A peculiarity of owl pellets By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist You may have been following recent news about the City Nature Challenge where Valley folks uploaded nature photographs to iNaturalist.org’s website database in order to document the diversity of the Valley’s habitat. Photographs that were considered signs-of-life and were accepted included feathers, roadkill, scat,…

The mockingbird sings, news it brings, of spring By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist The mockingbirds are singing, the sweet, heady scent of citrus blossoms is in the air, it’s the time of year to get creative. The Japanese have a traditional poem called haiku (pronounced, hi coo). The mockingbird sings Flitting in and out…

Big and little yellow butterflies fill the sky By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Sunshine, warm days, butterflies. What more could one ask of a perfect late fall Valley day? The ever faithful big yellow butterflies are out in numbers, commanding attention as they flash their bright yellow wings. These mid-sized beauties are year-round residents…

Texas thistle is a valuable Valley native By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Spring is here. I know because I saw an American robin — harbinger of spring in the Mid-west — hopping around the yard. An uncommon sight in the Valley, for sure, but an encouragement after such a feisty Valley winter. In the…

The glorious hibiscus By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Who doesn’t love the glorious hibiscus? Not many can pass by the giant blooms without a trickle of delight. More than 300 species of hibiscus grow throughout the world in warm, tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate countries. In a spectacular array of colors, shapes and sizes, pink,…

Blooms for cooler weather By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Texas lantana, Lantana urticoides, is loving the cooler January weather. It may look like it sports three colors of flowers, however, the corollas, the collective name for all the petals of a flower, open yellow and then turn orange or red. This plant loves poor,…