Congratulations to those receiving certifications and milestones for December, January, and February 2023.
Category: March2023
The Texas Master Naturalist classes offer insight into what’s going on in my own backyard. For example: mutualism. Years ago I noticed carpenter bees spending time at the base of the flowers in our backyard as opposed to entering the front door, so to speak. My son who studies entomology at Texas A&M said the bees were puncturing the base to draw out nectar.
With her eyes wide open for a rattlesnake, Akeye crawled on her stomach – the sharp thorns of the low blackbrush and mesquite branches scraping across her back as she gathered mesquite screw beans and Texas ebony bean pods. The strongest Coahuiltecans had disappeared with their bows, arrows and nets before sunrise.
For two years now, my husband, Jim, and I, have become Peregrine Falcons. When the aspen trees in our beloved home range of Colorado exchange their murmuring golden tresses for shimmering crystals of frost, we are now joining the peregrines on their autumn migration to warmer climes. Sometimes I wonder if the supersonic peregrines hunting along Texas 100 are the same ones we watched fledge their young from the red rock cliffs above our home.
My husband and I have been coming to South Padre Island (SPI) off and on for 39 years. It has been the beach and its environs that draw me back… and the restaurants and things to do and ease of being here…and the Roseate Spoonbills and Sanderlings and the monarch butterflies and….the turtle sanctuary at Sea Turtle, Inc. We had the privilege years ago of seeing Ila Loetscher “the Turtle Lady,” explain her mission: conservation of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtles and ecological concerns.
For the past 15 years WOWE has recognized a member of the community for his or her outstanding contribution to the preserving and promoting the quality of nature in the Rio Grande Valley.