Alkali Lake Region

Photo-essay by Charlotte Burke

September 9, 2009

The Texas Master Naturalist class of 2009 had departed Sibley Nature Center at 9 a.m., arriving packs

in hand at private ranch land south of Midland, Texas. This was one region of the “Llano Estacado”,

a rare gem of earth in West Texas which we would visit during the year, led by Burr Williams.

A staggering array of padlocks loomed over the ranch

gate. Cattle guards always remind me of my sister’s New

York “city slicker” college roommate. We tried to describe

for her how these special grates functioned to control the

passage of livestock, to no avail. She came to NM for a

visit eventually, and we drove around until we located

one she could view for herself.

We strolled the area waiting for the owner to arrive.

Dodder (also known as Devil’s Guts or the amusingly

contrary Angel Hair), had draped its parasitic growth over

vegetation. It uses modified roots to attach itself to the host

plant, from which it then secures the nutrients it requires.

This sand muhly grass dies out at its center each year,

creating an increasingly larger ring of new growth.

Burr visited with the ‘company man’ finalizing directions

to the salina we were about to view: a desert lake or playa

that has dried out and left precipitates in concentrated

amounts. These salt lakes naturally evaporate, leaving dry,

crusty alkali crusts across an area of substantial size.

Sandra Elms sketched in the early

sunshine as we waited at the gate.

A “chip off the old block”: this boy

was the cutest smaller version of his

idolized father, complete with

hands stuffed into his pockets and

cowboy boots topped with new blue

jeans!

A spider had made use of a trough

to set up insect trapping. Holes

were also hidden with vegetation,

making the ground quite uneven.

An area had been

cleared where an oil

rig once sat. Cattle are

also no longer grazed

here; slowly the land is

reverting to a natural

state. Never under

estimate the healing

ability of Nature !

Against all odds, a possible

Livermore “Diablo point”

arrowhead was discovered

on the drilling pad by one of

our group. The excited

finder kindly consented to

re-enact his phenomenal

discovery for my camera!

A true bug sat on four-wing saltbush (chamiso); named for four

wing type seed pod attachments. This plant deposits absorbed

salt into pouches on its leaves.

As we descended an arroyo onto the alkali lakebed, the firm

but spongy loam took on a grey cast.

A peculiar plant called pickle-weed seemed to be leading

the way down into the salina, one of the few plants willing to

make a go for it in this salty environment. Its stems

(modified leaves?) look like long slender tubular pinecones

or cork screws, in greens to brown.

Does alkali soil somehow bring out the blush in vegetation?

A purslane plant was truly pink instead of its typical shade

of green. Note the stiff, straight stalks of grass to its left.

The “tunas” or fruit bodies on the prickly pear were also a

particularly brilliant rosy peach.

Kochia (fireweed), a very prolific plant, had rhubarb colored

stems (being used as a temporary landing spot for a blue

damselfly!) For an enchanting essay on damselflies and

dragonflies in West Texas, go SibleyNatureCenter.org and

read the essay by Burr Williams entitled “Moseying:

Dragonfly Watching June 29, 2005.”

Note the eye-popping red on these! Their intriguing name:

“espantes vaqueros” or ghost cowboys . A member of the

amaranth family (Tidestromia lanuginosa), it is also found

under the name honeymat (because of its floral aroma)

and wooly tidestromia. It ranges over much of the country.

And the spurge group, which manages to show up at every

party, put in an appearance here as well with its pink legs

and emerald slippers.

Miniature gullies

looked like forested

canyons seen from

a pilot’s perspective.

Plants everywhere

were showcased by

the bare chalky white

background,

especially the

pickle-weed, here in

black and grey.

At right, possible sea

purslane based on the

leaf configuration.

Two types of tiger

beetles: these beetles

are predators, able to

fly as well as run

with great speed

along the ground,

but invisible on the

pebbles until they

move.

Movement on the

ground….

A lizard was caught,

examined, released.

And a carapace (turtle shell) was discovered with its attached

skeleton intact and visible inside. Note the portion of layered

shell made of scutes on the plastron (bottom); these can be used

to determine the turtle’s age but are also surprisingly fragile

in decay.

We may not have seen live animals, but from their tracks there was evidence of them in the drying crust:

deer, turtles, fox, bobcat, armadillo, javelina and coyote possible among them.

A solitary rock seemed to be a favorite rendezvous point for coyotes, where tracks arrived from

several directions. One coyote had left a pile of scat nearby, remains of mesquite beans within.

Insect life: Webbing tangled up stems of pickle-weed. Praying mantis found in brown form.

Black ground beetle plodded towards an anthill. Pale green tree cricket.

Black grasshopper with ruby legs and indigo wings. An unidentified banded leg grasshopper.

A cautious but curious robber fly. And another but with white rings on its abdomen.

Lower still, clumps of alkali sacaton grass grew abundantly. Around us, ridged terraces rose up like the

rim on a plate. The white fertile silt called ‘loess’, blown about in the same aeolian process with which

fine grains of sand are formed and spread, was a dazzling stage on which the wind played.

Paint store blue beamed down from the skies, and the vastness of this huge bowl, full of silence and

light, brought on a desire to draw the isolation in and wander off alone. This wasn’t simply my singular

reaction; usually our group remains fairly close together, listening, laughing, learning. But today as

wide as the horizon stretched, people walked the borders of this cracked earth, far flung and pensive.

Sibley staff was not sure of the origin of these

lumpy mounds. Also present infrequently were

porous rock, white or the color of peanut butter,

perhaps washed down in heavy runoff. This black

substance resembled charred wood, but I don’t

know what it was.

Sandra and I climbed the bluff which protected the north side of the lakebed, and found a wide array

of sandstone rock formations in colors from butterscotch to lavender to pink.

The loose rock really was tinted orange and purple!

Climbing the rest of the way to the top, I came upon a well trod path leading along the top of the butte,

strewn with bean pods from mesquite. The view from the top, overlooking the hikers and lake far

below, was lofty and spacious.

Javelina bush, below left, always seems to be in an argument with itself about which way to grow. Such

disorganization! In the scramble of branches below right, a lizard hides. Hint: Look in center of photo.

Creosote: A blackened skeleton clung to the cliff’s edge. A ping pong ball sized gall grew on a branch.

I’d seen the dried brown ones before, never the green.

Miniature twin mounds revealed warmer tones of soil brought up from below. Coyote scat lay near

an irregularly shaped anthill. Had he stopped to examine the mesquite beans nearby?

On the slope, a

yucca clung,

covered with a

rust colored

scurf, possibly

the adult stage

of a scale insect

which lives

under a tough

covering. And

what appeared

to be a large insect borer turned out to be an exposed root

bulging from the eroded bank, the size of a man’s thumb.

Arriving once again on the lakebed, it seemed as if

everyone had scattered across the lake, blown about like the

waving grasses. We weren’t even within calling distance, so

far away. Yet the shelter of the berms to the north, and the

endless sky above, gave a peaceful sense to the separation,

and a desire to linger on the landscape. We are so very

grateful to the owner for allowing us this day of wonder!

A single sunflower grew on the grassy bank. On closer

inspection, we found possible scale (the dark blurry dots)

growing beneath the sepals. Hornets floated nearby in

their own particular elegant fashion. These were identified

by Burr Williams as native yellow jackets or paper wasps.

And rounding out the trio of insects was a large orb

weaving spider.

We worked our

way down to the

lowest point in

the salina.

There, some

type of purslane

grew. Its leaf

tips appeared

misshapen; was

it due to the

intensity of the

salt or was it a different species? Photos usually show rounded tips. There is a lot of

confusing information in plant books and on the internet about purslane, portulaca, and moss rose.

A mirage of ripples vacillated ceaselessly on the narrow expanse of water. Dragonflies hovered in

stationery pose, mating, their shimmer matching the lake’s steely grey. An enlarged version of a turret

hole burrowed into the saturated sand near the water’s edge is below. I was hoping to catch a glimpse

of what was inside, but didn’t succeed. The hole itself was about the diameter of a woman’s ring finger.

Below: A perfect calcified millipede lay like a tooled serpentine shell necklace, yet fell apart when

I tried to pick it up. The bird tracks were so large that I laid my handheld recorder next to them to

prove their size. What had left them here? Most likely: Blue Heron.

Greens, browns, gold, black, grey, and now a saucy pink pickle-weed! Intrigued, I googled to

investigate further. Seems this “Hierba del Burro” (Chenopodiaceae) carries on photosynthesis in its

stems (also called scale leaves). It stores salt in its joints, and by fall this increase causes their color to

change to pink and then red, at which point the tips are ready to dry and break off, eliminating the

problem of excess salt. The closer the proximity to salt water, the redder the color will be. So I ask

again, does alkali soil cause the blush in plants?

We reconvened near

our vehicles and

drove to a location

close by.

It was hard to imagine that such a vast lake could be hidden in this panoramic view.

Burr was quick to warn us to avoid this flowering beauty at roadside. It was ‘stinging cevallia’, and

contact with skin would bring on a nasty reaction. Its leaves, which appear enticingly soft, have three

types of hair on them, according to Warnock. Nieland & Finley add that they contain formic acid, the

same toxin found in ant stings. Rare in this area, it is believed to be brought in by trucks during road

construction. The grasshopper sitting upon it, however, seemed oblivious to its dangers.

Bluestem, comely grass

attractive in all seasons

with its sturdy clumps

and stiff growth, at left.

A very small yellow

flower on flax-like stems

waved with the breeze.

An empty orb weaver

spider’s egg case sat like

a white whirlwind in a

green freeze frame. And

a green mountain

dwelling short-winged

katydid (Dichopetala

oreoca), gentle and easy

to handle, was extracted

from a kochia plant.

Scant moisture for many weeks had left plants starkly

attractive with their burnished leaves framing the caliche. Even

in this desert the ground is literally peppered with vegetation.

Life, relentlessly determined!

Puffball

mushrooms,

not much larger

than marbles,

released a black

spore powder at

the merest touch.

Unknown white

objects….

Bright red and

black spider.

Turret spiders

construct a lip or

edge on their

burrows: is it to

keep out water or

act as a sensor?

Beautiful shades

of earth were

evident in the soil

brought up from

below by ants,

contrasted with

the top soil above

ground.

The opening buds

of late blooming

cow pen daisies

look waxy.

Look for a lizard

racing for cover in

this photo.

Grasses and mesquite stretched away from the roadbed

toward higher ground, past the same shrubbery..

Nathan nimbly

captured this

collared lizard.

Eventually the

poor reptile ran

out of all patience

and showed his

teeth. He was

released. Strangely, nobody

jumped forward to

help this naturalist

with his insect

problem….

I hope our convoy

did not lead to the

demise of this

small snake.

A gravid female

praying mantis

was our last find

on this leg

of our visit.

Blackfoot daisies

bloomed sparsely.

It was, after all, September. Ah, Texas, with flowers in bloom from January till November! ‘Tis Heaven,

and who could ask for anything more?

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Next, our band of merry naturalists would take out on foot, like Ponce de Leon seeking the Fountain

of Youth, to see if we could locate the spring which fed this alkali lake. That report, coming soon to

the Sibley Nature Center nearest you, is an essay to follow entitled:

Alkali Lake: Search for the Source. ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^