Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
Author: Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall
The person behind The Hermits' Rest blog and many others. I'm a certified Texas Master Naturalist and love the nature of Milam County. I manage technical writers in Austin, help with Hearts Homes and Hands, a personal assistance service, in Cameron, and serve on three nonprofit boards. You may know me from La Leche League, knitting, iNaturalist, or Facebook. I'm interested in ALL of you!
Every inch of the Wildscape was explored recently at a Mason Bee program for Milam Home School Co-op. Forty-one people attended, which included twenty-six children and seven Master Naturalists. After the bee houses were assembled, everyone took off to all parts of the garden observing butterflies, hummingbirds, and spiders. The children enjoyed refreshments, hide and seek, and receiving goody bags and nature books.
The parents were interested in building their own Wildscapes and want to return for free native plants. We enjoyed ages from baby to teens and hope to spend more time with them at the Wildscape.
Well, we all have felt the strong winds that have been here in Central Texas lately.
Strong doesn’t even begin to describe them. Limbs and trees down, flowers bent over and lots of pollen blowing right into your nose! That’s the things that bother humans.
So, we think we have problems with it, try being a beautiful butterfly that doesn’t even weigh an ounce. I watched them all day on Saturday (April 29) trying to land on any flower that wasn’t being blown in every direction. It looked like a tiny helicopter trying to land on a small pad. The poor things. I tried to get photos, but 9 out of 10 pictures were too blurry to use.
Other friends of mine were having trouble also. The Purple Martins were flying in place trying to land on their gourds. No doubt it’s a good way to lose weight and get in shape, if you can do it.
So, when the weather is harsh, we need to remember that we are not the only ones feeling it.
I also wanted to show you where my garden is right now. I am still waiting for all the seeds I planted weeks ago. Seeds are a great way to save money and get a nice variety of native plants. The last photo I took showed something I have never seen in my garden before.
I saw a stink bug on Friday. I thought it looked a bit different, so I took some photos. It turned out to be in the Brochymena genus, which I had found before. These have intricate patterns that remind me of Persian rugs. Anyway, it turned out to be B. chelonoides and is a first-in-county observation on iNat. Nearest other observation is in College Station. So, when you walk by something that seems to be ordinary, take a second look. It might not be so ordinary after all. Also, if you go out looking for something with your camera, it may be something you didn’t expect that makes the day special.
So once again our eave under the front porch has some darling little Phoebe babies. I am sure they are happy that they are not in the high winds we are experiencing now.
I love to see them every Spring. Of course, it means that the front porch and the small doggy yard are off limits to me and our dogs till they leave home.
I do get to watch them every day and see how fast they grow up. Observation is also the best way to learn about their habits.
Both parents feed the babies. One parent will wait on the fence while the other is delivering delicious insects of one kind or another. The parents are very watchful and get fussy if I open the front door to look closer at their children. So, I generally watch out the windows at them.
Phoebes are flycatchers, eating mostly live insects. But I have found that they also eat dried mealworms that I put out for the Bluebirds. That is very handy during weather events when insects are not flying.
This particular bird looks so sweet to me. I love it. It has the common flycatcher habit of tail-bobbing. Its song says its name ( phoe-be). This bird is found from Canada all the way down to Mexico.
So listen up and you will hear their happy song right now.
A bird quote from Doug Floyd.
You don’t get harmony when everyone sings the same note.
Wednesday night was very festive for the El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist chapter. We celebrated the five new graduates from our training program with a delicious meal and a lovely presentation at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Cameron, where we also have our monthly meetings. We are grateful to Fr. Jeff and his staff for being such gracious hosts.
Father Jeff and our graduates.
Our food was catered by Hot Corners, the company that is located in the beautiful Venue at Railfan that recently opened in town. Barbara Dominguez does a wonderful job, and we were glad to see our vegetarian attendees had many options. Next time we’ll remember to ask for a gluten-free main course!
The appetizers included one of Barbara’s famous charcuterie boards, along with wine and some pretty darned good non-alcoholic wine beverage that was fun to try!
MMM, charcuterie
Desserts were provided by Alan Rudd, who was also our assistant trainer this year. It was hard to choose which one to try, so many people tasted more than one.
Alan tasted his pie first!Everything was all protected.
The fellowship and conversation were fantastic, and everyone had a good time at the meal, and an even better time during the awards.
First, Dorothy Mayer read her famous poem she wrote when she was graduating, which always brings a laugh.
Dorothy shares the story of her poem.
Then came the highlight of the evening. Patricia Coombs, Brenda Ferris, Ellen Luckey, Michelle Pierce, and Neil Wettstein were each presented with their graduation certificates, and two others received their first dragonfly pins for their initial certification as well. Great job, everyone!
Patricia receiving her pin from Carollyn HendersonCarolyn and Kathy share a laugh.
Following the student awards, Alan Rudd presented Kathy Lester, our lead trainer for the past three classes, with a beautiful painting of a sunrise or sunset (you get to pick) with kind words on the back of it from past students. Kathy was surprised and delighted by her gift, which is obvious in the photos!
Thank you, Kathy!
Kudos to the team who put together the party and decorated the room so nicely. It takes a lot of work to organize all our activities, and we appreciate our dedicated members very much. Now, let’s get going on the City Nature Challenge!
Here are a couple of funny out-takes from the party. We did have fun.
Alan and Patricia share a laughThe flower needed help staying up on Sue Ann’s headPamela Neeley went for a glamor shot
Nature Along the El Camino Real 