Category: Blogs
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Trash Lady’s Escapades
by Penny Brown Let me start by saying I have an active imagination. According to my adult children, I exaggerate, a lot. Having said that, the tale I’m about to share with you is shooting about as straight as a pig’s tail! As you may have heard in August of 2020, the City of Rio…
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South Texas Ecotourism Center: A vision becomes reality
by Ed Meza What was a vision three years ago for David Garza, Cameron County Commissioner for Precinct 3 became a reality on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 with the grand opening and ribbon cutting for the 10 acre South Texas Ecotourism Center (STEC) located at 501 W. State Texas 100, in Laguna Vista, Texas. This…
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Milestones
contributed by Joni Gillis Congratulations! Newly Certified Texas Master Naturalists Sandra Mink ’20 100 Hours Milestones Barbara Rodriguez ’20 250 Hours Milestones Pamela Bradley ’20 Norma Friedrich ’21 500 Hours Milestones Amy Daley ’16 Diane Hall ’20 2,500 Hours Milestones Roberto Gaitan ’14 Barbara Peet ’15 Well Done!
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The Red-tailed Hawk, a Welcome Winter Visitor
by M. Kathy Raines A vanilla chest rippled with chocolate and an intense glare alerted me to this red-tailed hawk scrutinizing mesquite and yucca-dotted grasslands—and, incidentally, bicyclists and joggers— from a 60-foot pole along Brownsville’s bike trail this November. Now I see it here often, as I did last winter. Could this be the selfsame…
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Be Our Guests, Northern Harriers!
by M. Kathy Raines Suddenly, from a tranquil ocean of grasses and brush, explodes an astonishing athlete—a low-cruising, long-winged harrier that deftly weaves under, over and through foliage, its yellowish-brown hues dazzling in the sunlight. With this element of surprise, no wonder it’s dubbed “the gray ghost.” This engaging winter guest, the northern harrier (Circus…
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Our Native Javelinas
by M. Kathy Raines A javelina is not a pig. It’s not even in the same family. Though the rather pig-like javelina (Pecari tajacu)—a lean, compact native creature with a bristly salt-and-pepper coat—inhabits the same local brushlands as the invasive feral hog, the two certainly differ. And the javelina, mainly a fan of prickly pear…