Photo Essay
Soda Lake
Page 3 of 3; Jump to Page 1 | Page 2
Soda Lake is a large playa on Monahans Draw that is privately owned. Midland Naturalists (who have special permission from the landowner) have visited the ranch thousands of times over the last 20 years. In the rainy 1980s it filled up and retained water for at least seven years. It filled up again in the summer of 2007 and still had several feet of water in February, the date of the Master Naturalist visit to the site. Many species of birds have been found there that have never been seen anywhere else in Midland County, including Black Skimmer, Bald Eagle, and in recent years Black-tailed Gnatcatcher and American Raven. On the limestone ridge to the west of the lake several species of wildflowers not commonly found in Midland County are common, including the American Indian spring delicacy Chimaya.
Soda Lake had last previously filled in the late 1930s after a 15-inch rain upstream. However, because the soil in the area is the typical “gyp gray” the lake must have filled many times over the last thousands of years. When it is dry, it is usually covered with Alkali Sacaton grass (and nowadays, salt cedar). The gyppy soil continues down the draw for several miles.
Photographers; Pat Porter, Taffy Armstrong, Chris Cherry, Sean Patty, Nina McCart, Burr Williams, Sharon Jones, R.L. Orth, Leslie Harman
Click on each image to see a larger version; use your browser's "Back" button to return to this page.
The master naturalists began to wander into the brush above the lake. In many places, sometimes even 100 feet or more from the highest shoreline, salt efflorescence was visible on the soil.
Marsh fleabane seedstalks were among the cattails and salt cedars. See this photoessay for photos of the marsh fleabane in bloom at the Sibley Nature Center's playa.
Marsh fleabane seeds in closeup
The weed Kochia was also covered in seeds with many white hairs.
Salt cedar is multitrunked. Was the soil line originally above the forking of the branches?
A few of the salt cedars had strange growths on the stem.
Upon closer examination, it was decided it was a species of bacterial gall that created the growths.
A super-closeup of the galls on the salt cedar revealed more detailed structure. It appeared to be more like the leaves of the salt cedar, so had something (genetics or a contaminant) caused the bizarre clumps of "leaves" to grow? Why did the bizarre growth hang on during the winter, instead of falling off of the bushes like the leaves do?
Salt cedar is scrubby stuff - the red stems can be pretty.
One of the photographers found the egg case of a preying mantis on a salt cedar twig.
A loose flock of over 20 whitecrowned sparrows played hide and seek with the master naturalists for about ten minutes before deciding to go to a less-traveled area of the hillside.
When the lake filled, the rising waters drove pocket gophers out of the lake basin, and up to the slope of the hill where they dug in in great numbers. On top of the hill was another species of pocket gopher, and the two populations were divided by over 100 feet.
One of the tunnels to a pocket gopher mound was open - which indicates that individual was caught by a predator before it returned underground.
A little bit of the salt efflorescence was visible on the mounds, but many were of the red dirt normally found higher on the hill. The black stems of grass of which the gophers had eaten the roots of lay loose on the ground.
The pocket gopher area had a number of winter rosettes of annual weeds, one of the few places winter rosettes were found (because of the dry winter, few wildflowers germinated in the winter of 2007-2008.)
Cryptogamic soil was found above the lower pocket gopher region. The orange splotches are green after a rain, but usually just turn brown and then black. This was the first time Sibley staff had seen the orange color.
This is the more normal color of cryptogamic soil as it dries out. It may be that with high humidity levels in the air (because of the nearby lake) the drying process has an added step (the orange color.)
As the cryptogamic soil further dries, it turns black. The white color of these was also a surprise - is it related to the alkaline content of the soils. To learn more about cryptogamic soils visit this photoessay and this essay.
This appears to be the same orange cryptogamic soil as before, but it was growing on javelina bush, and is a lichen. This poses a question, does the orange lichen become a cryptogam in the right conditions?
Javelina bush has tiny leaves and very stiff branches. It normally grows only 2-3 feet high in a dense bush. The javelina bushes on the hillside north of Soda Lake are slightly more open in form.
Mixed in the orange lichen on the javelina bushes was a gray foliose form.
One of the most dense lotebush thickets known in Midland County is on that hillside above Soda Lake, and like most lotebushes in the winter, the overwintering ovaries were plentiful.
Cactus wren nests festooned some of the mesquite bushes on the hill.
One of the lotebushes had a small cup shaped nest hidden in its center. It may have been a lark sparrow nest in 2007.
Saltbushes grew on the hill, too. Some were loaded with seeds.
Some of the saltbushes had dropped most of their seeds. Is there a growth hormone that causes such a mass dropping of the seeds? Or was it because a deer or feral hog had pushed through the bush?
Several wolf spider turrets were spotted in the thicket.
Dried up Nostoc was also found under the shrubs of the thicket. This algae is green when wet, and looks like the guts of an animal. This photoessay has pictures of it while it is green.
On one part of the slope was a warty crust that prevented almost anything from growing except a few tobosa grass clumps.
The bright orange color of this grass means that it is a sideoats grama clump. Sideoats grama is full of sugars, so the species is often very orange in the winter.
Bristlegrass had germinated under an old mesquite log on the slope of the hill.
Fox droppings were found on the slope. The reddish color may come from cactus fruit.
A dead saltbush had been mashed down by either the hogs or the deer. Why did they plow right through the clump? Were they running from a predator?
The group found a large hole, and one member investigated it a little closer.
The hole was large, and the group decided it was a coyote den.
Upon closer examination, it was decided it was an active den, and we wondered if Mr. Coyote was downstairs, grumbling about our presence.
Under another bush was a bunch of quail droppings, mixed in with packrat droppings.
In a mesquite, an old paper wasp nest was found.
Burnt rock was found several places on top of the hill overlooking the lake. Was it evidence of Pleistocene-era Indians (Clovis) or more recent Indians that visited the playa when it was full sometime in the past. No points were found to try to date the burnt rock, and no pottery was present (which would indicate Jornada-Mogollon usage from 1100-1300.
Fluff grass clumps dotted the cryptogamic crust on top of the hill.
One of the class found a very old mesquite stump, a stump from a tree much bigger than what grows there now.
When the stump was turned over, a muddauber's nest was found.
Inside the muddauber's nest was old insect parts too decayed to identify.
Some red pupal cases were found, but looked too small to be mud dauber pupae.
A Fiery Searcher beetle exoskeleton was also found on the hill.
The jackrabbit droppings were orange - from eating sideoats grama?
A mesquite also had a preying mantis eggcase.
A tiny spider web nestled in saltbush leaves.
Near sundown, on another day, a photographer watched curvebilled thrashers gambol.
The birds skittered around in a mesquite, talking to each other, chasing each other and sitting quietly together.
The thrashers were probably a long mated pair renewing their bonds before mating season
Sometimes the long lines of cranes take interesting shapes.
After the sun went down, sandhill cranes came to the lake. They were jumpy - lifting out of the water at the sound of a car door.
They soon settled down again. A number of ducks had returned to the lake, too, and can be seen in the distance.
Lines of cranes kept coming.
Lines of cranes kept coming until it was almost pitchblack dark.