Grass fire aftermath - West Texas

[Texas Blonde]

We had a grass fire on our ranch a couple nights ago, it burned about 900 acres on our ranch, and about 600 on the neighbors. I went out today to walk through it, and was amazed by what I saw. The animals were out in full force. There where birds everywhere eating the bbq'd grasshoppers, which were also everywhere. And the ants where unreal, the ground was completely covered in them. They were also having a hay day with the grasshoppers. I saw a ton of rather large skinks, though they were more sluggish than usual.

I was really looking for tarantula burrows though, and pretty quickly I found two average sized ones. The first burrow was in an open spot of ground, and was the heaviest webbed burrow I have ever seen. My guess is that has much to do with the ants that where everywhere. I flushed the spider out, but it was very skittish. It wouldnt stay at the top of the burrow for more than a second, and when I left, it was very quick to reweb the entrance, just as thickly as before.

The second burrow was about ten yards from the first one, positioned at the base of what was once a clump of grass. It was almost as heavily webbed. I wasnt able to flush the spider out, because I was out of water. But I did remove the webbing and try to tease the spider to the entrance. I never go to see it, but it was there, because it also rewebbed the entrance very quickly.

I didnt have my good camera with me, because the battery is dead, so I had to snap some shots with my phone. Here they are, and I apologize for their suckiness. Ill get more tomorrow when I go back to the burn site.


Burned mesquite bush, with live mesquite in the back ground.

Skink sunning on the edge of a burned out rat burrow.

Tarantula #1 burrow

 

[josh_r]

dang, that sucks. i hate fires.

 

[Texas Blonde]

dang, that sucks. i hate fires.

We actually wanted to burn about 2,000 acres, and have been talking about a controlled burn for awhile now. Luckily the fire burned exactly where we would have done the controlled burn. Unfortunately, the fire department didnt call us like they were supposed to, and cut the fire off short, lol.


The fire is actually good for the land. It has a cleansing type of affect, and kills some of the mesquite. Mesquite was brought here in the late 1800s/early 1900s by cattle driven up from Mexico. It requires a pretty large amount of water, which doesnt leave much for the native prairie grasses. Killing off some of the mesquite just lets the grass get more water and thrive, which is good for all the animals who eat grass. (Like our cows. )

 

[josh_r]

there are many species of native mesqiute and acacia in the southwest. and i do understand the cycle of fire and rejuvenating the soil and scarification and what not. i just hate it is all. i hate seeing burned areas. many of the species of grasses are not native actually and they burn at a hotter tempurature than our native grasses and they generate more energy for unnaturally large fires. in many habitats, fires are a yearly thing that would flash through and just burn the low undergrowth and debris on the ground. these same areas due to introduced grasses and other plants, burn so much hotter and you end up with entire forests destroyed. ive seen it happen so much that forest fires just disgust me is all.

 

[Triprion]

Fyi

Interesting observations...I've always wondered what happens immediately after a fire, but have never taken the time to look myself. BTW, the skink you photographed is a Cnemidophorus (=Aspidoscelis), Whiptail Lizard.