This week has been full of distractions. Time to get serious even if no big topic has presented itself to me. There are always small topics! Rattlesnake Master There are a few things that will set a local master naturalist’s heart racing and they aren’t always the same things that will set a civilian into… Read more »
Our red-shouldered hawk chick has left the nest. So, let’s celebrate with more videos! First, foremost, and forever amazing: We have BEAVERS ON BUFFALO BAYOU!!! Fellow master naturalist Ethelyn Kuldell recently captured video of a beaver just swimming along between the Rosemont bridge (by the police memorial) and the Studemont bridge. It was taken around… Read more »
Welcome back to the Cliff Swallow Chronicles. To catch you up with our story this far: There has been a cliff swallow colony under the bat bridge forever. Our cliff swallows winter in South and Central America, return to their mud nests in Houston each year. Upon their arrival, they spiff up the nests and… Read more »
The North American Prairie Conference has come to Houston for the first time ever and because of that, I’m spending time in a classroom rather than our Park. What, you might ask, do grasslands have to do with Houston? Just EVERYTHING!! For at least 20,000 years, Houston was part of a vast grassland ecology that stretched… Read more »
We are deep into baby bird season. Many species who live in the Park year round are raising chicks right here, but most of our egrets and herons are missing. These species roost in large colonies; while adults might spend all year hunting in the Park, when it comes time to raise chicks, they… Read more »
Our red-shouldered hawks have hatched their egg(s) and the nest is no longer even a little sleepy. Mom and Dad are steadily coming and going and feeding the little ones. I think there is more than one, but I cannot tell yet. This week’s post is a video of our happy family. In the video… Read more »
We tend to think of animals as interesting stimulus-response machines. When faced with X set of circumstances, the animal will be triggered to do Y. The bee sees a flower, which triggers the urge to drink nectar which causes the bee to bump into pollen organs. That triggers the bee to groom and pack that… Read more »
For the last 23,000 years (give or take), Houston was a prairie. A tall grass coastal prairie, to be precise. We stopped being a prairie within the last 150 years. We stopped so thoroughly that there is almost no original prairie to be seen. When we look at Houston, we see, for the most part,… Read more »
Lots of family stuff this week so just a short post. I have found yet another viewing spot for the red-shouldered hawk nest that involves standing on a tall ladder at some remove. After I work out a few kinks, I think I might use this perch to see more into the nest at eye… Read more »
Not a long post this week, but I want to let you know how to find the red-shouldered hawk nest. I have found two spots from which you can see the nest and I will be checking out a third when I get a moment. The nest is in a large sycamore on the… Read more »