Nature Along the El Camino Real
Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
By Michelle Lopez
It’s interesting how a host plant can affect the color of a caterpillar. These are all white lined sphinx moth caterpillars! I’m seeing so many!
From Sue Ann: Here’s what the moth looks like, coincidentally photographed by @michelle on iNaturalist. Not our Michelle!
And here’s one in flight, by me.
by Michelle Lopez
I went to check our pond to see if the 1.5 inches of rain made a difference, and I was surprised to see two birds in the pond that I did not recognize. I didn’t have my binoculars or any of my bird watching stuff with me so I got the best pictures and video I could with my phone. My dog Whiskey was also excited to see them…too bad she scared them away. Hopefully they will come back.
I used my Merlin app to identify the birds, it told me that they were Juvenile White Ibis, and they are rare in this area. I confirmed it with my Sibley’s Bird Guide. How exciting!
by Michelle Lopez
by Michelle Lopez
My husband Oscar and I went to the Gault Archaeological site and helped clear huge trees and branches that had fallen during a recent tornado. Got to meet some fellow Master Naturalists from other groups. It was an honor and a pleasure to meet Dr. Mike Collins, who bought the land/site and donated it to the Archaeological Conservancy to be able to preserve it.
There was also a film crew who are in the process of making a documentary about the site. It was exciting learning about the history, and I’m still very surprised that this place has been there for so long and I only heard about it when Dr. Clark Wernecke taught an archaeological class about it. It was fun meeting him as well; he’s a very cool guy.
Olive Talley is doing an awesome job on this documentary trying to get the word out about this hugely important site that literally changes everything scientists thought they knew about when people were living here locally. This site suggests 20,000 years ago!! That’s much earlier than 13,500 previously thought for the Clovis culture.
Here is a link to be able to follow the documentary.
Enjoy some photos from our day!
Nature Along the El Camino Real 