About the Cover…
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, immature
About the Cover…
A Field Trip to Spring Lake—Headwaters of the San Marcos River
August 2023
“Spring Lake Natural Area is a little known 251-acre park [in San Marcos,Texas] that sits just above Spring Lake, the headwaters of the San Marcos River.” —The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment
Betsy Cross
“About half of the property is in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge zone, and all of the property is part of the Sink Creek watershed. San Marcos Springs and Spring Lake are rare ecological jewels among Texas water resources and support five endangered species.” City of San Marcos
It’s impossible to depict all of the wild creatures that thrive here and depend upon this unique habitat with just a few pictures. But I invite you to walk with me along the boardwalk and experience some of the ones I saw on several short field trips during the month of August.
Green Heron
Tricolored Heron, juvenile
Eastern Pondhawk
Green Anole
Green Heron (notice this one is banded)
Green Heron, juvenile
Diamondback Water Snake
One of three adolescent raccoons hunting in the mud
Yellow Warbler, female
Black-and-White Warbler
Northern Parula
Orchard Oriole
Orchard Oriole
Couch’s Kingbird
Yellow Warbler, male
Little Blue Heron
Great Egret with Wood Ducks
Least Sandpiper
Common Green Darner
Little Blue Heron
Texas River Cooter and Green Heron
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks
Great Blue Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, immature
According to Dr. Robert Mace, Executive Director and Chief Water Policy Officer at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, Central Texas’ largest springs—which come from the Edwards Aquifer—are approaching their lowest flow levels on record. San Marcos Springs, historically the second largest in Texas, is flowing at just 50 percent of its average for this time of year. —Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News: Dry Springs in Central Texas Warn of Water Shortage Ahead, August 15, 2023
“It’s usually just gushing out of here,” Mace said as afternoon temperatures approached 105 degrees [in mid-August, 2023]. “I’ve never seen it like this. This is the worst it’s been.”
Over the last six years, I’ve watched the peak flow as well as the decline of water flow levels at Jacob’s Well. And when I made my last nest box visit to Jacob’s Well Natural Area in July this summer, I began to wonder and worry about the condition of water levels at Spring Lake in San Marcos. I was prompted to find out for myself, and this series of August field trips to Spring Lake ensued.
Just imagine what the impact of losing this unique ecosystem could mean to the health of the San Marcos River and to the economy of our affected communities. And imagine what the loss of habitat for these many beautiful species would mean if we fail to steward our water resources in a responsible manner. Now is the time for all of us who care about such matters to act.
Spring Lake—August 27, 2023
Jacob’s Well—August 26, 2023
“No one made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”—Edmund Burke