Bug Blog

Molly Keck, Texas AgriLife's board certified entomologist, gives us a glimpse into the wonderful world of South Texas insects!

Spend any time outdoors and you’ll quickly find that insects are a huge part of nature.  At any given moment you are probably within reach of hundreds of insects without even knowing it!

It’s important to remember that very few insects are actually harmful and there are no truly deadly insects, arachnid or other arthropod in Texas (except the mosquito) – no matter what you’ve heard!

This spring, weather fluctuations have made predicting what insects will be emerging a difficult thing!  But, these drastic changes from warm/hot to cold usually bring about rain and rain brings about flowers.  Flowers produce nectar, and nectar feeding insects will be abundant.  In South Central Texas we have only a few good nectar producing months, so insects will take advantage quickly. 

If you want to observe some insects, look around the park at any flowering plant.  You are sure to find butterflies, skippers, wasps, beetles, and bees galore! 

Along the trails, look under rocks, logs, leaf litter.  Insects are always hiding there.  You may not always see the insect, but you can look for their damage.  Small or large holes form when the adults emerge from the wood.  A year before, a mother laid her eggs on the wood, the egg hatched and burrowed into the wood, fed on the wood and made little tunnels, turned into a pupa and then emerged, leaving behind the hole.

Once the weather really heats up, we won’t notice as many insects, so spring is the best time to get out and watch them!

Ask a Naturalist: Red Oak Trees

Why are there no red oaks among canopy trees in the Phil Hardberger Park on NW Military?

...there are plenty of live oak, elm, juniper, hackberry and mesquite trees

Both sides of Hardberger Park (on NW Military and Blanco) have plenty of live oak, juniper, hackberry, mesquite, and cedar elms. However, the Texas red oaks (Quercus buckleyi) are confined to the Salado Creek area (on the Blanco side). This is due primarily to soil type. Texas red oaks tend to grow mainly in the "limestone outcrops and slopes or in stream bottoms..." (Flora of North Central Texas by Shinner and Mahler). The only real limestone outcrop we have at the park just so happens to be over along the creek. They also like areas that receive more moisture and are more mesic. These are areas that are well drained and typically do not have deep soils. All the other species listed tend to grow in a wide variety of soils and ranges and can typically handle a bit less mesic conditions.

Ask a Naturalist: Black goey stuff on sidewalk

What is that black gooey stuff all over the ground at the park (NW Military side)? It looks like tar.

The black stuff all over the ground and sidewalks on the NW Military side of the park is the fruit from the Texas persimmon. The fruits start out green and ripen to a black color. The Texas persimmon is a native small tree all over the park. Wildlife including birds and raccoons depend on the tasty fruit when very little else is out there to eat.

Ask a Naturalist: Feeding deer

Is it okay to feed the deer in the park?

The rules of Phil Hardberger Park prohibit feeding deer or any other wild animals in the park. More importantly, feeding wild animals is not a good idea. It causes animals to lose their natural fear of humans, which can put the animal’s life and well-being in danger. Feeding the animals can also increase the carrying capacity of the land and artificially inflate population numbers. When the land cannot support these inflated numbers, and that artificial food source is no longer available, the local population of deer, for example, will suffer.

Finally, feeding the deer could put the health of park patrons in jeopardy. Animals, even deer, can carry diseases and parasites that can be harmful to humans. When animals lose their fear of humans, they can also be hazardous. Bucks, for example, have been known to charge people when they are too close, and does will aggressively protect their fawns.

Watching the deer and other wildlife is an important part of enjoying Phil Hardberger Park, but for their safety and yours, it is important to enjoy them from a distance.

Ask a Naturalist: Whitebrush

Why is there so much Whitebrush in PHP East, but not in PHP West?

What a great question! The answer to the question relates to soil types, depth, moisture, and soil disturbance.  Whitebrush or Aloysia gratissima is found typically in draws or other areas receiving extra runoff and areas that have deep (or in our case deeper soils).  Whitebrush is found on PHP West.  You just haven't seen it yet because we currently do not have an open trail through the Whitebrush thickets but that will change in September.  Areas with "LvA" for Lewisville silty clay are areas with the highest density of Whitebrush in the park.  Only LvA and LvB soil types (where most of the Whitebrush is found) have soil profiles down to 62 inches, other soil types at the park are much less or more shallow. 

Finally, if all these conditions are met, Whitebrush can be associated with highly disturbed and overgrazed areas.  We know the property was heavily grazed by cattle in the Voelcker dairy farms days and probably up until a few years before the city purchased the property.

Whitebrush is truly a remarkable plant that you will be hard pressed to find at the north side parks!  We get a lot of questions on this plant when it is blooming and the air has a sweet aroma to attract bees and butterflies from far off.  It is a true gem of the park!

Walk Through Time on the Geology Trail

Walking around Phil Hardberger Park and the Geology Trail located within it, an interesting juxtaposition of geologic time can be noticed

By Ethan Bucholz

While the geologic events occurring here are nowhere near as powerful as what created the Himalayas or as violent as a volcanic eruption, they are integrally important for visitors trying to decode the history of this landscape. Take the time to look at your surroundings. While man’s hand on the situation is inevitably visible, this park is a close representation of the natural state of this area when it was devoid of human activity.

The main bedrock in the area is limestone, specifically that of the Buda Limestone formation, dating back to the Cretaceous Period.  On top of that limestone are more contemporary deposits.  The borrow pit demonstrates this.  What makes it all so interesting is the fact that these small clues give us an insight to the past, as well as an insight to the present.

Limestone deposits represent a time in the Earth’s history when massive outpourings of lava (such as the Deccan Traps in India and the Laramide Orogeny) created mountain-building events which helped form the Colorado Plateau and our modern Rocky Mountains.  These events may have contributed a significant source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and caused a global rise of the sea.  This transgression of the sea formed a massive interior seaway known as the Cretaceous interior seaway which extended from Hudson Bay, down through the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains and across the whole of Texas.  Deposits of this transgression, like the Buda Limestone found at Phil Hardberger Park, represent a vast global change and a time of great deposition of marine sediments. 

Some of these sediments can be found on the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains while others are in this beautiful park in San Antonio.  This limestone--while not the strongest-- has interacted over millions and millions of years with freshwater, creating the numerous caverns and cave formations that can be found throughout Texas and bordering states. When water interacts with calcite it re-works the chemistry of the rock and creates passageways that expand over time to form gorgeous caverns found worldwide.  This feature of the landscape is generally referred to as “Karst Topography.” The numerous ephemeral and intermittent stream channels that snake their way across the park are continuing to work upon the eroding limestone. 

The borrow pit is a small look into the fluvial nature of the Park today.  It was underwater during the Cretaceous Period, but in more modern times rivers and streams have dominated the landscape.  No longer are there deep oceans and shallow seas in this area to deposit old marine life, but instead new rivers and streams carve and deposit sediments of their own.  Looking at the borrow pit and the many clasts that can be seen in the walls along with the red color of the soils surrounding, one may surmise that this is a terrestrial and a fluvial system.  During times of flooding, sediments and larger pebbles have been deposited.  We know that they were deposited in a river or stream because they are so rounded.  These are not breccia fragments with jagged edges, but rather rounded pebbles giving us the hint to their origin.

Over time, these deposits have been re-deposited by larger, more kinetic and scouring floods and then cemented together by mud and fine particles when flooding is less severe. The overlook is a very good representation of this. On one side, the water is cutting deeper and deeper into the cliff face while on the other sediments are deposited mostly by slack water. The fluvial transition the park area has seen in the past few million years is evident even in the areas where there are only boulders. These limestone boulders are remainders of the bedrock after the wind and water eroded its surface.

The next time you walk on the Geology Trail in Hardberger Park, take notice of these clues left for us by nature. For it is by examining the past that we have a better view of our role in the grand scale of time.

New Year's Resolution: Park it Daily

Getting back into the groove of everyday life (and your pants) can get a little tough after the holidays. Phil Hardberger Park’s trails offer an easy, free alternative to joining a gym.

A simple 30 minute brisk walk can burn up to 360 calories–that’s the same amount of calories in three sodas.  This year San Antonians should make an effort to spice up their residential runs through the concrete jungle by getting outdoors and enjoying the beautiful, preserved scenery at this park.

The trails are the ideal training ground for 5k runners or high school cross country teams because they simulate the length and environment of those events.

Hardberger Park is also a prime spot for cyclists. Embrace the open trails without having to worry about crazy drivers or potholes. Biking for 30 minutes can burn up to 765 calories, which is about the same amount of calories in a slice of chocolate cake or a burger. The Howard W. Peak Greenway System connects to the park, and with a total of 35 miles of trails it can add length to your biking route. The accessibility of the Salado Creek Greenway portion gives long-distance runners and cyclists a long stretch of trail that currently extends from the Park to Huebner.

Hardberger Park is safe, family and animal friendly, and a great location to enjoy the outdoors.  All ages and levels of athletes can find a suitable challenge here. Mothers can get in an uninterrupted early morning stroller workout, senior citizens can enjoy a safe area for brisk walking, parents can take their children to the playground and runners and cyclists have a natural area for exercise and adventure. Whatever your interest may be, Hardberger Park is the perfect spot for you to get fit this year. For runners, cyclists, and exercise enthusiasts alike, there is no ”off-season,“ so get into the action waiting for you here.