Clyde has had little luck with the residents of his screech owl box making it through birth and fledging. You will laugh out loud at the attached videos titled Tree Rat Homemaking and Noon Scratch and Snooze. Turn the volume up.
Find out more about Clyde’s Screech Owls at his website. http://www.crcamp.com
This year’s pin is the Side-Oats Grama, the state grass. So, here is your did-ja-know re: side-oats gramma.
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.
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.
The welcoming committee is making up its mind.
While others are looking the other way.
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.
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.
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.
The Heritage Farmstead native plot has had an interesting and inspiring past. Starting as a project by Master Naturalists and guided along as a Junior Naturalist project at a nearby school in Plano, it has tripled in size over the past decade as has the volunteer list. As reported several weeks ago, the caregivers thought that is was going to be a disaster recovery after an over-zealous property crew weed whacked everything down to the ground. The students who studied at the plot experimented with “buffalo stomping” with success and selective pruning seemed to make things thrive but nothing like this whacker incident.
What a difference a few weeks and lots of rain makes. Not only does it look sensational but the team is quite happy that they had the opportunity to get rid of undesirables before the new crop of forbs came in. Check out the photos of before below and after above, then drop by the plot at the Heritage Farmstead Museum located at 1900 W 15th St. and be amazed. Make a list of the plants you identify and send to us!
The Heard Paleo Lab prepared 16 Green River Fish fossils to accompany the latest addition to the Heard Museum, a high quality plesiosaurus. The fish, donated by chapter member Jim Dulian, represent six species of fish from 50 million years ago. Photos are of Mittie McDonald and Patti Tuck as they add finishing touches to a few of the fossils and photos of the fossils as well. The lab team under the watchful eyes of Pat and Margie Kline not only prepped the fossils but also constructed the display cases. Other team members are Karleen Hoffmann, Beverly Carpenter and Deborah Canterbury. These Eocene fossils were preserved in intermountain lake basins in what is now parts of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming while the Rocky Mountains were still growing. The official opening date is scheduled for late May.
Looks like the Black Willow cuttings planted in the shoreline at the Raptor center are doing well. A recent check indicates about 80-90% are alive, rooting, and budding or leafing out…some are even flowering.
Visiting and working at the Clymer Meadow is a siren song for Master Naturalists in this area of Texas.
Enjoy the beauty in the photos (Click on each photo for new window of the larger image)
Follow this link to learn about this Nature Conservancy land.
Most of my service comes from working with Texas Parks and Wildlife, which is how I was introduced to the program in the first place. If any park reaches out for assistance (no matter how far away) I will usually find a way to help – teach a class, work on trails, pull invasive species, etc. I even designed and installed a geocaching course at a state park that had received some grant funding. I help with the Texas Outdoor Family program where we teach families how to camp. While camping we take them on hikes, fishing, kayaking, geocaching, and sometime mountain biking. We teach them how to take care of nature while having fun in it. I also teach classes in some of the local city parks – geocaching or guided hikes. My wife and I occasionally take kids or families groups out fossil hunting as well. Most of these activities have been on hold the last year so I have been working on some projects from the virtual volunteer fair such as surveying parks and green spaces for Texas Children in Nature and entering them into their website so that families can search on them and find places to visit.
My real passion comes from getting young people to connect with nature and finding activities that help them stay engaged in outdoors.
