Author: Anita Westervelt
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A brief look at a South Texas specialty bird – Couch’s Kingbird
Flashes of yellow dart through the branches of a honey mesquite tree outside my kitchen window in the late afternoon. They’re Couch’s Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii) and I think there’s one or two adults and possibly four young from this year’s brood. These birds are a permanent resident in the very tip of Texas. We’ve had two or three…
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Be on the Lookout
Native annuals are beginning to appear, like Pennsylvania pellitory, a benign, unassuming plant that doesn’t seem to do anything except exist. It’s a plant that once you see it and hear its name, you don’t have to remember it because it’s just always there, ready to be enunciated. Pennsylvania pellitory, like its alliterative eight-syllabic moniker…
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Butterflies are in the pink – pink mint, that is!
Several years ago, a pink mint plant (Stachys drummondii) popped up in front of the tropical sage patch in my yard. Our weekly volunteer team had just found them all abloom in various gardens in Harlingen’s Hugh Ramsey Nature Park, so I knew what it was. Pink mint was our harbinger of spring, foretelling warmer…
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Annual Texas Pollinator BioBlitz through October 17
Published October 2, 2021, McAllen Monitor — Citizen Scientist projects, like the annual Texas Pollinator BioBlitz, provide important habitat information.
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Anita’s Blog– Pollinator Challenge Invitation
Take the Challenge! Texas Pollinator BioBlitz 2021 is important — Sign up for the project — Grab your camera!