Chapter Meetings – Page 2 – Nature Along the El Camino Real

Fifteen Years Have Flown By

June 9, 2023 Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall2 Comments

by Sue Ann Kendall

On Thursday, June 8, members of the El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist had a fabulous time celebrating fifteen years as a chapter. We stuck with it, survived some hard times, dealt with a pandemic, and have emerged strong and active in Milam County. All members and friends, past and present, should give themselves a pat on the back!

Here we are applauding the original members who joined us as we celebrated.

Our hospitality committee outdid themselves in creating a beautiful setting for a combined educational meeting and celebration. We started with a festive potluck mean, followed by a special selection of desserts. The cake was chocolate with cherry filling. and it was covered with flowers, butterflies, and other natural delights. There were also cupcakes that looked like beautiful flowers.

We were honored that Paul and Jan Unger joined us from Fredericksburg, where they are currently living, to help us remember our origins. Paul was the first president of the chapter. He was one of the entertaining and extra educational speakers who told those of us who have joined the program more recently learn how we got to have such a thriving organization.

The Ungers are joined by Mike Mitchell and Ann Collins, the masterminds of our chapter.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the speakers at the celebration. I learned so much (not all of it having anything to do with Master Naturalists, but that’s because there was so much good-natured ribbing going on). The evening started out with our current president and vice president, Carolyn Henderson and Liz Lewis, welcoming us all and sharing insights into today’s chapter.

Then Phyllis Shuffield, a member of the first class, who was the president of the chapter when I joined, came up to introduce our founders. Since Phyllis is one of the best story-tellers I know, I really enjoyed finding out how she met Mike Mitchell stalking her property. Spoiler: he was the Game Warden and was looking for poachers. But she got him to turn quite red by the time she was finished. She then welcomed Ann Collins to the stage.

I wish we’d recorded Ann’s talk. Hmm, as I look at the photo above, I see she did write it all down. Maybe she’ll send me her notes and I can write them up. I’ve done it before! Ann’s story of how she became a naturalist reminded me of the protagonist of Where the Crawdads Sing. Ann ran wild and free down by an East Texas creek, educated by her own curiosity and some great mentors. She lived in the Center of Civilization (Cameron) after her girlhood, and just kept learning as she raised her children and moved around Texas. She served as a docent at so many interesting places…and learned from so many great teachers…no wonder she knows pretty much every bird and plant she encounters.

And Ann is STILL excited about nature, every day!

She’s one persistent human, too. The path to getting our chapter started had many stops and starts, including a stint as a Master Gardener (even though she is NOT actually a gardener), and taking a Master Naturalist class in College Station that was full of PhDs who intimidated her until she figured out they were just people, too. Putting Ann together with Mike, our other co-founder, created a dynamic duo who would stop at nothing to get Milam County its own chapter.

Mike explaining some of the chapter treasures he brought along.

And yes, Mike Mitchell spoke next. He was our first chapter advisor and is proud to point out he is a friend of our chapter, not a member. For some reason, tracking his hours doesn’t appeal to him. But he has a Friend pin! What Mike did do was spend his off-work time and money getting the chapter documents together, creating a curriculum for the first training class, and publicizing El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist. He still has his first outlines, the first class schedule, and many more amazing artifacts from starting our chapter.

They guys who supported and approved the new chapter.

Mike also acknowledged Don Travis, our webmaster and record keeper.

Listening to Mike made me truly appreciate the effort those dedicated naturalists had to undertake to get us up and running as well as the pioneer spirit of those first class members. It’s impressive that so many of them are still with us and continuing to actively contribute to the chapter.

We honored those who have passed on, such as Katherine Bedrich, and learned where some of the others now are. I was grateful for the chance to acknowledge those who couldn’t join us

I’m very grateful that Mike’s still our friend, still speaking to dozens of new Master Naturalist classes each year, and planning to present at the next Annual Meeting. He’s a lot of fun to hang out with, as I’ve learned from past meetings.

The work of our chapter does continue, so we took a short time to have a regular meeting. Of course, we honored the latest members to obtain their yearly recertification. Patricia Coombs attained both her initial certification as a new member and her additional yearly certification!

Congratulations on receiving your 2023 pins! Patricia Coombs, Carolyn Henderson (who presented the pins), Janice Johnson, and Debra Sorensen.

After our meeting, I took pictures of the members of each of our past training classes who were at the gathering. That was a lot of fun, and it was so good to see the legacy of our chapter as it continues. Click on any picture to enlarge it.

2008: Paul Unger, Don Travis, Mike Mitchell, Ann Collins, Phyllis Shuffield, and Sandra Dworaczyk

Interested in learning all about the nature in Texas? Let us know and we’ll contact you about our next training class. Visitors are always welcome at our monthly meetings, and you can become a Friend of El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist if you attend more than two meetings and intend to take the next class. Join us!

You, too, could get a pansy ring off a cake!

Training Class Update: Fun with Bugs

March 3, 2023 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Carolyn Henderson

The El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist training class was treated to a great program about bugs by Wizzie Brown, entomologist for TAMU AgriLife Extension in Travis County. Even the long-time members learned many new facts about Texas bugs. Ms. Brown’s favorite bug is a roach. That happens to be my least favorite. I’ve attached the ways to connect with her.

The Travis County AgriLife Extension office does blogs, programs, and YouTube posts about all things Texas nature. Many of these will give you AT hours while enthralling your interest in nature. If you email Ms. Brown, you can get on the email list that gets everyone notified of what is available. Kathy Lester, student trainer, emailed all the PowerPoint screens to everyone. The talk was even more informative.

At our regular meeting, March 9, Debbi Harris will teach us how to compost with worms.

wizzie-brown-entomologist-contact-sheet Download

Fish Ear Bones

November 11, 2022 Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall2 Comments

by Sue Ann Kendall

Last night, our Chapter Meeting speaker was our own Alan Rudd. He happens to know a lot about fish, thanks to his training and profession of managing fisheries and lakes. He used his knowledge to show us all how little things we think don’t matter can have huge significance for those of us studying the natural world.

I have to say he had some excellent props for his talk. The first one he broke out was a dead fish. Yep. Alan proceeded to start the dissection process on a nice-sized crappie (a delicious member of the sunfish family). All he did was break its neck and extract something very small with his tweezers.

*Ready to work on the fish. The tweezers are important!*

What was it? It was a stone-like thing that grows in the ears of all fish, called an otolith or ear-stone. Every fish has them. It helps them hear. What use could that tiny thing be to research? Alan had wondered that himself, when he first studied fish anatomy.

It turns out that otoliths are pretty cool. They are not bones, but more like stones. You see, bones grow in a process of taking away parts and growing new ones, thanks to components of bone called osteoblasts and osteoclasts. That’s how we get the porosity of our bones.

*The only way I could remember this was to take a picture.*

The ear-stones in fish grow by depositing new layers, like an oyster grows. So, they end up being solid. The stones in different types of fish look different, too, so you can tell where one came from even if the fish isn’t there. It turns out you can learn a lot from them, after all.

*Not shown: the people who were grossed out by this whole process.*

Alan shared with us a collection of ear stones from fish he’d harvested lately. They were very light, but quite hard. Then he shared how he came to find out how they help research.

*Alan is asking who gives a rat’s patoot about all those teeny tiny bones in baby fish?*

He spent a summer doing research on salmon in the Pacific Ocean, abord a gigantic Japanese fishing boat, which had a whole fleet of other boats along with it. In addition to Alan, there was another American who was researching Dall’s dolphins, who sometimes got caught in the giant nets (over a thousand miles were put out every night–that adds up to a lot of salmon). Thanks to the other researcher freezing dolphins that had drowned and sending them off to research facilities, it was discovered exactly what the dolphins ate in the wild. How? By identifying ear-stones in their stomachs! Previously, it had been thought that the dolphins only ate squid, because all they found in formaldehyde-stored specimens were their beaks and that big bone they have. Freezing gave more info and saved the ear-stones. Progress. Yes.

Alan also shared how research had found that fish deposit a white layer every May (no one knows why) in their ear-stones. This lets you figure out many things about a particular fish. You can count the rings to see how old it was, but you can also inspect how closely together the rings are to determine how fast or slowly the fish grew. For commercial fisheries, you want fast-growing and healthy fish, and you can check on that by ear-stones. Who knew?

Bonus fact: Alan once found a 12-year-old fish in a very acidic lake. Its slow growth had let it live longer. Huh.

Bonus fact 2: Crappie breed every year at the full moon in March. They swim around looking at the moon until the right time (I made that part up).

I assure you this knowledge was much more fun to acquire via Alan’s talk. He is a good speaker, and his theme that knowledge builds slowly on the work of past researchers made a good point. Even the little things we discover doing citizen science can help someone make a big discovery someday.

Learning about Vultures at the Chapter Meeting and Beyond

September 11, 2022September 11, 2022 Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall1 Comment

by Sue Ann Kendall

The September Chapter Meeting presentation for El Camino Real Master Naturalist was by Debbi Sorenson, who has been observing vultures on her property for years and decided to do some research on these fascinating scavengers.

Debbi listens to questions and comments during her presentation

We learned how to distinguish our two resident vultures, the turkey vulture and the black vulture from each other. The easiest way is to look at their heads. Turkey vultures have red heads and black vultures have black heads. In flight, turkey vultures have white on their lower wings, while black vultures just have white “fingers” or wing-tips. The turkey vultures are also a little larger.

Other interesting tidbits I gleaned were that turkey vultures are almost exclusively carrion feeders an find their food through extra-sensitive senses of smell. Black vultures both hunt and eat carrion and use sight to locate their food. They often see the red vultures eating and take over from them. I’ve seen this at my house.

These black vultures at my ranch found a dead snapping turtle that turkey vultures were eating, and took over.

Debbie also shared the ranges of both birds and told us about their breeding behavior, which is to lay two eggs in abandoned buildings or dead trees and raise them there. George Bowman, a visitor to our meeting, shared how he had a baby vulture raised on his front porch this year (which many of us had enjoyed on Facebook). He ended up with a poopy porch, but a successful fledging of the baby.

Debbi shared that their barn is a vulture nesting headquarters for a pair, and that they enjoyed watching one with just stumps for feet (Old Peg) as it grew. Debbi shares her garbage with them and gets lots of observations in return. I also enjoy watching them. They are graceful in the air but are pretty fun on the ground. I love to watch them as they hop, hop, hop around my tank behind the house.

I guess Debbi isn’t alone in enjoying vultures and their behavior. She had lots of questions to answer, and she also explained that our other resident carrion eater, the crested caracara, is not a vulture at all, but is a falcon, also known as the Mexican eagle.

Here’s what you call a group of vultures, depending on what they are doing.

Our meeting concluded with the recognition of two of our members. Congratulations to Alan Rudd and Scott Berger for getting their annual recertification for forty volunteer hours and eight advanced training hours. And Scott received a milestone recognition for 250 hours contributing to the Master Naturalist organization. We appreciate our members!

Our membership chair, Lisa Milewski and our chapter President, Carolyn Henderson, enjoyed sharing the recognition.

Learning about Turkeys and Celebrating Our Members

August 12, 2022 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Sue Ann Kendall

For those of you who are not (yet) members of a Master Naturalist chapter, I just want to share how much you can learn and how amazing the people you meet can be. Last night was a great example. Our Chapter Meeting speaker was a young PhD candidate named Amanda Beckmann. She studies Rio Grande wild turkeys at Texas A&M. El Camino Real Chapter member and turkey enthusiast Cindy Rek introduced her and shared how she met Amanda thanks to her Master Naturalist connections. Here are my notes from the presentation.

Amanda shows us where her turkey feather samples came from.

Wild turkeys live here in the US and northern Mexico, while Ocellated turkeys live further south in Mexico and in Central America (they look like a mix between a turkey and a peacock). There are five subspecies of wild turkeys. Turkeys were domesticated in North America two separate times, and soon they were being moved outside their natural range.

In the 1920s turkeys were eliminated in most of their natural range and attempts to reintroduce them in the 1940s didn’t work. There was more success using translocation and introductions starting in the 1950s to today. Around 5 million in 2014.

There are now Rio Grande turkeys in the Western US and Hawaii. All kinds of turkeys are moving around, and hybrids are happening. Hunting all five subspecies of turkey is called a Grand Slam. Amanda’s research is to help map the subspecies using genetic data collected by hunters. She is interested in what we can learn about Rio Grande turkeys as opposed to the Eastern.

Notice that she has a cool turkey shirt on!

Baby turkeys are poults. They eat insects (older turkeys eat mostly vegetation). The breeding system of males involves gathering in large numbers called a lek. The Easterns don’t have as much of a lek, due to fewer open areas to group in.

Amanda’s research has looked into the effect of domestication and feral environments versus urban and wild turkeys, in different populations.

She also shared with us this resource for further reading: Illumination in the Flatwoods, which is a book and PBS documentary on poult behavior. The link is to Amazon.com.

After the speaker, we held our usual meeting. I was struck by how much work goes into each meeting (I’m glad I was there to help our substitute sound man and A/V guy in his first solo outing!). The decorations our hospitality team sets out are always so pretty (this week was a beach theme). And it always impresses me how much hard work our members do to get their annual recertification pins! Plus, our hard-working record-keeper, Lisa Milewski manages to keep track of our hours, order pins, and make sure we have a clue as to what we are doing with our volunteer time. She’s always so cheerful, as is our President, Carolyn Henderson, which you can see in the photo. She can herd cats with the best of them!

Eric Neubauer got his pin last month, but had his official photo last night.

While I’m gushing, I want to say that there were many kind things said about Donna Lewis, whose blog posts you all enjoy right here. She made the 10,000 volunteer hour milestone recently. That’s an incredible amount of finding monthly speakers, taking care of birds, speaking at events, writing blog posts, and much, much more. It’s great to have her as a friend and mentor in our chapter. We will get a photo of her NEXT month, I hope!

Members and visitors enjoy our meeting. We are lucky to have them all.

We had visitors at our meeting, too. You are welcome to come any time you’re in Cameron on the second Thursday of the month. We’re at the Episcopal Church meeting room with potluck starting at 5:30 and the speaker at 6. Come join us!