Oasis

Blotched Water Snake

(Nerodia erythrogaster transversa)

     This particular snake was filmed swimming in the north end of The Pool.  After watching it for a few minutes, I went around to the other end of the pool, sat on a broad stone, and spent the next hour watching four such blotched water snakes swim around the pool's edges and back and forth across the small waters.  Once, a Nerodia swam to the center of the pool and floated still.  Then another swam out to it and immediately the two of them splashed the water about and then swam off in different directions.

     I should admit that the species named here may or may not fit the actual snake seen here. The genus is right on, but Nerodia includes a number of snakes.  They all live a semi-aquatic life, though, and all of them can be aggressive (an evolutionary piece of mimicry from living near poisonous cottonmouths?).  Fish, amphibians, and rodents are not safe around Nerodia.

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Natricinae
Genus:	Nerodia

     For more information on snakes and reptiles of our area: http://www.austinreptileservice.net.

Exuvia of a dragonfly.

The exuvia is the remains of the insect's exoskeleton.

     For more information on dragonflies and damselflies, here's a nice site: http://odonatacentral.org.

Red-eared Turtle (Trachemys scripta)

      Notice the strong "keel" on the carapace of this young specimen.  As it ages, the ridge on its back will weaken out more.  This one was resting quietly on the edge of the very small stream emerging from stones about eighty feet south of the lower end of The Pond.  I saw no others nearby.

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Subclass:	Anapsida
Order:	Testudines
Family:	Emydidae
Genus:	Trachemys
Species:	T. scripta

For scale.

Damselfly.

A drought-shrunken snake hole.

      (The video of the blotched water snake was taken from the boulder at the far end of The Pool above.)

Looking down stream of the pool.

Sumac shadow on limestone.

First ripened dewberry prior to being orally appreciated.

Honey bees on the non-Creek property.

These females appear to be fanning the entrance to the hive in an 
attempt to create a bit of respite from the heat and drought conditions.

We are feeding them sugar water because the nectar "flow" is

down now during our drought.