The Railroad Down Under

Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Eric Neubauer

I saw many things during my expedition around the lower half of the Texas Panhandle. Too many in fact to even summarize. So here is one thing I particularly noticed. I spent some time at Big Spring State Park after sunset.

The land was dry, and the spiders were scarce. Finally, I found a nice adult female Big-eyed Wolf Spider at the edge of the road near the entrance. This is only one of a growing number of fairly large
unnamed wolf spiders in the pipeline.

Big-eyed Wolf Spider, female

While preparing photos for iNaturalist, I was struck (not for the first time) by the rainbow colors on the chelicerae of this species. The chelicerae are analogous to human lips or jaws except for housing venomous spines at the ends and separating in a vertical plane. Wolf spiders often have bold or complex patterns, but here is something extremely delicate.

Face close up.

Starting earlier this year I added face shots to my routine. After all, this is what spiders see when they meet each other. In this case it captures a colorful detail that would have been missed and shows how big the eyes of the Big-eyed Wolf Spider really are. The white circles in six of the eyes are artifacts, reflections of the dedicated light ring that is part of my setup.

Messy Can Be Good at a Wildscape

Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Catherine Johnson

Kim and I ventured to the Wildscape during the recent tornado alert but only experienced high wind.

Kim and Kitty

We planted Texas Betony and still to be planted include Texas Sedge, Pine Muhly, Skull Cap, Chocolate Daisy and Gregg’s Mist.

The kitty was quite helpful.

Many plants are thriving and starting to bloom. The Mexican Plum is especially robust. Many Belly Botany wildflowers are attracting pollinators. 

In a recent video, Craig Hensley suggested leaving your garden a little messy; that is our Wildscape  now, but what a beauty. 

Go visit before it gets manicured, and bring your camera.

Earth Day Greetings from the Seed Library

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By Linda Burgess

(This was posted on Facebook yesterday)

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.

Volunteers at work

An Earth Day Gift for You

Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

Happy Earth Day!

by Sue Ann Kendall

First page of the brochure. Download the PDF to see it full size.

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.

By the way, we also have a checklist of all birds seen in Milam County (as identified in eBird and iNaturalist) that you can download and check off the birds you see.

Happy birding in our county!

Lots Going on at Wild Wings Bird Sanctuary

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by Sue Ann Kendall

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!

trees
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.

Look for beauty berries here.