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 Please note that the articles are preserved mainly in their original form and may contain outdated information or links.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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Vines — Upwardly Mobile Elements in the Nectar Garden
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Vines add vibrancy and variety to a garden while attracting birds, butterflies and other pollinators. Snapdragon vine, Maurandya antirrhiniflora, is a dainty vine with small, crisp, heart-shaped leaves and purple and yellow flowers that bloom most months of the year. It readily self-propagates, survives with limited…
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Anita’s Blog — Step Away from the Pruners!
Don’t start pruning or clearing up yet. Native plant aficionados and non-native plant gardeners alike are touting that same advice. Both recommend to let plants recover on their own for about four weeks as temperatures begin to warm up. I happened to catch some good information through a couple of Facebook pages, specifically, Friends of…
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Birds have adaptations to survive brutal weather
By Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist The annual Great Backyard Bird Count came during the coldest days of the year when temperatures dropped below freezing and areas of the Valley experienced power outages. Despite the hardship, residents stocked their bird feeders, bundled themselves in layers of clothing and blankets and sat at their windows counting…
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It’s That Time of Year and There’s One Plant That Does it All
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist “It’s tree planting time” is a familiar mantra around the Valley amongst native plant advocates during these cooler months. Trees, shrubs, vines, plants, they all benefit from being planted while dormant or partially dormant: less shock to their system, less stress from summer’s severe heat. A…
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Anita’s Blog — An Annoyance Of
The commotion that drew me outside my writing studio one pleasant mid-winter morning was a veritable dissonant cacophony of repetitious discord; the din lacked any semblance of harmonic rhythm, like a jack hammer punching metal on a row of rusty cars. I grabbed my camera and sneaked out doors. The clamorous clatter, I quickly learned,…
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That’s a big cat — a pretty kitty to observe from afar
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist A bobcat will stalk, hide behind a structure, crouch, wiggle its hindquarters, pounce, leap and purr just like the family domestic cat — but beware — no matter how cute, bobcats are wild animals! Bobcats vary in color but are generally tan, brown or gray with…
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Anita’s Blog — Unusual Winter Blooms
January was just coming away from its third cold front where some Valley night temperatures reached the danger zone– those dastardly frost and freeze degrees — yet the days, even though cold, gray and windy, witnessed flights of butterflies, the sight of which caused me to wonder what they were finding for nourishment. After weeks…
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Anita’s Blog — Abundant but Rarely Seen
A frenzied eruption of white birds from the shallows of the distant shore caught my attention. A wedge of seven white ibis have been visiting the resaca for a couple of weeks and as yet, their shift to various parts of the resaca has been smoother — a more orderly decampment displaying vestiges of an…
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Permanent winged residents part of Valley’s entertainment
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Grab your most comfortable travelling chair, pair of binoculars and park yourself inconspicuously near an old mesquite tree. There’s nothing like the antics of a black-crested titmouse to elicit a full belly laugh. They’re tiny, quick and wily often jetting through a tree canopy, clinging to…