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!
More and more of the native wildflowers are blooming, but the other sign of spring here in northern Milam County are birds working hard to make new birds. This morning, I looked out at the pond behind our house and saw a Great Blue Heron in breeding plumage.
Look closely
I realized he had a big stick in his mouth. He’s making a nest! I think the nest is over by the creek. I do look forward to seeing the family.
Off to the nest.
I spot lots more little flowers on my walks. I often have to memorize where I see them when I’m horseback so I can come back and get pictures. Here are some recent arrivals.
Dewberry. Yay!One of the cornsalads Toadflax. Roadside gauraBlack willow putting out leavesCatchweed bedstrawCretanweed. Honest. It is cut off.
Butterflies are everywhere, too. They are enjoying the dandelion blossoms mostly. I still haven’t gotten a red admiral to sit still, but they are also here.
Checkered skipperOne of the lady butterflies Not a butterfly. American lady Carpenterworm moth Black swallowtails First dragonfly of the yearBlack vulture, not an insect
It’s so much fun to watch the seasons unfold. It’s also fun to listen. Cardinals are calling loudly this morning, but they have competition from a woodpecker who’s giving a concert by pecking on different parts of a tree and varying the tone of its pecks. What fun. Barn swallows are swiping and chirping.
And the heron is chiming in, along with the crows. I miss the flock of starlings that descended yesterday and really made things loud!
The source of morning concerts at the Hermits’ Rest Ranch.
But wait! Late addition! Just now I found Snappy, or more likely child of Snappy, one of our big snapping turtles. The original Snappy is much larger.
If you want Latin names for my observations or to see more, visit the Hermits’ Rest Ranch Flora and Fauna project on iNaturalist!
This morning (March 20) I heard a lot more singing going on outside. I was delighted to count 14 Martins on my Gourd rack. YEAH!!
Sadly, my Apartment Rack in the front of our house still has no Martins for three years now.
We had a very large Rat Snake climb over the baffle and get all the babies. I was very upset about it. Since then, I use the netting system to prevent any snake from getting to the birds. The bad thing is that it will kill the snake either on its own or you have to do it, so it does not suffer. I hate doing it, but it is the only thing that keeps the gourd rack safe from the snakes here. All life is important to me. But it’s twenty babies or one snake.
I cannot understand why I still do not have Martins in the apartment now. I have cleaned it several times, added new bedding, everything I can think of. Prior to the snake, it was occupied every year. It has twenty-six apartments. A mystery.
But we have 14 Martins to look at and listen to their beautiful songs. I am hoping more will arrive.
I have a project on iNaturalist where I record the flora and fauna on the ranch where I live. I started it right after I became a Master Naturalist in 2018 and am still contributing to it. My goal is to eventually analyze the data to see if flowers or birds are appearing around the same time or if there’s difference due to weather or climate, or what.
I especially love the tiny flowers, like this birds-eye speedwell.
I accumulated a lot of Master Naturalist hours while working on this project, since I go out on almost every nice day to see what’s new on the property. But, last year the program changed its policy, and now we don’t get credit for hours spent observing nature on our own property. I can see not wanting observations of the same twenty plants in a suburban yard, but we have 500 acres. I stopped for a while, but then I realized the project is still important to me, so I am still taking pictures and uploading, especially in the spring.
Last week I shared some of the earlier flowers in our fields and woods. This week some new ones have showed up, which always thrills me. I’ll share some photos of the new arrivals below.
We are also losing some birds and gaining others. The hawks are still here, red-tails and red-shouldered, along with the tiny merlins and peregrin falcons. And our resident harrier keeps hovering over the fields, hopefully eating a LOT of mice.
The amazing pair of great blue herons seems busy bonding, and the belted kingfisher who showed up over the winter is still flying around and making its unmistakable chirps. In addition to the crows and starlings, we have some visiting blackbirds that make a beautiful sound. I’m not sure what type they are but enjoy listening to them. And cardinals. Wow, do we have a LOT of cardinals, too. I never knew they flocked until I moved here.
Just one male cardinal
Action shot showing the beautiful tail of this barn swallow.
Yesterday, I looked into a willow tree behind my house with my binoculars and saw a loggerhead shrike, a dove, English sparrows, a pair of cardinals, and a festive group of tiny chickadees bopping around. That’s my kind of decorated tree. Oh, and some red-eared slider turtles were holding down the trunks (this was in a tank).
I was happy to see barn swallows already in their nests just a couple of days after they arrived. The tiny insects are here, so they are looking pretty happy.
Speaking of tiny insects, I am always seeing tiny flies and bees on the flowers. They are pretty hard to identify. For example, the fly or bee in this picture is much smaller than you’d think. That is a dwarf dandelion it’s on, not a regular one.
Bee, fly?I put a regular dandelion in the picture to show yu the size of the dwarf ones in comparison.
So, yes, it’s a fun time over where I live, and I’m glad I’m able to document the variety of life here in the northern part of Milam County. I look forward to seeing what others are observing. I’ve noticed lots of plum and redbud trees elsewhere, but I just have the buds on cedar elms and coral berry.
The first Indian paintbrushwood sorrellEarly bluebonnetMouse-ear chickweedEarly mock vervainRegular ole chickweedsmooth cat’s earFirst leaves on the trees
Besides all this, I’ve seen a lot of butterflies, such as sulphurs and red admirals, but no one will hold still for me. I even saw something big and black from a long way off. I look forward to more!
Thanks for visiting my part of the world. No matter what, the rhythms of nature keep on going, and that’s a comfort.
While I and a couple of others watched, a group of hard-working El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist members and trainees girdled three of the large specimens of invasive Glossy Privets (Ligustrum lucidum) on the grounds of the Wilson-Ledbetter Park in Cameron. The weather cooperated. It was pleasant with a hint of a chill in the breeze.
Cliff Tyllick, known to iNaturalists as “baldeagle”, is a self-appointed eradicator of invasive species. He regularly leads volunteer groups in Austin at the Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park to remove invasive plants. Read Cliff’s profile at https://www.inaturalist.org/people/baldeagle.
First, Cliff demonstrated the technique to the group and showed the proper use of each of the tools in his girdling kit. Several members came equipped with their own tools, some newly purchased, along with an eagerness to learn.
Carolyn Henderson, ECR Chapter President and coordinator of the volunteer project, showed the determination that is necessary for the job.
Cliff was always ready and eager to share his knowledge about tree growth and structure with the folks. He explains the basics of a technique to trainee Linda Burgess.
Mike Conner, a well-seasoned warrior against invasive and aggressive species on his own property, attacked and conquered several large and difficult trunks of privet.
Mariann Buegler showed her grit and fortitude and is now at the final stages of the process using a spray bottle of 70% alcohol and a scrub pad.
Catherine Johnson and Carolyn inspect the progress on a girdle.
Debbie Sorenson and Liz Lewis are rightfully proud of their finished girdling job. Great work!
For an instructional guide on girdling of invasive species, watch “Girdling Invasive Trees with Cliff Tyllick” below (this is the same one that our other tree girdling post featured):
Not only did we learn about the technique of girdling to eliminate invasive species without the use of herbicides from Cliff, we also learned about the detrimental effects of invasive species in the natural ecology.
Linda and Cliff
To view one of the Glossy Privets attacked by the group, see my iNat observation at: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/108564382. The privet will be revisited several times in the future to document its demise and the success of the workday by a remarkable group of ECR volunteers.
