By Laurie Sheppard
Female Green Lynx Spiders have a very unusual quality – they can change their body color to match their surroundings. The transformation takes several days. The color of both sexes often fades late in the season so whether the color on our spider mother was changed to match her location or is simply a natural fading late in the season is unknown.
Shaking of the Trees Post
The Last Cougar
By Greg Tonian
On a December morning, soon before your demise,
I journeyed to the Grasslands again.
Enroute, warm in my metallic hovercraft,
I drove in the dark, listening to news of vaccines.
Only arriving at Black Creek Lake as the sun began to reveal a vaporous, hoarfrosted tangled landscape,
With hues of copper, silver, golden straw, ghostly gray charcoal turning to brown.
Delicate oak leaf puzzle pieces were scattered in slight depressions in the parking lot,
Birdsong echoed intermittently through the chilly air.
The Continuing Chronicles of the Commons Cooper’s
By: John Garbutt Watching the five Cooper’s Hawks fledge in mid-June under their mother’s watchful eyes seems like years ago. After that moment, I figured I had possibly seen the… Read More →
Bethany Lakes Park Birding
By: Jim Dulian Here is a list of all the water birds we have seen since the beginning of November at Bethany Lakes Park. The loons don’t winter here, but… Read More →
Heard Trail Topping
By: Deborah Canterbury It was a joint effort between the Heard animal team, the Celina based concrete company and volunteers including Blackland Prairie Master Naturalists who received emergency approval to… Read More →
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BPRC 2020 Prairie Restoration Projects
By: Greg Tonian, Lorelei Stierlin and Dick Zartler In 2020 the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center (BPRC) achieved major milestones in its Blackland Prairie restoration efforts. Thanks to increased participation by… Read More →
Connemara Meadow Nature Preserve Year in Review
By: Robert Mione, Meadow Master In January, we co-hosted, with LLELA, a Bobwhite (BW) quail restoration workshop. The workshop was attended by about 45 people, including various local municipalities, nature… Read More →
Heard Paleo Lab adds new display
By: Patti Tuck 2020 has at least one bright moment! A new fossil was added to the Fossil Hall at the Heard Museum. We call it Ruby because of the… Read More →
BPRC Give a Hoot Gala Summary
By: Erich Neupert Here is some information about our Give A Hoot Gala we had in December. We raised just over $25,000 which was our goal to match a $25K… Read More →
2020: Hagerman NWR Year in Review
By Laurie Sheppard The year started out like any other, but 2020 had plenty of challenges in store. A variety of public-facing activities are conducted throughout the year at Hagerman… Read More →