Nature Along the El Camino Real
Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
by Michelle Lopez
It’s an exaggeration to say that the members of the El Camino Real chapter that have been taking a weekly class with Dale Kruse are grass “experts,” but we’ve been learning from one! It’s hard learning technical terms and yet it’s fun at the same time. Dale is so patient with all of us!
Here are some photos from their most recent class.
by Sue Ann Kendall
I had a magical nature adventure on my own property yesterday!
I was delighted to discover that the woodland floor next to our house was covered in charming little flowers. I’d never seen them before, even though I walk in these woods often each spring, because I’m noting when different plants and birds come and go.
I had to look them up as soon as I went inside after my birding break. Their name was as lovely as their appearance: Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). I happily read the excerpt of a longer article that appears in iNaturalist as had to giggle when I saw that one of their other common names is Fairy Spud. I had to learn more.
It turns out that the plants grow from tubers that were eaten by many indigenous people in the eastern US, you know, like potatoes! They were thought to cure convulsions and/or prevent conception. I assume the latter didn’t work well, since people ate it a lot. The whole plant is edible, but the Wikipedia article noted that the leaves are “not choice eating.”
Now, here’s a mystery. Today it’s much cooler and very windy. I went out to see my little flowers, but lo and behold, I couldn’t find them. I hope they come back!
by Catherine Johnson
We accomplished a lot at the first Wildscape workday for the year.
Neal worked on getting the children’s fantasy garden in shape. Debra sheared many large grasses, while Phyllis and Patricia hauled it away and weeded. Trees were pruned and ants killed.
The huge oak tree is gone having been destroyed by past ice storms. Now we have to work on getting more shade, as it will be a while until new trees grow. Everything is greening up, and the bluebonnets made it back!
by Eric Neubauer
Just last Thursday night I mentioned I hadn’t seen any Hogna ‘incognita’ for a while. The last time was December 31 to be precise.
Early Friday morning, I found out they were back!
Based on another’s similar experiences, this nap time seems to be true of the species, regardless of environmental conditions. Its close relative, Hogna antelucana, passed on napping and is now significantly larger. That’s a neat thing about a new species. Every little discovery about it can be a surprise.
The three I found Friday are the newest at this link.
by Eric Neubauer
Recently, while photographing wolf spiders scooped off of a lake beach, a strange tiny critter appeared in the bowl along with a spider. It was easier to photograph than ignore, and it was about as small as I could get with my camera.
I uploaded it to iNaturalist figuring it was a juvenile bug (Hemiptera) but was soon told it was probably a globular springtail (Symphypleona). A while later someone even made a species ID (Pseudobourletiella spinata). Try to say that quickly. No common name of course.
Now I’d heard of springtails during my TMN training, but globular springtails? I checked these out on iNat, and my observation was a county first for the species, and only the fifth in Texas. The others were from the Austin area and brown. Most in the U.S. were also brown, so I’m guessing than mine may have been the adult form. You can learn something new every day.
You’ll note the two pale shapes of the critter. They are simply reflections of my light ring which I built for my equipment so I could take consistent photos, cloudy or clear, day or night.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 