General

Monthly Deep Dive Sessions

Manuela will discuss the importance of lichens for humans and the ecosystem, as well as tips for identifying different type of lichens.

Manuela Dal Forno is originally from Brazil, where she earned a B.S. in Biology and masters in Botany. She completed her PhD in Environmental Science and Policy in 2015 at George Mason University. Manuela’s work has been focusing on multiple aspects of the evolution, diversity, genome and microbiome of lichens; and since 2019, when she joined the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), she has also been studying the local Texas and the southern Philippines lichen “flora”.

General Members Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Deborah Canterbury – Congratulations new Board Members!

Congratulations and thanks to our new board members.

Laura Ragan, Vice President-class of 2014 : Look for her at the Heard taking care of business and volunteers. She is also often seen at the Holifield.

Michelle Connally, Secretary-class of 2018 : Bright face at Heard Plant Sales and the backbone of our website.

Liz Brown, Membership-class of 2018: She takes seriously getting rid of trees at Erwin Park is ready to trail guide at Raptor Center.

Rhonda Sanchez, Outreach-class of 2019: Can be seen at Heard, Farmstead and Outreach booths. (Rhonda Sanchez with a waaay too big plant.)

Dave Powell, State Rep- class of 2007: Where isn’t Dave? Father of Erwin Park restoration, Wylie Prairie, Heard, State advisory board, past president, Outreach, sound system expert at meetings, special projects. Where a project is in Collin County, Dave is there. (Dave Powell, always in the middle of a project.)

AT Chapter Meetings Flora and Fauna General Mammals

Rick Travis – “Texas Native Cats and the Role of Advocacy” – Monica Morrison

Monthly Chapter Meeting – “Zoom” Meeting

Monica Morrison – “Texas Native Cats and the Role of Advocacy”

Tuesday, November 10, 7pm

Texas is home to an amazing diversity of wildlife, including five species of wild cats, both past and present. But our cats are under threat, due to a variety of factors. This presentation will give an overview of our cats, describe the perils they face, and list steps to help them.

Monica launched Texas Native Cats in 2017 after realizing our wild Texas cats need recognition and help. Texas Native Cats is a Texas nonprofit corporation that consists of volunteers, master naturalists, and others interested in acquainting Texans with our cat species. The organization’s goal is to expand educational outreach to the major metropolitan areas of the state and, ultimately, to improve the lives of our native Texas felines. Prior to establishing Texas Native Cats, Monica volunteered for over 20 years with various organizations, including the Dallas Zoo, In-Sync Exotics, and organizations in South America that work to conserve wild cats.

Click here for more information about Texas Native Cats.

General Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Deborah Canterbury – TMN Educators in Action

Two of our tribe are serving in leadership roles with Native Plant Society. Congratulations to them as they take our mission and our local mission of “Education, Restoration, Preservation to other communities of like-minded people. Pictured are: class of 2014 – Lorelei Stierlen (and Sorca), past president of NPSOT and moving into treasurer role; and class of 2018 – Valerie Dalton who has taken on the mantle of president. Congratulations, y’all.

Valerie Dalton – NPSOT President (Class of 2018)

Lorelei Stierlen – NPSOT Treasurer (Class of 2014)

General Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Jim Dulian – Crowning the Heron

INTRO

On Jun. 18, 2019, I found a rather large light blue egg shell in our back yard. I didn’t know what kind of bird it had come from, but I didn’t think there was anything that large in our back yard, so I assumed that it had blown in during a recent storm and didn’t think anything of it. But 3 days later, there was another shell in the same place as the first. This is when I had the inspiration to actually look up, and there, 32 feet above ground, was a large nest with a yellow crowned night heron sitting on a branch nearby. I found a third shell the next day and began watching the nest regularly.

I first spotted one of the fledglings on July 1, and by July 4 they had started sitting up on the side of the nest. We went out of town later that month, and the nest gradually deteriorated over the winter, so I didn’t really expect anything the next year, but they came back in 2020 and built a new nest in exactly the same place as the previous year. What follows is a time line of my observations from 2020, along with some other information about this species from various sources.

HERONS

Herons belong to the family, Ardeidae, along with egrets and bitterns. This family consists of 63 species worldwide, and cover the globe outside of the polar regions. The yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea) ranges throughout eastern North America, as far north as southern Minnesota. While most herons’ diets consist mainly of fish, the yellow-crowned night heron feeds almost exclusively on crustaceans, which accounts for its greater population in coastal areas. In north Texas they eat mainly crayfish, which are abundant in places like Conamera and Oak Point Park, both within 3 miles of the nest site. This becomes readily apparent by examining the droppings on the ground under the nest, which contain lots of pieces of broken up carpace.

The black-crowned night heron is a closely related species that also inhabits the North Texas area. However, black-crowned night herons are almost exclusively nocturnal, and therefore less likely to be observed. (The yellow-crowned night heron is “partially” noctural.)

2020 TIMELINE

Mar. 27–first sighting of 2020. The pair of adult herons were actively engaged in building their nest. One of them stayed on the nest while the other would fly to a nearby tree (a bald cypress in this case), break off a stick from a dead branch and bring it back to the one on the nest. The one on the nest would then work the stick into the nest, and not until they were both satisfied would the first one fly off to get another stick. This whole process took 2 – 3 minutes per stick.

The Cornell website, allaboutbirds.com, states “Initially the male carries sticks to the female, who begins the nest. Later, both gather and place materials on the nest.” I did not observe any occasions of building that did not consist of one heron passing a stick to the other.

Apr. 10–They appeared to have completed the nest.

Apr. 15–First observed one heron sitting on nest for long periods of time, presumably incubating the eggs.

Apr. 30–They appeared to be working on the nest again after it had suffered some storm damage the night before.

May 2-4–Found 4 egg shells under nest.

May 18–First sighted nestlings.

May 26 & 28–Observed adults giving sticks to the nestlings. The nest also expanded somewhat during this period, which suggests that these herons learn nest-building skills while still living in the nest. This is the one behaviour that I observed that I have not been able to find referenced anywhere.

May 29-Jun. 15–During this period, the fledglings gradually moved farther from the nest to perch on other branches in the same tree during the day, usually accompanied by one of the adults.

Jun. 16-24–The nest appeared to be abandoned, but several times an adult and one or two of the offspring would show up for a feeding time. They probably return to the nest for this because, unlike other birds, yellow-crowned night herons feed their young by regurgitating into the center of the nest. When all the fledglings are feeding, it makes a clicking/buzzing sound, which abruptly stops when they finish.

This species generally only raises one brood per year because the young must be taught to hunt. Thus, the family group stays coherent even after abandoning the nest. This may account for the difference in the timing of the nests between 2019 and 2020. (First egg shell found Jun. 18 in 2019 vs. May 2 in 2020.) If they lose a brood while there is still time to raise another, they will do that. I’m guessing that they lost their entire nest earlier that year and moved to our tree instead to start over.

Herons tend to use the same nest for several years, and we hope to see them again next year.

General Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

David Powell – Wylie Portrait

A Great Golden Digger Wasp joined our saunter through the prairie.

New Signage, Blooming Gama Grass, Golden Digger Wasp and Six Monarchs checked out the scenery as well.

General Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Greg Tonian – Time Passages

Time Passages, reflections on a solo hike on the Eagle Rock Loop, Ouachita National Forest, Arkansas

“all around, the day was going down slow. Night, like a river, beginning to flow. I felt the beat of my mind go, drifting, into time passages.”- Al Stewart 1978

300 million years ago, give or take a few million, tectonic plates pushed together, buckling thick layers of sediment deposited during preceding millenia in ancient seas in an area now part of north central Arkansas. This began a process of mountain building and mountain unbuilding. Today, these ridges make up the Ouachita Mountain range. During the Labor Day weekend in 2019, a friend and I hiked the Eagle Rock Loop (ERL), a 26.8-mile trail that fords several streams including the Little Missouri River and climbs a half dozen steep ridges with a net gain of 4000 feet. I vowed to return to the area as too many secrets lay hidden its deep forests, amongst the mosaic of stones scattered like jig saw pieces on the trail and creek banks and lurking within the ethereal soundscape of the rushing waters.

What is it about places that have a complex geological history that draw us? Over vast swaths of time, relentless forces have left us monuments of stone with a unique assortment of lifeforms adapted to every nook, cranny and crevasse. Succumbing to the pull of gravity, slipping fault lines, wind blasts, and the multi-pronged attacks of fickle water both providing life giving sustenance and acting as a relentless chisel, these crags stand as time tested testimonials of endurance.

On Friday September 25, 2020, Year of The COVID 19 Pandemic, at approximately 7 a.m. I departed The Colony and headed toward Arkansas once again. I had spun around the sun one more time, and was now entering the 60^th autumn of my life. My “long weekend” trip, made possible by strategically allocating 7.5 hours of PTO (personal time off) would account for 56 hours of my life. I was on a tight agenda to live in the moment!

It is important to have goals:

Return to ERL and complete the loop again.
Hike solo (much to the trepidation of Laurie, my wife).
Catch a smallmouth on the Little Missouri River on a fly.
Solve the mystery of the mostly hidden flora and fauna of the Ouachita National Forest and hopefully see more of it on this visit.
Commune with the trees again. Those majestic giants.
Cool off and skinny dip in a cold mountain stream again.
Avoid injury (see #2), falling in a creek and all unforeseen disasters.
Stay dry (lots of wet crossings) and sleep well and warm in a tent for 2 nights.
Avoid hunger and dehydration.
Gawk at all of those beautiful rocks.
Escape the constant media feed of current event mayhem.
Be one with the Universe (Is that too much to ask?)

I am happy to report that many of these goals were met.

The weather was perfect, not too hot or cold and no rain. I did complete the ERL in approximately 15.5 hours of walking, 10 ½ hours on Saturday alone, a day with steep 6 ridge climbs. I did fall and bash open my right knee on an innocent small creek crossing an hour into Saturday’s hike, but thankfully, no derangement of ligaments occurred! (Trail Wisdom: When a stream crossing involves more than 3 steps, it is likely you will lose concentration and fall. Even if you step on the rock you have selected, there is no guarantee it’s not as slick as black ice. Either step in the water or take the time to switch into your water sandals).

Since I went as a Naturalist seeking a closer glimpse of the endemic species of the area and this audience is likely interested in such matters, I will briefly summarize what I observed.

Flora:

The most prominent features of the area along the ERL are the endless stands of trees, some of which must be 50 to 100 years old or likely older. Roots snake like boa constrictors over rocks and down steep, mossy slopes, resulting in uneven footing on the rocky trails. A dominant tree is the Beech with a distinct patina of subtle patches of lichens, living beauty spots. Other key species are pines, oaks, both red and white varieties, hickory, sweet gum, and holly. One memorable tree, was a majestic sycamore, perhaps 30 years old and over 60 feet tall, observed with a tangled mass of exposed roots anchored to a small rocky island in the Little Missouri River itself. How it had managed to survive the relentless periodic flooding is beyond me.

Because the forest exudes moisture and the creeks volatilize moisture in the air, lichens, mosses and ferns abound, providing a soothing carpet of green. Close inspection of this lush landscape reveals a complex world within a world as the lichens, themselves symbiotic biospheres (as I learned over the weekend during the TXMN virtual convention), mosses and ferns provide micro habitats for all sorts of life forms. The fungi were abundant, more so than I remember from my last visit. All colors, shapes and sizes were seen. Scalloped shelf fungi, hiking boot tall white mushrooms with a 10-inch diameter top disk, clusters of yellow domes, 2 pink, slobbery gumballs on the side of a tree, a pale blue capped mushroom that seemed to glow in the misty dawn, orange pustules puffing spores on a pine stripped of protective bark and countless others poked out of the loam and leaf litter.

Fauna:

On my last visit to the ERL the key animal sighting was a bobcat my friend spotted at the edge of the creek which quickly morphed into the forested slope and vanished.

This year, as before, I saw virtually no mammals other than a perhaps one or two squirrels. During two long weekend visits, I never saw one deer. I crossed paths with no skunks, raccoons, bears or even a mouse or vole, nor did one sneak into my camp after dark to feed on the trail mix or other snacks stored in my back pack. (The din of the Little Missouri at my campsite Saturday was so loud that a grizzly could have uprooted the tree where I hung my backpack and I would not have heard it.)

As for birds, the same elusiveness prevailed. I did not get a clear look at one bird with the possible exception of a flitting titmouse. I heard familiar calls and based on this evidence; I can conclude that Carolina wrens are relatively common. I heard a few chickadees. I also heard the distant cries of a pileated woodpecker on several occasions, but did not catch a glimpse of one. I did not have my binoculars and the lighting was poor on Saturday morning when I did hear and see quite a few birds high up in the canopy and I suspected that there may have been a few interesting birds such as warblers or vireos on hand. I heard no night birds after dark such as owls or whippoorwills. I did not see or hear any raptors other than perhaps a brief glimpse of a vulture rising on a distant thermal. I may have heard an occasional crow, but even then, they were far off.

I saw two species of lizards, a brown fence lizard and a dark, bluish gray fence lizard that may have been endemic. I had never seen a lizard of that color. I saw a small toad and a juvenile banded water snake as well. I did see some fish in the clear waters of the Little Missouri, but did not hook any. On Friday, I camped by a small stagnant vernal puddle and during the night I heard some possible frog or toad species.

The key sightings on this trip as the last time, were invertebrates. Countless daddy longlegs dodged my descending boots. Funnel spiders and wolf spiders and even a jumping spider which mimicked the black and red velvet appearance of a velvet ant were observed, the latter at the Eagle Rock Ridge.

I saw a few butterflies, not one was a Monarch. There were many grasshoppers darting across the trail and lighting on it. I saw a black walking stick and several large beetles, caterpillar hunters. I found a Spice Bush Swallow Tail caterpillar, its fake eyes staring at my when I unfurled a rolled-up sassafras leaf. It was in the very same area I had encountered one the year before.

Rocks:

So many colors. So many shapes and sizes. Crumpled, slanted striated outcrops, massive boulders, one looking like an Easter Island Head standing like a sentinel next to the trail in the golden afternoon sun.

On Saturday night, I plunged into the surging flow of the Little Missouri as it swirled by a boulder, I felt its urgent push downstream. I felt its chilling fingers remove the sweat and grit from my skin. At some point, a silver ring slipped from my finger and tumbled away. I did not notice its absence until the next morning. Who knows how long before it will be found, if ever? Time slipped away as my ring did on this trek. As always, we cannot possess time. Nor can we stop its flow as it rushes us along, like a river.

AT Chapter Meetings General

Rick Travis – “Interpreting Wildlife Track and Sign” – Dwight Wilson

Monthly Chapter Meeting

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

“Interpreting Wildlife Track and Sign” – Dwight Wilson

Dwight will share how his mentors taught him to identify and interpret track and sign. Learn how you can track wildlife through gathering information, asking questions, and problem solving. Dwight will share personal stories while introducing you to the tracks and sign of common wildlife here in north Texas.

Bio:

Dwight was raised in rural southwest Missouri on a small farm where he learned to read animal tracks and sign at a young age. Dwight has been able to train with some of the top trackers in the nation including Tom Brown Jr., Charles Worsham and Nathan Kempton. He has applied his skills on research projects and for law enforcement. He currently lives in north Texas where he shares tracking and nature with people from all walks of life. He can be reached at dwtracker@gmail.com, www.dwtracker.com

“Meetings are currently being held virtually using the Zoom application. Non-members interested in attending should contact BPTMN Vice President Rick Travis at rickt@bptmn.org.“

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The Texas Master Naturalist program develops local teams of “master volunteers” to provide educational and outreach services aimed at the better management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities. The Texas Master Naturalist program is a partnership between the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Parks & Wildlife, and other local partners.

AT Approved (State requirement – 1 hour max)

Butterflies Flora and Fauna General iNaturalist Insects Plants Shaking of the Trees Post

Lisa Travis – Fall Socially Distant BioBlitz for DFW Master Naturalist Chapters

September 6–12, 2020

The first DFW Fall Socially Distant BioBlitz was a huge success! During these seven days, over 1100 people participated in the greater DFW 11-county area. Many of these people were Master Naturalists, but many more were not. Between all of us, we made over 35,000 observations, of over 2700 species. What a great way to kick the end-of-summer doldrums!

The competition between Master Naturalist chapters was friendly, but enthusiastic. Elm Fork’s service area had the most observations, with over 10,000, but Cross Timbers Chapter and our own Blackland Prairie Chapter were not far behind, with over 8000 observations each. (Note that Elm Fork had THREE counties, while we only had two. Just saying….) Overall, the Blackland Prairie Chapter made a terrific contribution. We had 45 members contribute over 7000 observations during that seven-day period. We observed 931 different species! To put that in proper perspective, over the comparable week in 2019, our members made only 379 observations. According to my calculations, we made around 19 times as many observations this year as last!!

We held ten small group outings during the BioBlitz, and all the participants enjoyed getting a chance to explore with fellow Master Naturalists. Twenty-five members attended at least one outing, with some hardy souls attending five, six, or seven! We kicked off the week with an outing to Hunt County, an area that has had very little iNaturalist activity. Manju Ruikar (Class of 2020) kindly invited the group out to explore her family’s Hunt county property. There were 384 observations made in Hunt county during the BioBlitz, so we still have lots of room for improvement out there. Still, compared to the 15 observations made last year during this time period, we’ve come a long way! We made other outings to places new and old, from the Heard Sanctuary and Erwin Park, to Parkhill Prairie and Breckenridge Park. On Friday, we had perfect weather for exploring the Woodfin property. (Thanks, Bill and Fran, for having us!) We saw more butterflies at the beautiful Stiff Chapel Cemetery than we’d seen all week!

In addition to the outings, many people worked hard collecting observations on their own. We had several people new to iNaturalist jump in with both feet! A big welcome to iNaturalist for Rochelle Delozier (iNat ID “delozier4”). She just joined iNaturalist in August and made over 500 observations during the BioBlitz! Wow! Matt Delozier (iNat ID “outdoormatt”) wasn’t too far behind her, and Brent Blackwell (iNat ID “backfire”,) while not entirely new to iNaturalist, caught the bug this year and did some serious ‘Blitzing, too!

Identifying observations made by others is one area in which our chapter has historically lagged. However, we’re well on our way to remedying that this year! We had more people than ever before making identifications during the BioBlitz. Twelve members each provided identifications for over 100 observations made by others, and several chapter members each made thousands of BioBlitz ID’s. This is such an important part of the outreach component of iNaturalist, so a big thanks to people who worked on identifications!

Kudos to Sam Kieschnick for organizing this project and inspiring so many of us! Check out the whole project and results on iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fall-socially-distant-bioblitz-dfw-urban-ecosystem Sam will be presenting a webinar reviewing the results and relevancy of the 2020 BioBlitz, on Friday, September 25, at 7:00 PM. Pre-registration required: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ssLSn7T6Qe6r_HfTAjyCtg

Flora and Fauna General Prairie Restoration Raptor Center Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Dick Zartler & Lorelei Stierlen – Raptor Center Land Restoration

Dick and Lorelei guided about 9 tribe members through the prairie acres of the Raptor Center. They gave an overview of the needs for trail guides and of the exciting restoration and preservation efforts.

Photos compliments of Tasha Patterson, new class representative on the board. It was exciting to see Brockdale liatris among the prairie community members. And yes, that is Dick and Lorelei center stage.