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 Please note that the articles are preserved mainly in their original form and may contain outdated information or links.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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Rattle purr, knock, knock, knock
Story by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist In the eerie stillness between late afternoon summer storms, I heard the soft guttural rattle of a rain crow — a vocal yet illusive summer visitor to our yard these past three or four years. I raced to the house, grabbed my camera and swiftly swept back into…
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Anita’s Blog — Siren Song of Summer
Last summer brought us the superb dog-day cicada, Neotibicen superbus and its nostalgic, resonating song. Another Texas songster is filling the night air this summer with decibel-alarming pitch: the giant cicada, Quesada gigas, the widest ranging cicada in the Western Hemisphere — and quite possibly, the loudest insect in Texas. The giant cicada’s northern most…
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Anita’s Blog — Nature’s Smokescreens
Camouflage isn’t always all it’s kicked up to be. Just when you think it’s safe, along comes a mockingbird and plucks a large green something out of the grass, flies off with it and lands not quite close enough to capture with a phone camera. This particular quarry was bright green — the color of…
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Odd things in the garden might be beneficial
Story by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Tiny baubles suspended on strings might look odd hanging from leaves in your garden but check them out before you wipe them out, they may be lacewing eggs. Green lacewings are a beneficial insect with a unique way of laying eggs. The eggs are usually found on vegetation…
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Anita’s Blog — Startling Garden Finds
I couldn’t believe my luck! The most awesome find in my garden was pure magic. It was SO exciting, I probably wasted three seconds in open-mouthed stupor while my mind circled between disbelief and eye-mind cognizance before I began taking photos with my phone camera. Lebeau’s silk moth, Rothschildia labeau: Initially, I thought the large…
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Searching for caterpillars for summertime fun
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist While you’re perhaps still staying close to home — and looking for new activities as springtime turns to summer — be on the lookout for caterpillars, they may be anywhere. Surprisingly, the now-blooming yellow cascades of lluvia do oro (Cassis fistula) may be full of yellow-colored…
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Anita’s Blog — Great Caterpillar Finds
I was so overcome by the spectacular beauty of a trio of lluvia de oro flowering cascades one morning I nearly gathered them in my arms for a grateful hug — until I was unceremoniously halted by horizontal black stipes right before my nose! A caterpillar! One of the most beautiful trees in the world,…
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Behold, what’s on that smelly vine!
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist It’s always exciting to find a big caterpillar munching away on leaves of vines or other plants. Recently, a really big caterpillar appeared before my eyes as I was eradicating a vine that was over-powering a huge Berlandier’s fiddlewood shrub (Citharexylum berlandieri). The vine was what…
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Anita’s Blog — Dandelions Part 2
They weren’t always weeds. Somewhere before recorded history, amid the Dark Ages (5th – 15th centuries), the common dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, was an herb — an important medicine and food plant. By the mid-1600s, European settlers had brought this rare and precious plant to America. Jump through history to the present and Texas Master Naturalists,…