The bats are in residence in a strip mall here in Cameron. I believe they are Mexican Free Tails. Every evening around 6:30 pm they exit their abode in search of the evening meal. I’m unsure where they get their water.
The still shot is of a bar that appears to have gotten a leg stuck in the sign panels. It survived there for at least three days. Unfortunately. I couldn’t get it loose.
Postcript
At our March chapter meeting, Michelle Lopez shared the results of our Milam County bat monitoring project from last year. In addition to Mexican free-tail bats, we have Tri-colored bats (these are rare), evening bats, big brown bats, and eastern red bats. Nine sites were monitored for a week each. Michelle spent countless hours analyzing the sound files.
Every year we combine our December Chapter meeting with a celebration, and this year we were grateful to have a lovely venue, the Yards of Cameron, and some truly delicious food courtesy of Barbara Dominguez. The decorations featured native yaupon holly that added a festive Texas touch. No wonder everyone was so full of gratitude and cheer!
The venueThe food
Our Chapter Meeting was poignant, because it featured fond farewells to our President and Vice President for the last four years, Carolyn Henderson and Liz Lewis. These women helped move our chapter forward after some challenging years thanks to their positive attitudes and encouragement. Leading a chapter is not easy, but Carolyn made it look so, even when we were occasionally unruly. She came up with some great activities and encouraged us all to participate in our great new projects. And Liz found us some speakers who increased our knowledge and inspired us to do new things.
Thank you!
Carolyn and Liz kindly gave some of the chapter members who helped her over the years lovely certificates and hugs. Most of them took it seriously, but I just HAD to make a goofy face.
Patricia Coombs and Catherine JohnsonLinda BurgessAlan RuddDebra SorensonMeMichelle LopezJackie Thornton
All the directors kept us cheerful by sharing their love and gratitude, as well. We welcomed Chad Cryer as our final 2025 class member to achieve their certification and coveted roadrunner pin, and we were thrilled to see our chapter friend, Rosie Johnson, receive her own honorary pin. She’s really helped us over the years at the Wildscape and with her donated plants.
ChadRosie the elf
Special recognition went to our top three iNaturalist contributors for 2025: Linda Jo Conn, Michelle Lopez, and Eric Neubauer. Keep it up, y’all!
We are also very grateful to welcome our new President, Marian Buegeler, and a former President as Vice President, Phyllis Shuffield. We’re in good hands!
Marian Phyllis
Our yearly white elephant gift exchange went so well this year that I forgot to take pictures. We had just enough coveted presents to exchange multiple beauties three times, so the final recipient got to keep them. Bird houses that looked like buildings and gifts with bonus peanut brittle were especially popular. Next year, let’s not break into the brittle until the gift is actually yours! (No, really, that was a lot of fun.)
Slightly used container of peanut brittle.
Speaking for me, your faithful blogger, I just want to thank all the El Camino Real Master Naturalist chapter members for their kindness to each other and ability to welcome all into their group with open arms. I just love how there’s something for everyone to contribute to and help promote the wildness of little Milam County and the rest of Texas. Enjoy some more party photos!
I am excited to introduce the new members of our chapter to you. They are in order: Carolyn M., Don F., Teresa (Terri) B., Kay F., Kathleen (Kit) T., Tina D., Bill D., and Chad C. I’m sure everyone who attended the party last night now knows them, but I wanted to make sure those who couldn’t attend and our online fans also know and can say hello if they run into them. I believe they are going to be a great group for our chapter. Let me add that Terri has also received Full Certification and her first pin and name tag, too.
Terri getting her pin
I also want to send out some thank yous to everyone that helped get this class through. We kept eight out of ten who registered. Eighty percent retention is a feat worth noting. Alan R. and Debra S. worked extra hard to train this group and get them to the end. Michelle Lopez attended every training session to make sure all the information was presented as intended by the speakers. Ellen L. also kept the potlucks organized with the help of Ann C. and Jackie T. According to Chad, it was a motivating factor. Several members attended most of the sessions to mentor the new members. Making contact goes a long way.
We had a full house!
Many thanks go out to Liz L. for co-organizing the party last night. She also bought flashlights for the new members that will show the unusual colors on some lichen that Chad taught us about. Patsy C. made some very nice certificates and also kept the class on their toes about their hours. Pamela N. made the official ceramic frog magnets for each member and the trainers. Several members contributed to the very good bar-b-que we had last night with potato salads and deserts.
New Members told stories and declared their favorite bird at the ceremony.
It just goes to prove that it really does take a village to get things done.
Thank you, Debra and Alan!Thank-you giftThank-you giftGift with a memory attached (which is why Alan is making a face)
Last but not least, you may want to send a big congratulations to Debbi H. on achieving 4,000 volunteer hours in TMN. We are waiting on the Presidential citation and pin to arrive for her. Ellen L also achieved 250 hours – a great deal of those hours occured being our hostess director.
Debbi has 4,000 hours!Ellen has 250 hours.Phyllis recertifiedAnn recertifiedCatherine recertified
Last Thursday at our regular Chapter Meeting, we enjoyed our annual celebration of the holidays, but it ended up more of a celebration of each other. The setting was one of the beautifully renovated buildings in downtown Cameron. Many attendees reminisced about shopping in the building when it was JC Penney – one of us even worked there as a teen. Well, it’s a beautiful event venue now!
Our new signs drew people in
Attendees enjoyed a beautiful charcuterie selection and delicious beverages before sitting down to a truly delightful meal prepared by Hot Corners Catering here in town. Barbara does great work! Our members decorated the place beautifully, as well, so it was quite a treat for the 45 members and friends at the event.
Sign-in table, gifts, and charcuterie!
After the meal we held our chapter meeting that included year-end reports from all the officers and committee chairs and welcomes to the new chairs. I was surprised during the iNaturalist cheerleader report by Linda Jo Conn, to get a nice certificate for doing WAY better than I’d expected at the Pollinator BioBlitz in October. I didn’t think anyone had noticed but me, but Linda Jo sees all.
Lisa relished her final reportPatsy looks forward to replacing Lisa for membershipDon tells us thanks to all who are taking over for himJanice reminded us to send in news itemsLinda Jo tells us how important iNat isI was really surprised
There were some very touching reports from outgoing officers, such as Don Travis, who has been the Communications Chair since our chapter started out. We sure appreciate his work on the amazing chapter website. All the outgoing chairs got certificates of appreciation.
Of course there were members to celebrate, as we have had 36 members recertify this year, the most in recent memory.
Members who recertified or achieved milestones this month
Then came a real surprise for everyone, when our President, Carolyn, and our incoming Training Class coordinator, Alan, started running through which attendees had held Chapter offices in the past. It turns out that they had decided (on their own, by the way) to hand out special pins for service to El Camino Real Master Naturalist. How about that? When my friend Phyllis and I realized we were about to get bald eagle pins, we knew what we had to do and we FLEW up to the presenters (at least in our minds). That’s what former Chapter Presidents do, you see.
Fly, eagles, fly
Other people who had served as officers and committee chairs in the past got different beautiful bird pins, too. It was fun to watch them come up and to see how many of us had served the chapter as officers and committee chairs. Some of the pins weren’t birds, but rather were animals that fit with what service they provided. I especially enjoyed that our frequent blogger, Donna Lewis, got a purple martin pin. That’s well deserved! And our resident spider expert, Eric Neubauer, got a tarantula, which was as close as they could come to a wolf spider.
They couldn’t get us Presidents and former Presidents to hold stillVice PresidentsSecretariesAdvanced Training coordinatorsHospitality chairsTreasurerDonna and her martinEric and his spider
As if all that wasn’t enough fun, we finished out the evening with our traditional Yankee Swap gift exchange. The usual plethora of bird feeders, bird baths, and bird houses were exchanged, along with other nature-themed gifts. Everyone seemed pretty happy with what they ended up with, even the funny gifts (after all, it’s supposed to be a white elephant exchange). I am afraid I got zero photos of the gifts, because I was tired from popping up and down to take photos earlier. So, you’ll just have to take my word for it. I’ll show you the gift I ended up with, which will turn into a butterfly feeder. The peace dove ornament came with it, and I love it best of all.
It will hang or stand (or sit on the ground)Yes, this IS my tree this year
We look forward to all the activities we’re doing next year, and hope you come along with us as we explore the nature of Milam County, Texas in all its glory.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 