Be kind to the palm trees; be kind to beneficial bats By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Torrents of rain come to the Rio Grande Valley once or twice a year. After a few days, hordes of mosquitoes emerge. There’s no escaping except to run screaming into a building swatting at bare skin. Nighttime comes;…

Sound the trumpets for Alamo Vine By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist If you pass by irrigation ditches in your travels around the Lower Valley, you’re probably familiar with seeing a wash of white dotting the slopes that taper to the road. Chances are, you’re seeing Alamo vine flowers. Alamo vine (Merremia dissecta) is often…

But, they’re so cute . . . . By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Looking much like a koala bear at first glance, these cute and cuddly-looking critters might be seen along the banks of resacas or irrigation ditches in the Rio Grande Valley. They are nutria (Myocastor coypus). Native to South America, they are…

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…