Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
by Donna Lewis
The first tiny monarch caterpillar in my garden for this year! It is a first instar and very little. Of course, the only milkweed I have right now is pretty tiny also.
The photo is not the best, because the wind was really blowing the camera around.
Still, it’s pretty exciting to see the little thing that will grow up to be a magnificent monarch butterfly.
Reach for the stars, little one.
by Donna Lewis
My favorite little frog was sitting in one of the frog tubes that I made and installed in the garden.
Mike Conner put the instructions on our website Easy to make.
(editor’s note: I looked for the instructions on the website but couldn’t find them. I did find this link to Texas Parks and Wildlife’s YouTube instructions and am sharing the video below! Fun.)
It is a Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea). I just love them. They look so sweet. This baby did not move an inch when I walked right up to it.
I actually didn’t see it until I was close because I was cleaning up part of my garden where the little froggy house is. I didn’t want to get too close and scare it.
These frogs like to be near area’s where it is moist and protected. I have it attached to a trellis with vines on it. So, it’s shady and moist and the frog can hide out under the trellis.
What a nice surprise.
by Sue Ann Kendall
Sometimes it’s fun to observe a natural object over time. I tried this with a mushroom I found on my property, the Hermits’ Rest Ranch in northern Milam County. On March 29, I saw what appeared to be an egg in the field in front of our house. When I looked more closely, I realized it was a large mushroom. Of course, I photographed it. My whole family laughs at how I photograph everything.
I dutifully went to iNaturalist and recorded my observation. I thought it might be a puffball, but it appeared to be a Common Earthball, Scleroderma citrinum. Sadly, no one has confirmed it.
Wikipedia tells us that it’s the most common of its ilk in both the US and the UK. I’d never seen one before, however. It sure was large. Here are some facts about the earthball:
Earthballs are superficially similar to, and considered look-alikes of, the edible puffball (particularly Apioperdon pyriforme), but whereas the puffball has a single opening on top through which the spores are dispersed, the earthball just breaks up to release the spores. Moreover, Scleroderma citrinum has much firmer flesh and a dark gleba (interior) much earlier in development than puffballs. Scleroderma citrinum has no stem but is attached to the soil by mycelial cords. The peridium, or outer wall, is thick and firm, usually ochre yellow externally with irregular warts.
Scleroderma citrinum can be mistaken with truffles by inexperienced mushroom hunters. Ingestion of Scleroderma citrinum can cause gastrointestinal distress in humans and animals, and some individuals may experience lacrimation, rhinitis and rhinorrhea, and conjunctivitis from exposure to its spores.
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scleroderma_citrinum
The next day, when I came back, the earthball had grown a lot. I used my ear bud as a comparison (I didn’t have a coin, which is traditional).
Next time, it had grown even more. Luckily I’d just been gathering eggs, so I got some nice shots. That’s the biggest mushroom I ever saw.
After that, I got curious about its lifecycle, so I decided to photograph it every day. Since it’s poisonous, I didn’t lick it. And, before you ask, the dogs are on the other side of a fence from it.
I was afraid I’d miss yesterday, since I was scheduled to go to a conference yesterday and today. “Luckily” the conference was canceled. Unluckily, I didn’t find out until I had already spent a night in Kerrville. (The TXPWD were kind and repaid my hotel bill, since it was their error that some attendees weren’t notified.) Anyway, I got home to find it had finally burst open.
There sure were a LOT of spores in there. Since yesterday was so windy that there was a Red Flag warning in the county, I figure there may be future earthballs all over the place!
This morning, my buddy looks pretty sad. But I’m impressed the mushroom hung around for over 11 days! I’ve learned something about the Common Earthball, and so have you!
by Carolyn Henderson
Aren’t all weeds native? Ha!
Weeds were the call of the day when a dedicated group of El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist members showed up at the Birds and Bees Wildscape Saturday. There were plenty of them calling.
Members Gene and Cindy Rek own the Bird and Bee Farm, and they have allotted space to ECRTMN to grow a wildscape for use in educating people and spreading native plants to interested citizens. They are converting the acreage they have to native plants and grasses. These efforts have brought about an award from the Texas Environmental Quality Commission.
The TEQC is going to come out and video interviews with the Reks and a couple other members of ECRTMN. Catherine Johnson, manager of the ECR part, called for a clean-up day to make the wildscape more presentable for its “two minutes” of fame. More information on the award will be discussed when more is known about it.
Catherine, Donna Lewis, Scott Berger, Linda Burgess, Eric Neubauer, Debra Sorenson, Alan Rudd and his son, Adam, Cindy Rek, Jackie Thornton, and I knocked out a good portion of the clean-up but had to avoid some for ant treatments. Bees, unusual flies, spiders, and a few butterflies were already there, too. There are not yet many flowers. Everything is slow coming back this year, and I believe that is statewide, according to Texas Nature Trackers – TMN. In another week or so, I believe it will be in full growth mode.
Alan and Adam finished a storage building they had started at the wildscape. It is a great building for the site, and now all the planting pots that we save to share with others will not blow all over the place.
There was also a good amount of fellowship – especially around the table where all the goodies were that Catherine baked and brought for us. We went home having eaten a lot of chocolate and honey tea from Cindy.
There’s more to be done in a short period of time, so if any members have time and an urge to pull weeds (Catherine treated the two spaces that had ant problems), the gate is usually open.
by Michelle Lopez
I went on a field trip to the Leach Teaching Gardens at Texas A&M and saw some burgundy bluebonnets (genetically altered). I’m not sure what to think about that, being from Austin and a UT fan…
I decided to take the back roads coming back to Cameron so I could stop along the way and take pictures of wildflowers. Several times I saw flowers, then had to find a safe place to pull over and hike back to the flowers to get pictures.
It was worth it, I saw flowers that I’ve never seen before and huge pastures of flowers, it was so beautiful. I continue to be amazed at the beautiful things of nature that are everywhere around us.
You really just need to take the time to stop and see the small things.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 