Hidden Springs Preserve Bioblitz October 7th,8th, and 9th -2022
Hello Friends of Nature,
I would like to announce the upcoming bioblitz at Hidden Springs Preserve near Florence, Tx. The property is a 932 acre site purchased by Williamson County Conservation Foundation in in 2020. The land has a great potential as a GCWA habitat which has about 300-400 acres in Burnet, County while the southern portion is largely in north west Williamson, County. The northern half is a juniper oak woodland hill country and the southern half is an open prairie grassland and juniper with alkaline soil. The underlying geologic formation is the Keys valley Marl unit with Glen Rose exposures in the McDaniel Branch stream bed.
We have had the good fortune of being allowed to use game cameras and acoustic recording devices on the property since around April 2021. We participated in the SWCA Environmental GCWA assessment with acoustic devices to bolster their pedestrian survey for spring 2022.
We are planning on arrivals to the property beginning at noon on Friday the 7th. There will be sign in sheets and liability waivers for all to sign at check in. The base camp and check in will be at the house that is located in the middle of the property. The gravel road from CR 224 to the house is in good condition. There is a gate code lock on the property at CR 224. More than likely this code will be changed to something for this special weekend.
I would like to hold an orientation meeting on Friday around 5pm at the house for general safety and describing the property roads. The roads in the northern half will be limited to certain vehicles with greater clearance and or all wheel drive vehicles. It is possible there will be an all terrain vehicle there that weekend.
We are allowed to car camp and tent camp in the vicinity of the house where we will also set up blacklighting and MV lights. There are two electrical outlets outside. One on the south side of the house and another on a light pole on the north side. We will be allowed to use the restroom facilities in the house. There will be no bunking in the house. There is a refrigerator that can be used.
We were planning on grilling food outdoors for Saturday afternoon and evening. There is not a grill area there so we might perhaps bring in BBQ food from nearby establishments. Alternatives for vegan and vegetarians will be arranged. Jack Cochran will be assisting me with organizing this event.
There are a number of ponds located on the property. Only one of which maintained water during the summer drought. The springs, which are in fact hidden, were also not flowing during the summer. We are hopeful that plenty of rain will fall before October.
The weekend will finish up by noon on Sunday the 9th.
I will add more information to this post as we go.
Thanks
Mike Farley
Good Water Master Naturalist
Comments
Tagging some people; @jcochran706 @lorimalloy @aprilsee @mammelton50 @paige186 @k_mccormack @pfau_tarleton @sambiology @gcwarbler @centratex @annikaml @k8thegr8 @connlindajo @tadamcochran @bosqueaaron @cmeckerman @knightericm @bacchusrock @rymcdaniel @currenfrasch @elytrid @butterflies4fun @amzapp @lorif @cassasauresrex @sbeep @jkend32 @lkendall
If I have left anyone out or if you know someone that would like to attend feel free to add.
Thanks! Mike
Thanks for the invite! Going to try to make it!
Won't be available saturday morning, but will try to at least make one of the nights.
Aim to be there for at least part of the weekend.
I'm planning on participating.
@wildcarrot, @centex, @karen762
Ah. That changes things. I was tentatively going to be out of town that weekend, but I may need to change my plans now. Following anyway.
Observations from the property made during weekly game camera checks or acoustic monitoring.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&q=hspf&subview=map&view=species
Looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Thanks for the tag, Annika! I'm adding it to my calendar, and hopefully I can come at least one of the nights!
Just retagging some folks in case the recent down time lost any conversations and notifications;
@lorimalloy @aprilsee @mammelton50 @paige186 @k_mccormack @pfau_tarleton @sambiology @gcwarbler @centratex @k8thegr8 @tadamcochran @cmeckerman @currenfrasch @elytrid @butterflies4fun @lorif @cassasauresrex @sbeep @jkend32 @lkendall
@jellyfishmambo might be interested.
I'll be there. =)
I have added this to my calendar and do plan to participate.
I am looking forward to this and have it on my calendar. @calebhelsel
Thanks for the invite!! I’m gonna try to make it. My wildlife tracking group is meeting up the same weekend
@pynklynx
@inhat83, this is the bioblitz I mentioned.
Tagging some folks I would like to see there. Some because I want to finally meet them in person and the location is "sorta" in their area and some just because I have not seen them in a while.
@prairie_rambler @dusty_in_vilas-tx @austinrkelly @dbohlmeyer @alflinn329 @lanechaffin @rkostecke @oz4caster @lswift @andygo1 @franpfer @arnanthescout @pufferchung
Let me tag @rlhardin
Oh, I so want to be there... but I'm currently adapting to college life at UT Austin so not sure how the future winds will blow :(
Definitely putting this on my calendar, at the least I could be there on Saturday. I'll try to make it!
Not far from my stomping grounds at all and I should be able to attend a good portion of it. :-) I'll plan to commute back and forth since it is not that far from my home.
Tagging two more folks I would like to see again... @jeffmci9 @robertkamper
I'm adding a link for the liability waiver. All participants must sign one. It's preferred to be done virtually but I will have printed copies on hand at Hidden Springs.
https://forms.wilco.org/Forms/VltrAgrmntWvr
Thank you!
I think I'm going to be able to make this one!
@mikef451 Just signed the waver. I entered "Williamson County Parks" and put your name as the organizer. Do I need to email this to you or is it recorded somewhere that interested parties can access it?
@tadamcochran When I signed the waiver online, I received an email from Williamson County that my Agreement/Waiver had been received.
@aprilsee Thanks, I got the email too. I thought the individual/organization/group was referring to the organizer and put Mike's name. Oops. I did sign my name at the bottom. Hopefully, that will be ok.
Great to hear Adam! My first time doing this stuff so in the dark myself. I think your good to go though. Thanks for letting me know!
I just looked at it and I think "Preserves" is the best choice but Williamson County Parks should be fine. This preserve is too new to be on these lists for waivers.
@baxter-slye , It was great to meet you and your husband this weekend at Riverby Ranch! Feel free to make a quick day trip down to Hidden Springs if you can in a couple weeks.
Regards
Thank you!! I'll add it to my calendar and hopefully will be able to pop down there.
@mpintar
@sagaciousoctopus @nragent-shelley
Got this on my calendar.
Adding this project link here;
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/hidden-springs-preserve-biodiversity
I shall be there!
Trying to get a sense of how many folks will be attending so I am making a list of folks who have joined the project and or recently stated plans to attend. Please let me know as soon as possible. Also need to know how many for Saturday evening. If you have not completed the online liability waiver please do so. Thanks!
pfau_tarleton
annikaml
aprilsee
bacchusrock
connlindajo
jcochran706
mammelton50
mikef451
rkostecke
sagaciousoctopus
tadamcochran
k8thegr8
knightericm
rymcdaniel
arnanthescout
gcwarbler
centratex
Me! I did the waiver. Hopefully correctly. =)
I'm coming Friday to Sunday! And I did fill out the waiver form online. See you all soon!
I plan to be there. I did submit a waiver a while back. I plan to be there for Saturday evening.
i am going to try to go saturday night
Attending Fri to Sunday. Waiver done. Looking forward to seeing everyone!
I’ll be out Friday and Saturday. Leaving Saturday evening at some point.
I plan to arrive Friday afternoon and leave late Saturday afternoon / early evening.
Still planning to attend. Should arrive Friday afternoon and plan to stay until Sunday morning.
I also joined the project.
I won't be able to make this one. Y'all have fun!
Thanks to all who have chimed in! I was out at the preserve today and conditions are very dry. There has not been rainfall lately so McDaniel branch is not flowing nor are the springs. There are a lot of flowers blooming and I looked at seven ponds with five of those having water and lots of insect activity. I will have a more complete list available of ponds and their status along with their distance from the house.
Of most importance, Jack and I did a test mothing at Hidden Springs on Sept. 24th for two hours finishing at 10pm. I posted 65 observations from that and I imagine Jack had many more. There were at least two county firsts from that outing so just imagine what two whole nights can produce!
Thanks to all!
Ok I think it's possible for me to go but I'm not sure how I'm going to get there :(
I'll be able to head up from UT Austin to my home in Round Rock to grab supplies, but my dad balked a bit when I said I would drive to Florence 😁
In case anyone wants to carpool/hitchhike me up to there on Friday, though, you can message me. I finish my classes at 3 and will probably be finished prepping at 4-ish in Round Rock. I would greatly appreciate it!
I do plan to attend Friday and Saturday.
Here is my cell phone # You may text me preferably if necessary. Please mention who you are. There are three locks on the front gate that are daisy chained together. One new lock, goldish in color and marked
"WCCF" "Temp". The code for that lock is
Please be sure to lock the gate behind you maintaining the daisy chain. If you come to the gate and the locks are incorrectly closed and you can not enter, please text or call me. I should be able to talk you through it or I will drive down to the gate. There are two goldish colored locks and one grayish lock that belongs to the former property owners who maintain a cemetery on the property.
The property is located at 978 CR 224 Florence, Tx 76527
I recommend people bring a folding chair if possible.
Just filled out the waiver form online. Still open to carpool opportunities as I said above, but I can still make things work otherwise... I'll plan to drive up there Saturday morning and stay till Sunday.
Hi Everyone,
We're going to feed the attendees on Saturday night, with a plan to pick up some BBQ from a local shop. And we also want to accommodate the vegan and vegetarian Naturalists, too. I'm thinking vegetable tacos and black beans, if that's OK. Maybe I should get a count for meat-eaters and non-meat-eaters?
My mobile number is 702-332-5259 if you need anything in advance or while on site. I'm in Georgetown about 25 min away from Hidden Springs.
Jack
Hi! I have a LLELA intern who I need to help this weekend. I also tagged some of you in the post about her blacklighting event. Poor planning on my part, but she has to have the hours turned in, so we had to get her event done now. Yall have fun! Sorry to miss this event, but please keep inviting me.
<-- Meat eater
I like my broccoli and tofu medium rare, thank you...
@jcochran706 I'm fine with either.
I'm also fine with either.
Also fine with either.
As much as I love BBQ, I'm going to force myself to go with the veggie tacos. If it's food, I'll eat it.
Either. Do you need any sides?
@k8thegr8 I'm going to snag some sides with the BBQ, so should be good. Thanks!
Weather forecast for Florence, Tx for the 7th, 8th, and 9th is highs in upper 80's to lower 90's. Lows in the low to mid 60's. Partly cloudy Friday and Saturday. Mostly sunny on Sunday. I was out to the preserve early a couple mornings last week and it was 48 to 50 degrees but forecasted higher.
Friday's moon is a waxing Gibbous with an illumination of 93%. Saturday's moon is a waxing Gibbous with an illumination of 98%. Hopefully the clouds will help block some of that brightness.
When people arrive at the front gate, if you look up the driveway you can see the distant house that is our base camp. There will be a sign in sheet on the front porch. If I'm not there there will be some information posted that should be read.
I'd prefer folks stay in the lower half of the property or around the house walking distance until I've had a chance to talk with you about driving in the northern area.
We had hoped to have an ATV on site but that will not happen. I can take one to two individuals on the big loop tours of the northern area, (about 30 minutes) to decide if your vehicle can manage the terrain and also see places you wish to return to.
Planning on attending. I just need to sit down and figure out my schedule.
I'll stick with veggie tacos.
@mike451 Is there any sort of map of the property boundaries? Or even just a GPS coordinate of the front gate so I know I am looking at the right property to scope out potential areas to investigate?
@rymcdaniel, scroll down on the project page
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/hidden-springs-preserve-biodiversity
I'll go with the BBQ, Jack, but I am good with either food option.
@rymcdaniel When I put in 980 CR 224, Florence my phone gives me directions to the property.
p.s. Everyone, this is prime time for the Swainson's Hawk migration through the Hill Country and there is supposed to be a dry cool front coming through on Friday. Watch high in the sky! The hawks may be tiny dots, but they may be moving by the thousands through the area.
...or not. Hawk migration is a notoriously tricky thing to predict. For examples, see:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/97258100
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8370884
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1732640
@pfau_tarleton Ah! Thanks. I guess that shows how much I use project pages.
Aw! I love kettles of hawks. =D
I should qualify that I'll eat whatever is served. :)
I'll eat whatever is in the kettle.
I would love to see kettles of hawks! Eye to the sky. I like bbq, but ok with either. No cheese, though. Thanks very much!
@jcochran706 BBQ for me! Sounds great!
Hi Everyone:
We're looking forward to your arrivals. One thing of note after working in the base kitchen the other day. The water has a very strong sulfurous smell to it, so I would recommend not drinking the tap water. I believe Mike has bottled water and is filling a cooler with drinkable water.
Also, today is the start to the 2022 Texas Pollinator BioBlitz, where you can record pollinators and the plants they use for the TPWD iNaturalist project. Here is the link:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2022-texas-pollinator-bioblitz
See you soon,
Jack
Planning on showing up Saturday morning and camping overnight.
Thanks for the wonderful weekend! I know how much work went into hosting the event (the signs and tree-trimming and the meal were appreciated)!
..........................................................................................................
Here's a link to everyone's observations. And here's the link in "identify" mode.
..........................................................................................................
I had a blast! It's always a good time seeing a new location and spending time with fellow nature enthusiasts. Thank you, Mike, for organizing and making all those signs. They were super helpful for those that are directionally challenged (i.e. me). Also, big thanks to Jack for feeding us! That bbq spread was awesome.
Ditto, thanks for setting that all up! Wish I could have been out there longer, but always good to see everyone.
Big thank you to Mike and Jack for organizing this bioblitz, it was great! Also fun to meet up with both familiar and new iNatters - I learn so much from all of you, and I love the friendly atmosphere at our bioblitzes.
Yes, thanks Mike and Jack! It was my first bioblitz and I quite enjoyed it! Enjoyed meeting everyone! Got me a lot of new moths for the county, too! I did not get much birding in, but hearing the Common Poorwill, Eastern Whip-poor-will, Great Horned Owl, and multiple screech-owls calling at dusk on Saturday night was most excellent! Thanks again!
This was my first bioblitz as well, and I can confidently say that this is one of the best things I've ever done this year! It was wonderful to meet up with iNatters in person and gain a different perspective of the natural world. I got to see new species, learn new things, and explore this rich expanse of nature. Thank you Mike and Jack for making this all happen!
@rkostecke Awe, jeez... Now you're making me really envious for missing the event! Eastern Whip would have been a new WilCo bird for me!
Ir was an awesome gathering! Thanks again Mike and Jack for all your hard work.
P.S. It was also great to meet another person on my iNat user bucket list!
Thank you, Mike and Jack, for having us out to enjoy this beautiful terrain! It was great to visit with previous and new friends. Y'all did a stellar job of making things safe, smooth and fun.
Obscured observations are not added automatically to the Hidden Springs project, and even though I have joined the project I'm not able to manually add my observations. Any one that has figured this out?
Also, in Russell's "everyone's observations", in the Person filter option April's, Mary Ann's and my username are separated with a point instead of a comma so our observations are not included.
As a data point, the few that I have added so far(~25) are all obscured and all seem to have been automatically added to the project, but I seem to be in the minority. I could have sworn that the project had at least several hundred observations a day or two ago and now it is down to around 100. Definitely weird stuff going on.
Ryan, when I check the project you don't have any observations there. Something is really weird!
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/hidden-springs-preserve-biodiversity?tab=observers
When I am logged in, all my observations show up as added to the project. When logged out they do not. I wonder if that specifically may be due to the copyright license I have set (CC BY-NC-ND), but I do not know. I have changed one of them to see if it makes a difference at some point.
I suspect most of the issues may be due to the project being set up as a place based project, and because the area is small and the coordinates are obscured, many observations will not be added to the project as described on the help page:
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#placeindex
because the obscured bounding box breaks the border of the actual place outline.
I apologize for the weirdness going on with the project. After users join and I have added them internally, they still have to "trust" the project for observations to show up. There is a little gear symbol and the words "your membership" where you join. That opens a drop down menu.
So sorry for all of this and it is due to the small bordered property.
A big thank you to everyone who came out. I'm so happy the we got to share this great place with you all.
MIke
Found it! Thanks Mike! No need for apologies.
The public view (signed out) of the project shows less observations today than it did yesterday. I am only guessing that it was set up as a collection project instead of traditional project. It seems like it is regenerating the list on some regular basis but that it is never going to work quite right, perhaps because of the small area and obscured coordinates as mentioned before. Just speculating.
Schrodinger's cat observations.
It was setup as a collection project. I also had the date set for April of 2021 since that's when we first started observing there and have accumulated a little over 2000 observations prior to the bioblitz. I wanted to include those early observations on behalf of the WCCF to have all the known biodiversity over time. I realize that those early numbers are not fair to bioblitz participating members wanting to see their observations and rank for the weekend. Once the dust settles from uploading a few weeks from now I will reset to the April 2021 start date.
The leaderboard is probably never going to function properly. I took this to the iNat forum section a week before the bioblitz under bug reports. That was a somewhat brutal and stressful experience.
Ryan, in regard to the public view, you probably saw the change from Adam's observations going from not obscured to his "batch edit" and obscuring them all. The public view on my laptop is quite different than what I see on my phone app.
It's very screwy and I'm sorry it is that way.
Mike
I updated the links for our observations...a couple of punctuation typos had caused three people to be omitted:
..........................................................................................................
Here's a link to everyone's observations. And here's the link in "identify" mode.
..........................................................................................................
If anyone had made observations in these two counties Fri, Sat, and Sun, but outside of Hidden Springs property, they'll be included here also (it's filtered by county, observer, and date)--the only way to do it given the obscuration.
Thanks Russell!
I will get my observations in next week!
Sweet caterpillar
Sitting on a leaf with joy
For soon it will fly
-faleshia murphy
Oh, the caterpillars we saw!
Awww poetry! I love it!
Sorry I missed this. I wish I would get notifications on my phone app as I've usually not been on the computer app lately. I hope to make future ones !!!
Add a Comment