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Highland Lakes Steward Highland Lakes Steward HIGHLAND LAKES CHAPTER February 2015 Volume 6, Issue 2 MISSION PRESIDENT’S REPORT The Texas Master Naturalist program is a natural resource- camp life in a military setting during the mid As you read through the Steward this th based volunteer train- month you can’t help but notice that the 19 century. They are unique because their ing and development Highland Lakes Master Naturalist chapter is ranks were made up of African American program sponsored troops. Many of the Friends of Blanco State statewide by Texas filled with motivated and active volunteers A&M AgriLife Exten- who give above and beyond of their time Park assisted the soldiers in their present- sion and the Texas and energy to make a difference in the ing Texas history lessons to over 250 Blan- Parks and Wildlife beautiful Central Texas Uplift area of our co school children. The day presented per- Department. fect weather and was filled with engaging The mission of the State. demonstrations. program is to develop It is an honor to serve this chapter as a corps of well- your president for 2015, and my design for Inks State Park has a new staffed and informed volunteers energetic Friends Group (FOIL) which has who provide educa- this column is to use it to share some of tion, outreach, and the information about the activities we are wasted no time in getting our involvement service dedicated to undertaking as a group to enhance this nat- in the park back in full operation. They the beneficial manage- recently increased the number of members ural community we call home. ment of natural re- from 4 to 34 and repurposed their effort to sources and natural areas within their Board Matters: provide support for park programs which communities for the The 10 voting members of the board Master Naturalists participate in. A good state of Texas are assigned with the authority to conduct example of this new direction was demon- the business of the chapter. Three major strated on February 18/19 when almost 50 OFFICERS actions were taken during the first meeting of our members performed hard trail work President of 2015: 1) The Board voted to approve for the new Bird Blind. This project is now Chris Faught Crisfaught1 Marcy Westcott and Ann Cook as 2016 in full operation and it will educate and ex- @hotmail.com Class Coordinators. This means they will cite many generations to come. (512) 261-6583 recruit, train and graduate the class of Hill Country Science Mill in Johnson Vice-President 2016. 2) Sherry Bixler was approved as City opened to the public the weekend of Melissa Duckworth chairperson for a new committee which February 14/15, 2015 in grand style. A lissaduckworth@ will help in integrating and transferring new large crowd of visitors toured the new la- gmail.com members to our chapter. 3) We have an (512) 756-2813 boratory and participated in the many sci- ongoing effort to amend the State mandat- ence demonstrations including: rocket Secretary ed bylaws to fit our chapter specifics and to Marilyn McClain launches, holograms, glowing fish, gravity mccgrammy present the new documents to you for a experiments and wind power. The rain ma- @yahoo.com vote at a later date. Past president Linda chine from the Bamberger Ranch was on (214) 235-5759 O’nan is heading this effort. hand as well. I hope we spend many volun- Treasurer Our Partners tary hours making this new venture a great Blair Feller [email protected] Blanco State Park recently hosted the success (830) 385-2782 Buffalo Soldiers for a third year. These in- I joined this chapter in 2013 because it terpreters are TPWD employees who had a reputation of doing lots of interesting dress in period and teach soldiering skills field work and offering lots of educational such as hunting, fishing, animal tracking and (Continued on page 2) Page 2 Highland Lakes Steward INSIDE THIS ISSUE: MARCH PROGRAM by Melissa Duckworth President’s Column 1 Our Speaker for the March meeting will be Luke Cris Faught Metzger, Founder and Director of Environment Texas. March Program 2 He will speak to us about bills filed by the 84th Texas Melissa Duckworth Legislature that could have an impact on Texas and our area. Get Well! 2 The San Antonio Current has called Mr. Metzger The Carolina Chickadee 3 “long one of the most energetic defenders of environ- Joanne Fischer mental issues in the State”. He has played a key role in February Program 4 dozens of successful environmental campaigns, including An Outlandish Owl Story 5 winning permanent protection for the Christmas Debora Maroney Mountains of Big Bend, getting Shell and ChevronPhil- lips to cut air pollutants at two Texas refineries and Nature Center Friends - Native Bee Habitats 7 chemical plants and playing a major role in convincing Billy Hutson the Legislature to dramatically boost funding for water Monarchs - Tropical Milkweed or Not? 8 conservation and State parks. He frequently appears in Sondra Fox the media in publications such as the New York Times, Skunks 10 MSNBC, and USA Today. He has published or co- au- Cathy Hill thored " Keeping Waters in our Rivers: Strategies for Conserving Limited Water Supplies" and "Polluting the Gallery 12 Brazos, Sullying the Soul of Texas", which now appears Calendar 13 in college textbooks. He currently serves as a Commissioner on the Aus- Please submit pictures, articles, reports, stories, announce- tin Resource Management Commission. He has been ments, etc. to named one of the " Top Lobbyists for Causes" by Capi- [email protected]. tol Inside, received the President's Award from the Tex- Photos should have captions and appropriate credits. The deadline for submissions to each month’s newsletter is the as Parks and Recreation Society for his work to protect 10th of the month and publication will be by the 15th. Texas parks, and was chosen for the inaugural class of "Next Generation Fellows" by the Robert S. Strauss PRESDENT’S MESSAGE Continued from page 1) Center for International Security and Law at UT Austin. An amateur actor, Luke recently appeared in stage opportunities. I have NOT been disappointed. In productions of Ghostbusters and The Princess Bride. fact, I have been overwhelmed. I have been to two Luke, his fiancé Rachel and seven year old son Gus are Master Naturalists statewide meetings where the working to visit every State park in Texas. Highland Lakes chapter stands out as one of the premier groups in the entire State. I know I’m brag- GET WELL! ging, but you all really do accomplish amazing results. I thank you for making this year another out- The chapter has sent get well wishes to the following fellow Master Naturalists. standing chapter in our history. Cris Faught, President 2015 Marjorie Dearmont – husband, Dean, started chemo and radiation for a mass in his chest The Texas Master Naturalist 2015 Re-Certification Lori Greco – husband, Mike, for a speedy recovery from pin for this calendar year is the bluebonnet. The annual knee surgery re-certification pins shall be provided to Certified Texas Master Naturalist Members when they accumulate the Judy Haralson – started therapy for her broken leg required 40 hours of service and 8 hours of Advanced Training for recertification in the 2015 calendar year. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Volume 6, Issue 2 February 2015 Page 3 A COMMON HILL COUNTRY BACKYARD VISITOR – THE CAROLINA CHICKADEE by Joanne Fischer I'm sure you are ALL familiar with the expression “everything is bigger (and better) in Texas”. Well, I always thought that this was a true statement especially when I first encountered a Texas Centipede – yikes!! But it does not hold true when it comes to our res- ident Chickadee. In this part of the country (and the southeastern states), we have as a year-round resident the Carolina Chickadee. In the northern climes you find the Black-capped Chick- adee and in the West you see the Mountain Chickadee (there are several more species in the United States but they have much more limited ranges). Anyway, low and behold, the Carolina Chickadee is the smallest of the three (granted only by a half of inch – but it is smaller nonetheless). No matter, the Carolina Chickadee – regardless of it's size, and it's relative the Black-crested Titmouse are a couple of my favor- ite backyard feeder birds. Both the Chickadees and ed by seeds (they are especially fond of sunflower the Titmice are of the family Paridae. In North seeds) and berries during the winter months. They America the species in this family without crests are are very acrobatic and are often seen hanging upside called chickadees, while those with crests are titmice. down in trees as they glean insects from the foliage Most of what I describe below about the Chickadee and tree bark. They are also well known for hiding also pertains to our friend the Black-crested Tit- seeds in storage sites to be retrieved at a later time. mouse. Chickadees are non-migratory even in the north- Chickadee's are quite easy to identify due to their ern areas of their range. In winter, however, they of- black cap and black bib, white cheeks and undersides, ten travel in flocks with Titmice, Kinglets, Nuthatches and gray wings, back and tail. They have a rounded and even smaller woodpeckers. It is said that Titmice body with a head that is quite large given their overall are dominate to the Chickadees. However, although size and they have a very short (almost nonexistent) I often see them together at my feeders, I haven't neck.
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