Nature Along the El Camino Real
Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
by Catherine Johnson and Sue Ann Kendall
Today, Cathy is sharing some of the wildlife she’s found around her home outside of Rockdale. That moth is amazing, isn’t it? We hope you enjoy this photo essay!
From top left, clockwise: Gulf Coast Toad and toad house, black witch moth (I think), wolf spider, milk snails, leopard frog.
Snake adventures at our house continue.
Sami the dachshund found a copperhead by our back door. Yes, it is gone.
I have too many outdoor pets to worry about. We see more snakes because we are outdoor people. We have been lucky except for one year when we had 18 copperheads around our house.
Later today, we found Sandy had also been bitten.
Warrior Princess!
The Milam Wildscape Project is within the 100-acre prairie Bird and Bee Farm. Mr. Rek’s parents originally owned the land, and the garden is named after his Mom, Rose.
The garden is bursting with wildflowers, natives, bushes, trees, and vines. Milkweed will be planted soon. Many creatures call the garden home.
Two new additions are a large metal sculpture for photo ops and LED lighting that covers the entire Wildscape!
A new garden room is under construction with donated tin from Donna Lewis.
Before the shutdown, the Rek’s sold over 1,000 chickens in 21 days. Everyone wants to go back to nature😊.
They will reopen the end of May and are also incubating Rio Grande turkeys now. Available later this year will be custom chicken houses.
Aside from future nature programs, we plan to have a Master Naturalist table on some weekends. If any chapter members would like to earn Volunteer Hours for working in the Wildscape, email me. You will able to work ALONE.
