Author: Anita Westervelt
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Let the mockingbird sing you a love song
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Story photo by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Mockingbirds are ramping up their antics. They’re more entertaining. They’re braver — landing near your feet to snag an insect from the grass, and then darting away with it clutched in their beak. And more daring — chasing larger birds, like grackles, through the air — most…
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Anita’s Blog — Something for Everyone
This is fun, easy and relaxing. If you’re still cautious about keeping your distance but finding you’re running out of self-isolation projects, stay home and consider building an objet d’art. Clean trash sculpture, found objects art, trash art, junk art, funk art, repurposing, recycling, temporary-relief-from-anxiety art — call it what you want, it’s a project…
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Anita’s Blog — “All Night Long”
A friend called and said, “It’s spring, why don’t you write about the mockingbird? Why do they sing all night long?” So, don’t you know, Lionel Richie’s 1983 hit single, “All Night Long,” has been going through my head — especially the last couple of days while I’ve been photographing everything moving, chirping or blooming…
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What’s the difference?
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Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist The first task when identifying a plant is to find its botanical name. Once you have that, it’s easy to use a search engine and find information. Finding a botanical name is easy when using a mobile device. Many apps can help identify plants, birds, bugs…
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Anita’s Blog — Bee Funny; Bee Friendly
It was a warm and windy morning. I was checking the native basket flowers, Plectocephalus americanus, for pollinators. A tiny bee, possibly a ligated furrow bee, was minding its own business wallowing in the pollen in the flower head when suddenly another bee launched on top of it. I already had my phone camera at…
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Anita’s Blog — Trees Like Colorful Easter Eggs
My mouth was agape in a most un-lady-like fashion the first time I spied a blue tree. Yes, blue! And again, the other evening, an audible gasp escaped my lips as I exited a fast-food strip mall in San Benito. The distant visage of the blue-in-the-sky tree reminded me of a giant Easter egg piñata…