Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
Members of our chapter participated in another successful First Friday at the Rockdale Library. Congratulations to our coordinator Debbi Harris and all who participated. There was a great turnout, and the refreshments were enjoyed by all.
by Eric Neubauer
Thanks to google maps updating the satellite view in my neighborhood, I have a recent look at the part of my property that is turning into a three-acre modern prairie with little help from me except for pulling up Johnson Grass.
As you can see, I’ve been wandering all over the place during the last year pulling the damned stuff except for the upper right, where I suspect there was a large rattler about a month ago. I’d also done little in the lower left until recently but have begun expanding and deepening an area prone to flooding. The property is generally flat, and there is a drainage swale running across the northeast corner. The runoff from an eight-acre hay field comes in from the southwest along several terraces.
After a dry spell, about the first 2″ of rain disappears into the Blackland cracks. So, there is little runoff except in winter and early spring, and flooding is rare; it can even skip a year. When they form, vernal ponds last a week to two weeks and make the frogs, toads, and plains crayfish very happy.
I believe the multiple paths have been a plus for wildlife. During the last year I’ve seen the return of jackrabbits, at least three does dropped their fawns in my yard, and at least the pairs of dickcissels have nested. Several other species of birds have brought their fledglings in for foraging. Recently a bobcat has been around at night, although I’ve never gotten a good look at it. Pretty good for a place with no permanent surface water.
Did I mention how many wolf spiders I host?
by Eric Neubauer
There’s an unnamed wolf spider species in the remote areas of TX, NM,AZ, and probably northern Mexico, which people have infrequently observed for years.
In early October, I stopped at the Eaton Hill Nature Center and Preserve high on a limestone hill in Sonora, TX. I did some spotlighting for spiders (of course I did) and found the unnamed spider was present in significant numbers although all were still juveniles.
Fast forward to November 24. The weather forecast was good and I took a chance and drove out to Sonora. Some nature center board members and some 4-H kids with parents arrived to help as the sun set. I could argue they were essential to my success, since they found all the best spiders. On the other hand they distracted me from finding much myself. All’s well that ends well.
Years ago, I found that studying wolf spiders as populations in their habitat was the best way to figure out what kind they were. We found juveniles to young to sex, female and male subadults, and female and male adults.
The adult male was a real shock. Initially I thought it was another unknown species. When I got a better look later, I realized it was simply a male of the unnamed species, though quite different from the juveniles and females.
This species is informally known as the Big-eyed Hogna in arachnologist circles, for obvious reasons. Until now no one had connected the adult males with this species. Now any unidentified male observations on the internet have increased value because we know what they are. I already found two from New Mexico.
by Linda Burgess
We have met several times at Bird and Bee Farm to harvest seeds for our newest El Camino Real Master Naturalist project.
Yesterday, November 26th, we met at the Cameron Public Library to start packaging the seeds. Our project has been embraced by Elena Berkes, the library’s Director. She even joined us yesterday!
Elena is letting us use the beautiful card catalog cabinets at the library to store our seeds and make them available to the public.
We made 275 seed packets yesterday! I was thrilled! I want to thank all the volunteers who have come to harvest seeds and those who came yesterday to package the seeds.
This will be an ongoing project and you will receive volunteer hours under Community Outreach- Indirect, as well as travel time.
I would love for you to collect seeds, native and adapted, to contribute. Just put your seeds in a brown paper bag or envelope, the name of the plant, and the date you collected the seeds.
I would like to say special thanks to Catherine Johnson (an expert in native and adapted plants)! She has helped me immensely.🎉
Come join us at our next gathering to package seeds, which will be on Tuesday, December 17th, at the Cameron Public Library.
by Catherine Johnson
We recently enjoyed a cool day at Milam Wildscape Project.
Many native plants are blooming and huge numbers of pollinators cover them, especially Monarch butterflies (the photos are of Queen butterflies).
We had fun seeing the farm animals as we walked to the peaceful Bird Sanctuary to view new benches.
Come visit the Wildscape to see fall color and winged visitors.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 