Spring!

The bluebonnets and other flowers finally opened up at Gault last week! Gault volunteers from 2001 will remember the big bluebonnet field a few miles south on your way to Gault from Florence... it's never quite looked the same... until this year!

Spring?

Spring has really taken its time coming to the Gault Site, but it finally appears to be here. We've got buds and leaves... very few flowers, though. May have something to do with the series of weekly frosts we had back in February. Normally by now we'd have had bluebonnet blooms at Gault for a few weeks, but we have none so far. I have seen them in other places around Central Texas, and they're slowly making their way up here...

Back for a while

I've been wandering around the world for a few months, but now I've returned to our beloved Gault. I was rewarded with a few roadrunner shots (only slightly blurry) you'll find on the Birds Page. I'll be working on new sites in the region for the next several months, but I will return to visit Gault nature as often as I can...

Submissions

It's been a while since I last set foot on the hallowed grounds of Gault. In my absence, submissions are welcome from anyone who would like to share their Natural Gault experiences. Email to sph1@email.com.
Here are a few from the last few months...

 Robert Lassen provided this shot of a Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis).

 Mike Collins found this queen butterfly frolicking among the frostweed.

Mike also documented the effects of drought on the bur oak acorns from this year (right three) versus last year (left one).

 The drought has also weakened many trees across the site, including those that fell around the portable toilet at the trail head. Of course, the longhorns welcomed the banquet...Photo above from Robert Lassen, photo to right from Mike Collins.

So Tiny

Our screening area is being overrun by baby cricket frogs... only you wouldn't know it unless you look really closely. They're sooo small!

Summer colors

Horsemint and prairie coneflowers are providing some welcome decor to spruce up our poor old tent...

Drying out

Gault is drying out for the summer, just in time as we bring Area 15 to a close. This morning, this fellow was looking for a new water hole... following the trail to the tent. We may see it in the water-filled flutes in the bedrock tomorrow morning. We had enough moisture this spring to allow the horse cripplers, aka candy cactus, to produce plump fruit. Might try some tomorrow.