Rick Travis, 2018 – Current President (2022-2023) –
Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
Tom stepped up to serve as Chapter President in 2020. Within just a couple of months into his Chapter Presidency, the covid pandemic exploded, requiring quick action to develop a completely different approach, and set of rules, for members to engage within our chapter safely. This wasn’t easy. There was no script or step-by-step guide for our chapter dealing with this health crisis…there hadn’t been this serious a pandemic since the influenza epidemic in the early 1900’s.
STT 28
Polymorphism or Spring Treasure Hunt at Raptor Center
Lorelei Stierlen, 2014 – Both photos are of the beautiful Blackland Prairie native coreopsis tinctoria or plains coreopsis. A member of the Asteraceae (Aster) family, it is an annual forb, and the blooms are described as yellow surrounding a reddish centre – but the blooms of one of these plants is all red. How can that be?
Clymer Meadow Projects in 2022
Tom Shackelford, 2018 – (2020-2021 President) – Clymer Meadow Projects: Remnant Blackland Prairie restoration, preservation, maintenance, seed collection, plant/ wildlife & insect surveys. This project includes Clymer Meadow, Park Hill Prairie, County Line Prairie, Matthew’s Prairie and other outlying remnant prairies.
Mental Wanderings
Sally Evans, 2006 – Founder & Emeritus –
A wide swath of trees and vines and junipers has grown up along the back by a creek. The front part was mowed several times a summer but often the grasses grew knee high and swayed in the breezes. That lot became the resting place or home for the wild life that moved up and down the creek. Birds roosted or nested in the trees and shrubs. In one far corner a cottonwood tree grew twice as high as the rest of the trees and became the site for hawks sunning or scanning for prey. Flocks of birds would stop in the top branches to rest and recoup. Families of crows would convene to pester the hawks or to just the surrounding territory and then move on to another perch. Squirrels ran up and down the trunk or leaped from branch to branch. One December night two great horned owls sat high in the tree and called and called to some unknown recipient. And one summer a pair of Swainsons hawks nested there. Birders said it was not probable but photos of the birds verified their site.
Shells to warm your hearts
Lauren Bendiksen, 2019 – I am excited that the Lightning Whelk is the Texas Master Naturalist Program 2022 Annual Re-Certification pin. I grew up in Dallas, and our family’s vacations to South Padre Island were definitely a jumping off point for my love of nature due to the excitement of searching for seashells. I became absolutely obsessed with seashells. My maternal grandparents also lived near the coast in Florida, so you can imagine my joy when we were able to visit them and go to the beach, allowing me additional options for collecting seashells.
Reflections on Sara Dykman’s Bicycling with Butterflies Book
Greg Tonian, 2017 –
Ideas are like Fireflies,
Brief flashes in the dark,
blinking.
Talk is cheap,
Life’s opportunities fleeting.
Dreams evaporate.
Yet Sara put mettle to pedal,
She set out on her quest,
Before it was too late.
Her goal was simple yet mad.
It would require lots of planning,
Lots of charts,
Though she wanted to be spontaneous,
A journey of this type,
Had many moving parts.
Courage and persistence she did not lack
She simply bicycled with the Monarchs,
From Mexico to Canada and back.
10,201 miles, 232 days,
Travelling countless byways.