It’s Earth Day! …. and a beautiful day to get outside and plant some wildflowers!
Wildflowers make bees happy!
The El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalists and the Little River Basin Master Gardeners, with the help of the Cameron Public Library, have created a free Seed Library for the public.
Volunteers packaging seeds
We have lots of native wildflowers, adapted plants, and some herbs. We are always adding new varieties, so come by and get a few packets of free seeds. We can’t wait to see our community become even more beautiful …and it’s a huge benefit to our environment. You’ll also feel joy from being outside and watching your seeds grow!
Thanks to the Cameron Public Library for hosting the seed library.
We had our monthly seed packaging at the Library on Earth Day. With Master Naturalists and Master Gardeners combined, we had 21 volunteers! We’re grateful to them all.
As Master Naturalists, we think every day is Earth Day, but today is the official day to honor and celebrate the planet where we and all the myriad lifeforms we share the planet with live. Please go out and do something to honor Mother Earth. Plant a plant, clean up some debris along a roadside, donate to your favorite environmental charity…something!
For Earth Day, the El Camino Real chapter has a gift for you. It will be helpful for those living in or visiting Milam County and the surrounding area, but works for most of Texas, too. It’s our Common Milam County Birds brochure! It features pictures of 35 of the birds you’re most likely to see in Milam County. We did our best to include photos you can use to identify birds you see, and are grateful to all who share their photos for nonprofit use on iNaturalist, because that’s where we got them. You can download the brochure and print as many copies as you’d like to share with friends, hand out at events, or display in your business.
We will have copies available at the Wild Wings Bird Sanctuary and any outreach events we hold, starting in May when the author gets back to Texas.
Female hummingbird on red yucca at the Hermits’ Rest Ranch in Milam County.
We would appreciate your feedback and ideas for improving the brochure.
We took a break from most of the projects at the bird sanctuary, but Gene has replaced the irrigation system, installed our benches, and kept the area mowed. The Reks and Ann Collins have been keeping the feeders loaded, and we’re happy to report hummingbirds are aware of this!
The sanctuary is all green and leafed out now.
Yesterday we held a well-attended Wild Wings committee meeting and divided up projects and tasks among the attendees. We are always looking for more helpers, so feel free to contact Ann if you have ideas!
Making plans and enjoying the weather.
We now have a mailbox where we will store bird lists, brochures, and a guest book for visitors (which is being made by a bookbinder friend). It will be up soon, so look for it if you come by. We made a schedule for filling the feeders, so that more people will have the opportunity to help with that task, and most important, we tallied the birds we heard and saw at the sanctuary! Look for updated tallies in on our website in the next few days.
Most exciting for our visitors is that we have events scheduled! Here are some highlights:
April 26 join us during the day to participate in the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge event. We can help get you signed up as a participant.
May 17 our experts will provide a hands-on workshop in using Merlin Bird ID. It starts at 10am. Bring your phone!
In the autumn we hope to have a lichen walk, where Master Naturalist experts will share the fascinating variety found here.
Check this blog for more events!
We are also preparing visitor resources. I made one of the bird checklists we are going to have available, an alphabetical list of birds seen in Milam County. Some are common and some are rare. We will link to a PDF of it so you can see what birds you can find. Next will be a list arranged by bird type, which is preferred by experienced birders.
Our team has many talents to bring to Wild Wings!
After that I’ll work on a color brochure of the most common birds seen in Milam County. Wish me luck; I’m not a graphic designer but I’m the designated “computer person.” We selected 23 birds to share and are excited about the project.
Other items in the works are bluebird houses and signage, so our potential visitors can find us! Until then, visit our main website for hours and directions. This is a great time of year to enjoy wildlife in the countryside.
The Wildscape is especially dry for this time of year. Good news is a lot of weeds have shriveled. The pictures include super tough Elbow Bush, Evergreen Sumac, Inland Sea Oats, Sideoats Grama, and the Bug Patrol. We started with 20 roots of native purple Tall Asters and now have thousands to give away. Contact me if you want any.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 