Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
by Catherine Johnson
The baby monarch caterpillar I found is now a chrysalis, along with the Wildscape guys.
When they emerge, they may be the last monarchs to migrate.
They are hanging on to a silk web by a Cremaster-hook.
I gently moved the first chrysalises and repositioned them. They must be hanging upside down and with enough space to fully open their wings. If they dry with wrinkled wings, they do not survive.
by Donna Lewis
I have been getting numerous calls from people about this phenomenon.
Most of our purple martins have left our area for Brazil now. There could be a few lost souls who just don’t want to fly fast, but most have gone south. So, what is it that everyone is seeing, including myself?
We are seeing northern rough-winged swallows. They are in the same swallow family as the purple martins. Their Latin name is Stelgidopteryx serripennis. They are smaller and make much less noise. Unlike the martins, they fly closer to the ground to catch live insects. They also perch lower on fences. Their breasts are white and they have smaller blunt-looking tails.
The rough-winged swallows are going south also, but stop around Mexico. They are solitary unless they are migrating.
For me the way I really know them is that they are much quieter than our martin friends. But for a moment I was reminded of the Martins and it brought a smile to my face.
Have a wonderful stay in your winter retreat little friends.
by Sue Ann Kendall
One of my early Master Naturalist memories was learning about the Native Americans in our area from Alston Thoms, a professor at Texas A&M and friend to many in our chapter, especially Mike and Joyce Conner. I always looked forward to his presentations, whether in person or virtually. We had him scheduled to speak at this month’s chapter meeting, but we hadn’t heard from him. We just learned he passed away in June. I wanted to share our condolences to all his family, friends, students, and colleagues. He was a treasure trove of knowledge about the people who lived in Texas in the past.
I wrote a little about him and put a link to his memorial in my personal blog, and just wanted to share it here. If any of our chapter members would like to share more, please do.
And speaking of people who volunteer their time…yesterday, I also found out that one of our Master Naturalist mentors, an amazing human being named Alston Thoms had passed away in June, and we hadn’t heard about it… If you read his memorial page, you’ll see what a real treasure the world lost when his life ended. I learned so much about the Native Americans who lived in this part of Texas from him, and I always hungered to learn more. His teachings will live on through the work of his graduate students and the many Master Naturalists he generously taught through the years.
Here’s what I said about him in my blog from early in my Master Naturalist career:
We also had a very interesting speaker, Prof. Alston Thoms, an anthropologist from Texas A&M. He is an expert on Native American history, and focused the talk for us on what people ate in past centuries in this area. It was lots of roots and berries, cooked in earth ovens (which he does yearly for his grad students). The most “duh” moment came when he asked what the most common food source would have been. It took a while to realize that of course, it was the white-tailed deer. It’s been in the area as long as humans have, and always on the list for what’s for dinner!
Proud of Me, May 14, 2018
I could listen to this guy all day long.
So, please. If someone you care about is no longer with us, share your memories. They can mean a lot, even to people who didn’t know them, and the little things, their quirks, their stories, their adventures…they can mean more than you know to someone else.
by Catherine Johnson
While I was watering and checking milkweed at the Wildscape, I discovered for the first time, Monarch caterpillars.
So many creatures can kill them, and the fowl were roving (it is, after all, a chicken farm). I decided to take them home and raise them in my house. I have done much research on this topic and also took home milkweed stems.
They stayed in a covered container with damp paper towels in a warm bedroom. I have since received an enclosure and vials.
One baby from my house was added to three from the Wildscape.
One night the Wildscape Caterpillars formed J’s . Next morning, only one was alive and shaking. My baby was ok. I saw head parts in the paper towels and was relieved to see they had shed their skin for the last time and were now a green chrysalis. I left about 20 minutes and missed seeing the last one turn!
Baby is still going thru instars. Right before they emerge, I will space them out so they can spread their wings, dry and be released back to the Wildscape. We hope to release hundreds in the future.
Interesting fact: bigger caterpillars will eat babies emerging from eggs.
by Donna Lewis
Can you believe it is almost what us Texans would consider the end of summer? It is HOT!!! I would like to know when the humidity will go down and the temperatures lighten up just a tad.
For those of you who don’t know me, I hate cold weather. But now that I have matured (a nice way of saying I’m older), I do like it to be in the middle somewhere, say 70 to 80 degrees with no humidity.
Today as I walked through my garden, there were so many butterflies everywhere trying to find the last flowers of summer that were still blooming. I have sulphurs, queens, pipe vines, Gulf Coast fritillaries, black swallowtails, tiger swallowtails and an assortment of small skippers.
The zinnias are tired and ready to go back to Mother. The salvia are looking ragged. The cosmos, mist flowers, sunflowers, daisies , coneflowers and lots more are just pooped out. Now, the vines are at their best. Passion flowers, cypress vine, coral honeysuckle, and others like it hot. The milkweed also likes it hot and dry. I still have some of it, just no monarchs right now. I guess my little beauties will be with me to the end. I hope they are here a little longer, I love them so.
Drink a little nectar and carry on.
