I was surprised to see four deer and three fawns at the parking lot in front of the Texas River Center this morning. A beautiful light brown fawn was away from the herd. Its innocence and curiosity were exhibited, as it ran up to the trees almost touching them with its nose then approaching and inspecting the trucks parked there. Other deer were gathered close by, alert. I turned off my car’s engine and headlights to avoid scaring them away. Then, a car drove down the hill between the Golf course and the Texas Rivers Center, and the deer walked away to the hill.
There was a tent set up under the Pecan Grove, and a Red-Shouldered Hawk was there. I heard the voice of another Red-Shouldered Hawk from behind the hill. I thought the parent’s birds were busy hunting. The young Red-Shouldered Hawk caught something on the path beside the grove, and started eating it, then flew away toward the Aquarena Center.
I saw a Red-Shouldered Hawk perched on a stalk of the desert plant beside of the Century Plant. Its slim and elegant leaves are beautiful, but each leaf has sharp spikes. The plant produced two slim stalks, though their heights were not comparable to the majestic stalk of the Century Plant. The slim stalk could not hold the weight of a Red-Shouldered Hawk. After the Red-Shouldered Hawk flew away, I saw the tip of the stalk bend nearly 90 degrees.
When I was on the boardwalk, the waterway between the Texas Rivers Center and the river was busy with traffic. I saw a Great Blue Heron fly in and out three times. After I sighted the bird for the third time, I walked back to the Glass Bottom Boat dock area, but I could not see the bird there.
At 7:00 a.m., cars started parking in front of the Pecan Grove for a gathering. The young Red-Shouldered Hawk flew up toward the lake, and perched on the blue colored viewing deck that is located on the opposite side of the lake, in front of the Glass Bottom Boat dock.
At the short path between the Swiss Sky Ride and parking lot, a medium sized moss covered turtle was trying hard to dig a hole to lay her eggs. There were tire tracks on the muddy path, and she decided to use that dent as her nest. The ground was hardened by years of parked cars or used as a turnaround spot, but she was determined to use the deepest rut as her nest.
First, she cleared the rut with her front paws, and then used her mighty strength to dig a hole with her hind legs. She looked frustrated about the hardness of ground. Then, I saw that the place where she was digging was becoming wet. At first, I did not pay attention to it. The turtle kept using her mighty strength to dig. Then, I saw water come out her rear end, wetting the ground and she continued digging hard. She discharged water four more times and continued digging.
I realized that the mother turtle was discharging the water to soften the ground. How did the turtle know the water would make the hardened soil softer? I was amazed that the turtle used the water as a solution, or a tool to ease the problem. It was a wild, medium sized turtle, able to reflect and resolve the problem using water as a tool. She discharged four more times but finally gave up that spot, but was still determined to use the same tire track. She moved about one foot and started digging again. I was sad to watch her as two divers turned their cars after they dropped off their gear, on the short path where the turtle was trying to lay her eggs. If I was not standing beside her, they might have run over her.
I saw Mrs. Wassenich, from the San Marcos River Foundation, SMRF, bring out her tools from the storage place. Today is the volunteer day, but I saw she had only one lady volunteer. I was wish more people would come to help these beautiful wetlands and the lake. The wetlands are covered with Algae, Water Hyacinths, Elephant Ears, etc. I remember that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints came to cleanup the part of wetlands in the Golf course that was covered with Algae and Water Hyacinths under the direction of Mrs. Wassenich a couple weeks ago. This beautiful wetlands and lake need help from all the people
not only employees of the Aquarena Center.
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