia, some in the later stages of blooming.

On the minus side, I found a small patch of Cogon grass in a wind row, pulled up what I could and bagged it. That's the first Cogon grass I can recall on that tract, but there's enough seed source in the area.

In the north tract, the Cogon grass that Bill Parken sprayed last month appears to be dead.

There's a lot of color still in the landscape. The Balduinia is putting on quite a show and so is the October flower. Blue curls have begun blooming. Garberia will come later.

Fixing a fence becomes harder

I'm not sure what the thinking was behind the fencing here, but it plays havoc with repairs.

The hog wire or whatever it is they nailed in front of the barbed wire makes it hard to get the barbed wire, which was already hard to get at because it was nailed on the outside, which is in dense growth or private property.

It had been cut for awhile because grass had grown around some of the cut barbed wire. Some had thrown a fire and some beer bottles over the fence near the cut. I gave them back.

Searching for seeds

Today we had a work day featuring a Girl Scout Troop from Winter Haven. The job was to look for Scrub Lupines that may have sprouted since the prescribed fire last fall. We had d no luck.

We did collect some seeds from other endangered plants for Bok Tower.

Although I didn't find any Scrub Lupine, I did encounter three Sky Blue Lupine plants in the southeast corner near the Clitoria fragrans site. They are in a different part of that section than they have been in the past and may be crowded out by Natal grass, which has become rife along the edges and within parts of the fire lane, except where Guinea grass and other disturbed area plants thrive.

Cogon grass advances

During my monthly butterfly survey today I found new infestations of cogon grass.
In addition to the expected advance on the west side near known sites near the railroad, I also found a new site in the southeast part of the north tract near the Clitoria fragrans area.

Also, sandspurs have returned to paths where I had knocked them back a couple of years ago.

On the plus side, blazing star is in full bloom and is really providing some color to the landscape.

Caesar weed round I done

This morning I got out and finished pulling up the last of the Caesar weed stands I could find near the fire lane. I am finding fewer sprouts in the fire lane, which is encouraging. This may take a couple of seasons, but source reduction seems to be the best management technique.

I've thought of bringing in some Painted Leaf from my yard or somewhere to see if an aggressive native can hold an aggressive exotic at bay.

Found more trash, too. Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.

During a rest period, noticed a Northern Flicker and a Red-bellied Woodpecker are making use of a pine snag nearby. Don't see Flickers often anymore.

Bobwhite still calling in the distance.

More Ceasar weed

I went out to do some followup work on the large Caesar weed patch I found near the fire lane and started checking around and found another large patch to the east.

I got most of the stalks with seeds, but have to go back and get the new plants before they spout seeds. I also found some more trash in the process, so I'll bring a bag when I come back.

I also cleared one the paths/haul routes of Guinea grass,which has invaded.

Bobwhites

I have seen bobwhites here from time to time over the years, but now it's possible the post-burn landscape may be more attractive than the overgrown conditions in the past.,

In recent months I have occasionally flushed some bobwhites.

Last night I heard two of them calling.

Interesting.