Walk In The Park: With the Cub Scouts at Berry Springs Park - Sort of

...lightning forked toward the dry earth,

the white light streaking across the sky

as if bony fingers reached into the purpling cloud.

Thunder shuddered through the early night,

the vibrations of it rolling through the cracked soil.

~ Alannah K. Pearson, Bone Arrow

The email was looking for someone to lead a hike at Berry Springs, one of my favorite parks. Why not? I have wanted to develop more hikes for the park.*

And my thoughts began: "You have led this hike before for Cub Scouts IN OCTOBER.** You have enough time to prepare. You can do reconnaissance on Friday."

April is a perfect time to hike. Texas Bluebonnets, Texas Paintbrushes, and Texas Yellow Stars (and so many other wildflowers) are at peak bloom. Birds and other critters are active.

Texas Bluebonnets

Texas Paintbrushes (with Bluebonnets)

Texas Yellow Star

A follow-up email warned of the weather forecast. Thunderstorms were expected. It could be bad. "Ah," said the thoughts...prepare a backup plan" (one can never really trust Texas weather or weather forecasts).

I did the math. With 250+ photos of Berry Springs wildlife we could take a virtual hike.** I would prepare a PowerPoint (no, not 250 slides - only about 50) of some of the typical birds, mammals, insects, arachnids, reptiles, amphibians, and invasive species. It would be limited to things out in the park right now.

And so two hikes were planned - reality and virtual reality. Both fit in the backpack.

The rain came pouring down. The library offered a room. The virtual hike was on!

Who welcomed us to the park? Just guess.

Who always welcomes us to Berry Springs?

So what did we see? We saw Eastern Bluebirds and talked about the nesting program.

Nesting pair - Eastern Bluebirds

We saw the Western Rat Snake slithering through the grass and looking RIGHT AT US.

Western Rat Snake

The Texas Cooter sunned itself on a log.

Texas Cooter

We caught a Blanchard's Cricket Frog and listened to its call.

Blanchard's Cricket Frog - "Click-click-click-click-click"

Williamson County's special Winecups were admired.

Winecup Mallow

Non-natives and invasive species were discussed. Second graders are good at understanding that something that is not a native species may have benefits. Non-native is not the same as invasive. Some of the subjects of the conversation included Western Honey Bees, Chinaberry Trees, and Rapistrum rugosum.

Chinaberry Tree

Western Honey Bee

Rapistrum rugosum

As we ended our hike the Scouts solemnly promised (in line with Leave No Trace principles) to leave the snakes alone. They received "glow in the dark" snakes to remember their pledges.

They are great hikers and have the makings of excellent citizen scientists. I hope to go hiking with this bunch again.

Five Cub Scouts and snakes.

NOTES:

* I am a push-over for scouts. Scouting has long been important in our family. I have tried to encourage the local scouts to "take advantage" of what the Master Naturalists can offer. [I ran into a young person in the hall who happened to be at the Webelos level of scouting, tried to recruit him to join the hike, and handed dad a card. Gotta work that room.]

Oh, and they brought me tulips and a card! That was so nice.

**Nothing (much) is blooming in October. Some years even the frogs disappear about that time. All is dry and brown. It takes work to lead a hike in October. April should be easy.

***Let me make this clear - there is a virtual tour accessible from the Berry Springs Park and Preserve webpage. It shows all the facilities/infrastructure the park offers.

http://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=5519e471e8ea4c97baa6744da59242d6&webmap=dfeb1f992ec542d399d38b7acd2ccc19=true

FINAL NOTES:

1. Weather - You had to see it to believe it.