This is an archive of articles written by Anita Westervelt between 2015 and 2021 for the Rio Grande Valley Chapter, Texas Master Naturalist. To focus on the most current information, these earlier articles were retired from the original site. We are pleased to provide a permanent home for them here. Please note that the articles are preserved mainly in their original form and may contain outdated information or links. For Anita’s current work, please visit the South Texas Border Chapter’s blog: stbctmn.org/blog.
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That’s a big bug!
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist There’s one super big bug that always gives me pause. I erroneously labeled it as a rhinoceros beetle and was told they kill trees by eating the roots. Neither is correct. It is an ox beetle, in the scarab family, Strategus aloeus. Ox beetles can measure…
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Leaping frogs and hopping toads
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Distinct features can help you identify whether you’re looking at a frog or a toad. A prominent one is that frogs have smooth, slimy skin, while toads are warty looking and have rough, dry skin. Another quick tell is the legs. A frog’s legs are longer;…
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A rose is a rose — unless it’s a hibiscus
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist You could say, “a rose by any other name is” changeable — and if you’re talking about Hibiscus mutabilis, one of its common names is changeable rose-mallow. This giant of a flower has other names, cotton rose, cotton rosemallow and its most common name, Confederate rose.…
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Climbing hemp weed — a favorite for the honey bees and butterflies
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Climbing hemp weed (Mikania scandens) competes with all-time butterfly-attracting Valley favorite, Crucita — fall-blooming mistflower (Chromolaena odorata) — during the annual fall butterfly season. While mistflower grows as a small shrub in a multitude of soils and growing conditions, climbing hemp weed is generally found growing…
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Anita’s Blog — Road Tripping through Texas
We often don’t know what sort of journey our chapter FaceBook posts or ListServe notices will offer, but most guarantee interesting learning experiences. I was recently intrigued with a workshop notice that talked about interpretive writing. If the words writing and workshop are in the same notice, my attention is usually piqued. Think back to…
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Anita’s Blog — Important Events Wrap Up
It was the last day of the 17-day 4th Annual Texas Pollinator BioBlitz. I’d just spent an hour searching for something I hadn’t already uploaded to iNaturalist.org, when I looked up beneath the security light on the utility pole and VOILA! A most unique sighting! A pink-spotted hawkmoth! And cleverly camouflaged it was in the…
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Anita’s Blog — BioBlitz Fun Week 1
Check out this link as we head into Week 2 of the 4th Annual Texas Pollinator BioBlitz! https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/TXPWD/bulletins/263c397 I challenged myself to the “Something Blue” from the Daily Challenges last week and found a Red-Shouldered Bug — what’s not red is blue, in real life — a startling bug color to come upon. Track minute-by-minute…
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Anita’s Blog — BioBlitz & a Big Sit
BioBlitz opportunities are fun! You get to compete with yourself — how fun is that? And you earn volunteer hours while having all that fun! Really, you can compete with fellow Citizen Scientists or simply enter as an individual participant and just go at your own pace. 4th Annual BioBLitz — Pollinators — October 4…
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Anita’s Blog — And the Rains Came
August was dreadfully hot. Drought- and heat-stressed ash trees are nearly bare, their leaves dropping like a late Midwest autumn — the only good to come of their dead leaves is the addition of carbon to the compost piles and nitrogen for the grass. Just when the horizon — and the habitat — looked its…