submitted by Catherine Johnson
We thought you might enjoy this little video of the event our chapter helped out with at Bird and Bee Farm for the Girl Scouts of Milam County. Enjoy the bobwhite quail release!
Category: Volunteer Opportunities
In the Media: Citizen Scientists
By Sue Ann Kendall
Do you get the Texas Co-op Power magazine? It’s actually one of my favorites. The writing is great, and I’m always learning something about rural Texas on its pages.
This month, I was excited to see “citizen scientists” right on the cover. Who could they be talking about? Sure enough, when I turned to page 8, there was a lovely article all about opportunities to contribute to science around the state.
Though the article talks about many opportunities, we’re in there, too. Some of our favorite projects, like CoCoRaHS, are mentioned, along with Nature Trackers and iNaturalist. There are photos of Tania Homayoun and Craig Hensley doing their stuff for Texas Parks and Wildlife and using iNaturalist.
Of course, there has to be a tie-in to electric co-ops. Who could be better than our own Linda Jo Conn! Yep, she gets quoted! We can charitably ignore the lack of capitalization when they mention Texas Master Naturalists.
So, if you get your electricity from one of the amazing Texas rural electric co-ops, don’t throw away your monthly magazine this month! If you don’t get the magazine, never fear. It’s online right here.
It makes you proud to be a citizen scientist, even though that’s not the preferred term for many people, who now say “community scientist” instead. Well, we know who we are.
Milam Wildscape New Acquisitions
by Catherine Johnson
Wholesalers are offering sales now, so new natives have been acquired for the Milam Wildscape. They include Mexican bush sage, Convent sage, Benny’s acanthus, Mexican flame vine, Dwarf Barbados cherry, and Fragrant mist flower.
Humidity is causing fungus on some plants, but most are thriving. We will have many native plants, seeds and cuttings to give away in the fall.
Please click on any photo to see the entire image.
Adagio grass in bloom 
Buffalo grass for picnic area 
Carolyn’s spinach vine 
Girl Scout milkweed growing 
Flame-leaf sumac 
Hibiscus 
Guinea fowl on patrol 
Repurposed door 
Pink Turk’s cap 
Statuary 
Frogs 
Frogs 
Cindy’s thrift store finds
So Many Moths, So Little Time
by Linda Jo Conn
Last week I turned on my porch light every night at “dark thirty” to attract moths I could photograph and submit to the National Moth Week 2021 project on iNaturalist.org. This year was a bit cooler and more moist than most of the past years, and also a bit brighter because of the full moon. Although I thought I did pretty well with my very basic mothing equipment and a “point-shoot-and-hope” camera, I was amazed by the quality and quantity of observations my Texas Master Naturalist / iNaturalist friends across the state of Texas submitted.
You can visit my moth week observations at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&project_id=103786&user_id=26296&verifiable=any.
If you are inclined to add an identification, comment, or correction, please feel free to do so.
One thing I have learned… There are so many, many moths and I will never have enough time to master the ID of even a small fraction.
El Camino Real Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists Holds Event for Girl Scouts
by Carolyn Henderson, with additional photos from Linda Jo Conn
Young girls with boundless curiosity swarmed the Birds and Bees Wildscape Saturday, July 17, to perform public service in honor of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Girl Scouts of the USA. The El Camino Real chapter of Texas Master Naturalists hosted the event.
Approximately 40 scouts and their leaders and parents attended the event. It started with talks given by Catherine Johnson, Donna Lewis and Alan Rudd. An additional 15 ECRMN members helped the girls.
Donna Lewis spoke to them about planting milkweed to help promote the continuation of monarch butterflies. Alan Rudd spoke about the control of mosquitos with a totally natural method. Many adults were particularly interested in controlling mosquitos. The scouts then put that information into practice by planting milkweed in several sections of the wildscape.
The girls and members were also excited to watch the release of many Bob-white quail into the pasture at the Bird and Bee Farm. The pasture is in the process of being returned to its natural state, and the quail were released to try to repopulate the area with a native bird that once was abundant in the area. They are rarely found east of I-35 now.
The girls also found stray eggs laid by other birds on the farm [guinea fowl], and monarch caterpillars that were already on the Milkweed plants that were to be planted Saturday. It was an informative and entertaining day for everyone and the scouts left with bags full of goodies and some native Texas plants to grow at home.
So much went on! Enjoy more photos, as well as some taken by Linda Jo Conn. What a fun day! Click a photo to see it enlarged.
Scouts and troop leaders plant Milkweed 
Alan Rudd talks about “Wigglers” ( early stage mosquitos) to the girls 
Girl Scouts, GS leaders and ECRMN members wait for the quail release 
Mature quail released into the wild 
Girl Scout holds a baby quail. It was not released – too young 
Debi, Eric, and Scott look on as Girl Scouts plant milkweed 
Catherine Johnson gives her presentation 
Donna Lewis shows how monarchs fly to Mexico 
Phyllis Shuffield talks as Gene Rek of Bird and Bee Farm looks on 
Alan lends a hand with planting 
Milkweed with a bonus (another view)
Nature Along the El Camino Real 