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Blackland Prairie TMN Graduation 2021

Summary by Jean Suplick, 2018

Meet the Class of 2021! These new members of the Blackland Prairie Chapter blazed a new path through our basic training program and are eager to get out there and engage in our volunteer activities. Be sure to introduce yourself to them the next chance you get.

Class of 2021 initial certifications:


Heather Fell, Sarah Densmore, Karen Driks, Lorrie Mathers, Sue Kacines, Nancy Riggs, Sue Makuta.

Class of 2021 double certifications:


Heather Fell, Sarah Densmore, Karen Driks


Photos by Charlise Hill-Larson, 2019

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Brown Wasp Mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea) or is it?

Janice James

Amazing! I absolutely have to share this with you!

As I was emptying the plant pot trays this morning I veered around a brown wasp clinging to one rim.  It looked intimidating.  Then I looked again.  It looked …really odd.

Brown Wasp Mantid
Brown Wasp Mantid Photo by Janice James

I took a couple of photos – thank goodness – and determined it was a Brown Wasp Mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea) which I mentally filed under ‘cool!’ and kept doing my yard chores.  When I came in and was explaining how I found this crazy insect to my husband, I decided I needed to look it up. 

Wow…. listen to this! – it is not only odd – it is completely bizarre!

So, according to a University of Wisconsin web-site, Climaciella brunnea, or the Wasp Mantidfly is widespread in North America, ranging from Costa Rica to southern Canada.  It is one of 13 species on this continent that falls within the Family Mantispidae (Mantisflies/mantidflies) which is within the Order Neuroptera (‘nerve wings’) which is the group including antlions, lacewings, and even owlflies.  Neuropterans have four, veined, about equi-sized wings, large eyes, and long antennae, with biting and chewing mouthparts, like grasshoppers.  As flyers, they’re not the most athletic group, being a bit clumsy.  They undergo complete metamorphosis (egg-larvae-pupa-adult).  Adults feed on nectar and/or other insects, but larvae are carnivorous. 

Mantidflies are not related to Praying Mantises, nor to Flies or even Wasps. 

Brown Wasp Mantid Photo by Janice James

And this is where it goes way off the rails… so dust off your science vocabulary…

Ever heard of Batesian mimicry? 

Batesian Mimicry is when one species evolves to look like another that is toxic or dangerous – as in the Queen and the Monarch butterflies.  This insect has it in spades: to me, it looks very similar to a paper wasp; enough so that I tentatively poked it to get it off my pot rim.   Entomologist Eric Eaton is quoted online as saying: “In the case of C. brunnea, the body form has been further modified to look like a paper wasp.  The resemblance is uncanny.  The base of the abdomen is constricted into a ‘wasp waist’, and the wings are rotated such that they fold over the back instead of pitched ‘roof-like’ as in other mantispids.  Even more amazing, the leading edge of each wing is darkened, to resemble the longitudinal fold in the wings of vespid wasps.  When startled the Wasp Mantid even splays its wings like an agitated paper wasp.”   (www.uwm.edu/field-station/wasp-mantidfly/) 

Furthermore, one might think this intense mimicry could cause problems come time for reproduction… but no – the male Mantidfly emits a strong pheromonal signal detectable over as much as three miles, that the females seek out, and will apparently sometimes aggregate around (aggregation pheromones).  Eggs, as many as 3000, are laid on low vegetation.

Larvae undergo ‘hypermetamorphosis’ which is a form of metamorphosis in which the larvae emerge as long-legged, agile, super-larvae (!!!) which then search for a wolf spider or other ground dwelling spider.  They attach themselves to the spider and hitch a ride along, (known as phoresy) sometimes chewing on the spider if it needs a little sustenance.  If it has landed on a male spider it will transfer to a female when the male mates with her (What a STD!).  The real prize for the larvae comes when the female spider lays her eggs: the mantidfly larvae slips inside while the spider is spinning her egg case, and, once sealed inside, devours the eggs, becoming more grub-like in later instars until pupating inside the egg case and emerging as an adult.  So this insect is ultimately a spider parasite! 

Whew.  Is that not absolutely crazy?!!!  How very convoluted!

Just another reminder that there is a lot out there to learn, every single day. 

 (www.uwm.edu/field-station/wasp-mantidfly/)    The Bug Lady has an absolutely excellent article, with lots of links to photos.  Check it out! 

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Ode to Virus

Michelle Connally, 2018

Starting in April 2020, the Shaking of the Trees newsletter provided myself and others a connection to our fellow chapter members in a time of isolation. Hooked from Edition 1 including posts about Cynthia’s Frankford Prairie Wild Hyacinths, Donna Cole’s brown snake, Clyde’s owls, a link to Carol’s World Blog, Susan’s Homemade mask request, Sally’s poem “Seeing ’round the bend, Laura’s Heard update, Tasha’s wildlife management approval, Ed’s covid tips and Beverly’s lovely azaleas, man I could not wait for Canter’s Edition 2 and here we are today on Edition 22.

Over the spring of 2021, Sally Evans, Deborah “Canter”bury, Tom Shackelford, Linda Nixon and myself worked on Sally’s idea to celebrate the connections shared by the Shaking of the Trees newsletter. We met at the Heard to record Sally performing her poem “Seeing ’round the bend” and Linda used her magical skills to create a wonderful one minute video that gives the viewer a small slice of what our chapter members were up to last year.

Please enjoy Linda’s video, Turn it Up to hear Sally recite her poem from the April 2020 1st edition while viewing a few of the photos submitted by our fellow chapter members.
Thank you for sharing your interests, stories, photos, videos, blogs and articles with everyone.

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The Call of The Chattahoochee

Greg Tonian, 2017

May, the month of hopes and dreams,
Of blossoms and flowing streams.
A time to venture,
To hike trails and gadabout.

How do we choose where travel?
Is it to visit our kin, to escape for a spell?
It was this and more most certainly,
For I had heard something else.
It was the Call of The Chattahoochee!

River where the “rocks are marked”,
In the lingo of the Muscogee Creek.
They too once travelled,
But this one a tear lined trail,
Georgia and Alabama homeland abandoned, lives unravelled.
To Oklahoma exiled.
We should not forget this sad tale.
Perhaps from time to time,
Just like me,
They hear the call of the Chatahoochee?

The Chattahoochee flows from Blue Ridge Mountain
To Apalachicola Delta,
Past Helen and Suburban Atlanta.
These two places I visited,
The possibilities to explore, unlimited.

All was swell in Roswell.
Mostly Merry in Marietta.
Dallas Georgia family, also near,
Was mostly in the clear.
But like the river,
Clouded by occasional rain,
Like the area roads,
Never without curves and dips,
Ups and downs.

We left home on a Saturday at Five Fifty Five,
Crossed the muddy Mississippi at Vicksburg on our 800 mile, 13 hour drive.
We knew we were close to our destination when ahead, on a rise,
Atlanta, met our eyes.

On the route East I understood why I chose this long trek,
To again see trees
To the right and left,
Gazing skyward, I strained my neck
Marveling at their size and breadth,
And the plenitude of  species.

Amidst their branches,
Birds flitted and chirped,
My Naturalist eyes,
Were on red alert!

I made my pilgrimage to the Chattahoochee Nature Center,
3 miles from my home away from home.
I jogged and strolled on the nearby riverside boardwalk,
The river bluff trails at Sope Creek I did roam.

Tree branches,
Creek and River branches,
And even Family Tree branches were explored.
On a private stretch of the Chattahoochee headwaters,
Huge trout were lured.

I hope to return again to this beautiful place,
Because, as you can see,
By the smile on my face,
I am glad I answered,
the Call of The Chattahoochee!

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Our Tribe’s Fortune 500 – Logan Plunkett, 2017 and Debbie Doyle, 2017

Deborah Canterbury, 2014
500 Hours Silver Pin
Silver – 500 Service Hours

Congratulations to Logan Plunkett and Debbie Doyle on their 500 hour pins.

Logan Plunkett –  2017

Blackland Prairie Raptor Center – I enjoy working with the birds and it is very rewarding to see them released after rehab. Editor’s note: Logan also works at the Heritage Farmstead Garden and helps Dave in Wylie.

Debbie Doyle – 2017

I chose to volunteer at the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center because I’ve always liked predators.  But now, I genuinely adore raptors, and am endlessly fascinated by all birds. Their beauty, grace and power are so inspiring. 

My classmates might remember me as the broken legged lady that could barely do squat!  (Literally!)  I am still indebted to my friend and classmate Greg Tonian, who drove me to classes and meetings for months when I couldn’t drive. Despite my slow start, I now feel like an essential team member at the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center, particularly during the Covid lockdown when BPRC operated with only a skeleton crew of volunteers.  Early on in my volunteering at BPRC, I have to admit I was a little intimidated by the largest owls and hawks. I enjoyed being their waitress and maid, but the idea of grabbing them out of a kennel or catching them as they fly around my head in a flight cage was unnerving.   Being on the skeleton crew changed all that.  We went from 4 or more volunteers per shift lasting 4-6 hours to just 2 volunteers per shift working till everything was done.  So, get over yourself and grab that red-tailed hawk! Now I will catch great horned owls from the biggest flight cages and weigh each one to assess how successful they’ve been in their prey testing. I grab angry, injured birds out of their kennels and hold them for their exam or treatments. I love tweezer feeding adorable baby eastern screech owls while sweating it out in camouflage gear, so the little one doesn’t imprint on humans.   It’s such fulfilling work, especially when we release our recovered patients back out into the wild. Now that Covid is in decline, we are training a ton of new volunteers so the work load will be diminished as the new trainees learn the ropes.  I’m so glad I was able to help so much in 2020-21, advancing my bird handling skills, and getting over my nerves by repeatedly grabbing big hawks and owls.   But I’m still not quite there with Bald Eagles. Yikes! They are BIG!  

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2021 Re-certification Pin – Side Oats Grama

Deborah Canterbury, 2014

This year’s pin is the Side-Oats Grama, the state grass. So, here is your did-ja-know re: side-oats gramma.

  • 2021-05-22
    Tom Shackelford and Jennie Sawyer
    Chapter Pin drive-by event
    Photo by Deborah Canterbury
  • 2021 Texas Master Naturalists Recertification Pin
    Side Oats Grama
    Photo by Deborah Canterbury

First, local information. Dave Powell says that side-oats grama is on the three locations at which he volunteers/manages. “We seeded Wylie, it was already at Erwin Park in McKinney. All of the prairies at the Heard are at some stage of restoration however, it could have been on the edge of the pastures.”

Bob Mione said it is there as well. “We do have side-oats at the Connemara. So far, I have not seen it spread by itself. We do really well by seeding and irrigation.”

Now, from Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Side-oats grama is a bunchy or sod-forming grass with 2-3 ft. stems in erect, wiry clumps. Purplish, oat-like spikelets uniformly line one side of the stem, bleaching to a tan color in the fall. The basal foliage often turns shades of purple and red in fall. This is a perennial warm season grass; clump forming. Two varieties are recognized: variety curtipendula is shorter and more rhizomatous and ranges from southern Canada to Argentina. Variety caespitosa spreads more by seed than by rhizomes, is more of a bunchgrass, and is restricted mostly to southwestern North America.

Not only is Side-oats Grama the state grass of Texas, but this medium-tall grass mixes well in plantings with spring wildflowers, because it stays short in the spring. Birds love the ripe seeds. This plant increases rapidly in nature when its site is damaged by drought or grazing.

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Tom’s Backyard

Tom Shackelford, 2018 – President

We spend time in our back yard almost every day and sometimes I am quick enough to snap a shot with my phone.  Two years ago I took out about 1/4 of the grass and am attempting to get native grass and wildflowers to grow instead.  It is slowly starting to change and it seems that nature has started to assist with the remodel.  There is a definitely a more robust and diverse population than a few years ago.

It appears that a new family has taken up residence in the vacant house in our back yard.  It may get a bit crowded.

  • Male Bluebird Photo by Tom Shackelford
  • Bluebird Nest Photo by Tom Shackelford

The welcoming committee is making up its mind.

  • Borwn Thrasher Photo by Tom Shackelford
  • Cottontail Rabbit Photo by Tom Shackelford
  • Flicker Bird Photo by Tom Shackelford
  • Green Anole Photo by Tom Shackelford
  • Indigo Bunting Photo by Tom Shackelford
  • Mallard Duck Couple by Tom Shackelford

While others are looking the other way.

Coopers’s Hawk Photo by Tom Shackelford

Editor’s Note: While talking to Tom about his backyard wildness, he said when the female blue bird first came to inspect the house, she tried several times to get in but couldn’t. He laughed and said that after seeing the clutch, he understands her inability to enter quickly or comfortably.

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Musings from Paul

Paul Napper, 2016 – Project Manager for Allen Senior Center Native Plant Garden
Generic Photo of Allen Senior Recreation Center Photo By https://www.ntmwd.com/

Paul brought up an interesting observation at the Allen Senior Center Native Plant Garden. He has noticed that since the freeze and rains seeds that had not sprouted in six years are coming up and that some trees and other plants are growing like crazy. He has also observed different habits in birds and fauna. Share your thoughts and observations with us for the next issue. Let’s have some good old citizen science reports…and of course, photos.

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Yes, We Can!

Deborah Canterbury, 2014

Over the past several months we have always posted a “if you need anything, let us know.” We have a few opportunities to help our tribe members. For various reasons, a few native gardens and yards are in need of some TLC. The homeowners would love to share the joy and explain their concepts. So, we need several volunteers willing to go chat, pull, plant and learn from these fellow members by helping them spiff up their property and sharing the joy of their gardens. If you would like to become a member of the native brigade contact Deborah Canterbury at canterbury.deborah@gmail.com and we will get ‘er done! We will organize flexible hours and utilize all abilities. This is NOT a Master Naturalist Project, but to assist someone you may know or someone who has influenced you along the way.

Yes, We Can …Si Se Puede!

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