Chapter members’ work is paying off with blooms in the new barrels with signage.
The budget approved by H-E-B included funds for last minute strenuous labor which Mitchell Henderson has been doing. He has been shoveling gravel and landscaping the upper pathway for easy access and greatly reduced weeding.
New construction will enable people to get close to Pollinators and native plants they are connected to.
The Pollinators for Texas project is a collaborative effort with H-E-B and the Texas Master Naturalist (TMN) Program focused on enhancing native pollinator conservation across the state by promoting awareness, conservation efforts and creating sustainable pollinator environments. The initiative aims to engage communities in supporting pollinator-friendly practices through funding TMN chapter-led projects and programs.
On May 16, a group of El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist chapter members (and their friends and family) visited a hidden gem of Milam County, one of the largest collection of Purple Martin houses in the US. Chapter friend Mike McCormick and his family have been growing the colony of Purple Martins (members of the swallow family) for many, many years.
Two male Purple Martins
They now have around 800 breeding pair, who each produce multiple babies each year (ideally).
Many bird houses!
The group enjoyed a talk by Mike as he updated us on improvements and changes since our last visit and answered questions about martin behavior and habits. The birds come here in mid-February to nest, then take off in the autumn to return to their winter homes in Brazil. While they’re here, they eat many insects, for which we can all be grateful.
After the more formal talk, we dispersed to look more closely at the birds and the clever houses where they live, which have been refined greatly to deter snakes and other bird species from messing with them.
This is like a condo for birds. Each cell holds a breeding pairLife is good for martins
You can see in these photos the difference between males and females. The males are solid dark purplish black, while the females have white breasts. One easy way to tell them females apart from Barn and Cliff swallows is the others don’t have any color on their breasts.
Male and femaleTwo females
Many of us took some time to explore the relatively new nature trail the owners have added for guests to explore. It goes through a wooded area and a beautiful meadow full of wildflowers. We had many things to add to iNaturalist before we were finished.
Posts have woodpecker holesEastern carpenter bee and friend on green antelopehorns milkweedKern’s flower scarabHoney beeBuckeyeLarge milkweed bugsBuffalo burHen in bitterweedBitterweedChicoryWinecup mallowLovegrassFamiliar bluetSilky evolvulusBeebalmBerlandier’s yellow flaxPennsylvania pellitory and blossomsUpright prairie coneflowerTexas bindweed and black-banded miridSmall-flowered catchflyDomestic chicken familyDomestic dovesDoveEastern cottontail
There was so much to see and do here, and the setting was so lovely that it was hard to leave. But there’s already talk about our next visit!
All the preparations have paid off for our pollinator project at the Milam Wildscape. Our grant from the H-E-B Pollinators for Texas is going a long way toward creating just what our target species need.
The pollinators are waiting patiently for their new nectar and pollen sources.
Starting early on Saturday morning, volunteers got their hands dirty and planted many interesting native grasses and ground covers in the new prairie area.
Catherine Johnson explains what kinds of grasses have been planted.
This new section isn’t covered in plastic, because the grasses and ground covers should quickly fill in the space and eliminate unwanted volunteers.
The new area
All the different textures and colors of these grasses will provide a beautiful background for other annual and perennial natives.
Lindheimer muhlyWith apologies, I can’t remember the names Catherine told me for these plants.
There are various new plantings elsewhere, thanks to all the creativity and hard work of our team.
New plants I. The giant planterNew items in the succulent areaworkingWorkingTaking a break Kitty had to take a break, tooNew redbud
Of course, a visit to the Wildscape isn’t complete without some pollinators. We hope their descendants enjoy all the new plants.
A tiny skipperPainted ladyBee and butterflyGulf Fritillary Another fritillary Gray looper mothHoneybee digging deepResting carpenter bee.
There’s another workday next week, then the plants will settle in next month.
The Pollinators for Texas project is a collaborative effort with H-E-B and the Texas Master Naturalist (TMN) Program focused on enhancing native pollinator conservation across the state by promoting awareness, conservation efforts and creating sustainable pollinator environments. The initiative aims to engage communities in supporting pollinator-friendly practices through funding TMN chapter-led projects and programs.
I recently got back from the TX/NM border region including Monahans Sandhills State Park. Not great timing for wolf spiders because only a few species were in or nearing their breeding season, but I was still able to add two species to my life list. There were other compensations:
Ascalapha odorata (Black Witch) is a huge moth. I had seen a couple of very worn ones in a dark alcove at Devils River last fall where they couldn’t be readily photographed. As I made my way down into a sand dune blowout, I flushed one that flew around for a while before settling down about 5′ away. Unbelievably it let me approach quite close. The photos were amazing and were a credit to the Olympus camera. Light levels were very low and the setting sun had already left most of the blowout in shadow.
Not far away was a Euploca convolvulacea (Phlox heliotrope) which had only the bare essentials of a mature plant. Many plants were covered with hundreds of bloom.
I’ve known about the Black Witch for decades but never expected to see one, so never looked up the details. The range map on iNat is amazing and includes all of North and South America except the coldest extremes. It has even turned up on Wake Island in the eastern Pacific. It is quite a flier and apparently has some sort of northward migration in the fall.
Mine was in perfect condition, so it must have matured nearby rather than migrating there. There had been 8 previous observations scattered around Ward County, all in good condition suggesting there is a healthy local breeding population there.
