Author: Anita Westervelt
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Anita’s Blog — Special Surprises at the BRB
We had several surprises during our regular Thursday morning volunteer time at Harlingen’s Hugh Ramsey Nature Park. The first surprise was a special guest: Valley Morning Star Ace Reporter and Photographer Rick Kelley, an advocate of native habitat, birds, Ramsey Park and our volunteer team. If you missed his story in the Valley Morning…
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Anita’s Blog — Summer Fun with Teacher Workshops
Teacher Workshops aren’t just for school teachers. Three RGVCTMN members attended a recent Texas Wildlife Association L.A.N.D.S. Outreach Teacher Workshop held at Estero Llano Grande. Other Valley venues held this training, too. The instructor was Elisa Velador, the RGV Region TWA Educator — who also happens to be a new chapter member. L.A.N.D.S. stands…
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Anita’s Blog — Touch Not the Cats
Isn’t this just the cutest little moppet you’ve ever seen? It’s sitting on a tree branch, all fluffy and cuddly. Do NOT pick it up! It’s a caterpillar of the southern flannel moth, Megalopyge opercularis, in its last instar state. It’s the best known flannel moth and stinging caterpillar in Texas. The larval form…
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Anita’s Blog — Weavers, Flyers and Crawlers
There’s a lot of mystery here in our special Valley. On foggy, humid mornings, I wander out to a bejeweled, sparkling fairyland of — spider webs! Orbweaver webs — they’re everywhere — fences, vehicles, furniture, plants and…
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Anita’s Blog — Bugged by Bugs
Research is fun, but I’ve met my match with bugs, so please, correct me if I’ve wrongly identified any of the bugs in this blog. There are many Websites available with hundreds of bug images. When you get to orders and tribes and sub-orders, like beetles — sub-order Coleoptera — there are even more…
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Anita’s Blog — Gazilian Brazilian Peppertrees
A fascinating aspect as a Texas Master Naturalist is learning about invasive species. Prior to my beginning TMN classes, I didn’t realize it was a branch of study in and of itself. Sure, I knew about kudzu in Georgia. During the 1930s and 40s, Kudzu was encouraged as a way for farmers to control…