Yesterday was the first field trip for our 2020 class and some tag-along Chapter members. We literally visited a field! What a beautiful field it was, however, and we are grateful to Nancy Webber for inviting us to share the property she has been managing as a wildscape for over a decade.
Heading out for the walk, Nancy explains how she manages her property.
After a bit of gawking at the beautiful off-grid home on the property, complete with huge cistern, solar panels, and blazing wood stove, Nancy led the class through the riparian area and meadows in her property, somewhere between Davilla and Bartlett. She presented so much information about her property, how they manage it, and what they do with it.
The prairie area looking back at the house
The riparian area
We had fun spotting prickly pear that they dug up and hung from trees to propagate no more, and marveled at how few mesquite there were. On the other hand, the possumhaw was glorious, and everywhere!
Not my best possumhaw photo, but you get the idea.
We saw and heard many birds, which was great fun to the birders among us. A ladderback woodpecker and American robins were highlights, though there were many more. We knew there were also plenty of raptors around by the evidence of many former mourning doves.
Former dove.
We had fun finding dens of some of the local mammals (one of which had an interesting musky smell), spider webs in trees and on top of holes, and even a grasshopper and a sulphur butterfly.
The spider just left before I could take the picture!
Another fun activity was spotting the cool things the property owners had done to honor the nature in the area, such as decorated trees, a “portal,” and an entire area featuring various bones hanging from the trees. It’s a great place to play “guess the carcass!”
The portal
Amazing tree
Natural arch
Snake bones
Blooming tree that won’t identify itself
The two hours flew by, since the weather was pleasantly cool and the mud wasn’t bad at all. A couple of us lagged behind as we got all involved in plant identification and taking photos for iNaturalist. We just can’t help it, plus one was a new one to us (fringed puccoon, pictured below). I think Ann Collins and I may have hooked one of our class members on our hobby!
Fringed puccoon (Lithospermum incisum), an umbrella paper wasp nest, and my best lichen photo ever.
I wish we could tour more property of our members, to see how they differ. Hope you enjoy my photos. I am sparing you most of my iNaturalist photos!
I had a need to buy chickens last weekend, so I took the female members of my family over to Bird and Bee Farm to get them. The chickens I got were great, and you can read about them here. But my real point was to share how much has been going on at the Wildscape project over there. Much of the work is led by our own Catherine Johnson.
The entrance shows all their certifications. The chicken house is in the rear.
I was impressed that there was so much in bloom in the middle of January, and equally impressed by how charming the design of the project is. There are so many sweet surprises lurking among the recycled material being used to create planters, edging and decorations.
Many of our members are strong believers of practicing what they preach and recycling or re-using materials as much as possible, and a tour of the wildscape provides a lot of good ideas. All sorts of kitchen and farming implements have found their way into the beds.
Of course, there were kitties to provide natural pest control. Rodents love bird food, and kitties love rodents!
Lots of flowers!
I also enjoyed watching the natural insect pest control in action as the guinea fowl and Rio Grande turkeys roamed the area.
Rio Grande turkey wants in the wildscape. Nope, it’s not for you.
It made me happy that Cindy Rek, one of the owners of the farm, used my guinea fowl photo to sell some of the guinea flock online! It’s great to be able to give back to folks who give so much to the community, our plants, and our animal friends.
Every year, the Audubon Society sponsors the Christmas Bird Count. This year counts will be held from December 14, 2019-January 5, 2020. It’s very important for keeping up with rising and falling bird populations in the US. You can participate in many ways.
One nearby project came to us via Kyle Watter, a park ranger with the US Army Corps of Engineers at Proctor Lake in Comanche, Texas. He wrote:
January 4th, we are hosting our second annual Christmas Bird Count. Last year, we recorded 99 species at our lake. The count incorporates six driving routes, each of which includes a portion of federal property. Some of the properties are off-limits to the general public or are quite remote.
email, November 25, 2019
If you’d like to head to Proctor Lake, contact Kyle at Kyle.J.Watter@usace.army.mil or call the lake office at 254-879-2424.
While we may not live very close to Proctor Lake, we do have other opportunities to participate. The Bird Count project requires registration with a coordinator within one of the specified circles in this map. The circles are 15 mile radius. If one lives within one of the circles, they can register and sit in a lawn chair in their yard to count birds on the specified days. That is not our luck here in Milam County.
Here are the observation locations nearest to Cameron.
As you can see from the close-up above, there are several circles in easier driving distance for us, such as Granger Lake WMA, Buescher/Bastrop State Park in Bastrop County, and McKinney Roughs Nature Park in Bastrop County aren’t too bad. Linda Jo points out that she knows that in the past, ECR members have traveled to all these locations for training or volunteer events.
Linda Jo would like to especially recommend the McKinney Roughs location, because it is being led by Nicolaus Cowey, a very knowledgeable bird person. The count led by Sheila Hargis of the Lost Pines TMN chapter at Buescher/Bastrop would also be a worthwhile experience. Sue Ann really likes Granger Lake for its variety of shore birds.
Here is contact information on each of these locations. Contact the compiler to register and get more information:
Granger Date: Saturday, December 29 Compiler: Byron Stone Email: drbirdie@aol.com Granger Lake, in Williamson County, is 35 miles northwest of Austin. The area is significant due to its reputation for harboring threatened prairie species like MOUNTAIN PLOVER and SHORT-EARED OWL. Other specialties and expected species include a variety of duck and geese, BURROWING OWL, HORNED LARK, SPRAGUE’S PIPIT, LAPLAND LONGSPUR, MCCOWN’S LONGSPUR, and as many as 18 sparrow species, including HARRIS’S and LECONTE’S SPARROW. The area offers diverse habitat, and participants will have the opportunity to count open farmland, fresh water, riparian woodland, and Blackland Prairie habitat.
Lost Pines/McKinney Roughs Date: Friday, December 28 Compiler: Nicholas Cowey Email: nicholas.cowey@lcra.org This CBC is located in Bastrop County between the Bastrop CBC and Austin CBC circles and just a bit to the north. This count is a community collaboration between the Lower Colorado River Authority, Bastrop Audubon Society and the Lost Pines Master Naturalists. This year the count will take place Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018 and will include the properties of McKinney Roughs, Hyatt Lost Pines, Webberville, Utley, numerous rural areas around Elgin, many area county roads and neighborhoods including Crystal Lake, Bluebonnet Acres, Wilbarger Bend, Union Chapel and Young’s Prairie Road. The count also encompasses miles of the lower Colorado River. Count starts on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 6 am at McKinney Roughs Visitor Center. Plan to arrive by 5:30 am to meet up with your count group. Countdown will take place at 6:00 pm at the McKinney Roughs Visitors Center. Register online at https://goo.gl/fxDmvU.
Buescher – Bastrop State Parks Date: To Be Announced Compiler: Shelia Hargis Email: bastroptxcbc@gmail.com We need many birders to adequately survey the birds in the circle area to find all of the expected species and the rare species visiting the area. We would especially like to have some feeder watchers, so if you live within the circle and have bird feeders including hummingbird feeders, please consider participating in that way. All groups will begin their day from a location of their choosing. We will meet at the end of the day for the countdown. Email bastroptxcbc@gmail.com to register or visit our website at www.bastropcbc.com for more information as well as maps of the areas to be covered.
Perhaps there is a date and location you will be able to participate. This is a great opportunity to earn some end of the year volunteer hours. Please let Linda Jo know if you plan to participate, in case we want to coordinate rides.
Report hours as Cit. Sci. – Cornell / Audubon TMN Field Research Hours.
Are you eagerly plotting
out your itinerary for a day of frenzied shopping on Black Friday? Looking forward to the crowded aisles and
long lines at the checkout stations?
Can’t wait to join thousands of others bargain hunting for Christmas
season deals and gifts that the ads and commercials have been urging us to buy
because they are deemed necessary for happiness and fulfillment on Christmas
Day?
Photo by Ann Collins.
Just thinking about all that hassle makes me want to pull back into my shell, just like this three-toed box turtle shown on the left. Fellow ECR member Ann Collins observed this Terrapene carolina ssp. triunguis, a species of concern, in the suburbs of Milano in 2018.
I certainly will not be
charging out of my front door before dawn on Friday to spend my money and rub
elbows with other frenzied shoppers.
What I am doing is challenging all fellow El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist Chapter members and friends to an alternate activity for the day: The Black Friday Opt Out-Side Challenge.
On Saturday, October 12, 2019 the Rancheria Grande Chapter
of the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association
conducted a tour of several significant, certified sites along the El Camino
Real in Milam County.
Local history buffs John Pruett and Geri Burnett discussed county and trail history along the route.
The tour started in Cameron at 9:00am and ended back in Cameron at the Milam County Museum at 5pm.
Dr. Alston Thoms, Professor of Anthropology at A&M, and
Dave Cunningham provided rich and insightful commentary about Sugarloaf
Mountain and the surrounding area.
Dave Cunningham
The Tour began with an introduction by Dave Cunningham on
the Sugarloaf Bridge as well as a brief history of the area. Sugarloaf Mountain is privately owned and permission is needed for tours/hikes.
