Texas Master Naturalists ROLLING PLAINS

NEWSLETTER Vol. 7, No. 11 http://txmn.org/rollingplains November 2015

Greater Arid-Land Katydid EVENTS (Neobarrettia spinosa) LOCAL by Debra Halter NOVEMBER 3: Rolling Plains Chapter monthly meeting is at River On October 14th, I let my dogs outside about 9 PM. I noticed something Bend Nature Center. Location: 2200 sitting on a stick that I had leaning against the deck railing. It was a very 3rd Street, Wichita Falls, Texas. Time: large insect. Checking online, I discovered that it was a Greater Arid- 7:00 PM. Program: Penny Miller will Land Katydid. These predatory be speaking about the soil ecosystem. insects have reduced wings, but are quite capable of flying. “Red-eyed NOVEMBER 28: Penitentiary Devil” is a name that has been pro- Hollow Wild Walk Location: Lake posed by someone with first-hand Mineral Wells State Park & Trail- experience of this insect’s behav- way Time: 2-4 PM. Explore beauti- ior. This large and robust katydid ful sandstone formations in remote (length is 3-3.5”) is distinctly areas only accessible on this guided aggressive, especially when threat- hike. Join Park Interpreter David Owens on a wild walk, crawl and scoot through some of the most remote areas Penitentiary Hollow. Reservations are required. Call 940-328-1171. Held at Lake Miner- al Wells State Park, 100 Park Road 71, Mineral Wells, TX, 76067. The program is free with paid park en- trance fee or a State Park Pass.

DECEMBER 1: Chapter Christmas Party. There will be a $5.00 per person cover charge. Please bring a dessert and an item or cash dona- tion for Wild Bird Rescue. There will be a “white elephant” gift exchange. The gift should hold a value of $15.00 or less. Tickets for the party may be purchased at the Neobarrettia spinosa female (photo by Debra Halter) November meeting or by e-mailing ened. It will display its short spotted hind wings, stick out its extremely Larry Snyder who will send you spiny legs, and open its huge jaws. It will attempt to bite. One observer PDF copies of tickets. Tickets must said that when he wiggled his finger in front of one, it attacked it, biting, be purchased by November 15th so and drawing blood. The female has a long and thick ovipositor. we have a head count.

ROLLING PLAINS CHAPTER — 1 — TEXAS MASTER NATURALIST The Greater Arid-land Katydid is exclusively carnivorous and can be cannibalistic. It captures its prey by suddenly pouncing and sitting on it. Big Sit at Wild There is one report of it attacking a bird nestling (http://www.bioone.org/ doi/full/10.1674/0003-0031-167.1.210). Bird Rescue October 11 was a beautiful morn- They are not common every year, but when they occur they tend to stay ing for the Big Sit. It did get a little low in trees and are reported to prefer hanging around Prickly-pear Cac- windy late, but nowhere near the tus (Opuntia sp.). record cold we usually see on this event. The only bad thing was that there were so many Monarch but- Chapter Activities terflies soaring overhead that we couldn’t concentrate on the birds. for October 2015 The following birders participated: Sue and Warren King, June and Terry McKee, Debra Halter, Charles Thueson, James Masuoka, Tami Davis, Penny Miller and Paula Savage.

Here are the species seen on the count: Cattle Egret Great Egret Snowy Egret Great Blue Heron Am. White Pelican Common Grackle One of Lynn’s students nets monarchs during the Monarch tagging at Lake Wichita Great-tailed Grackle October 2. American Coot White-winged Dove Eurasian collared Dove Mourning Dove Canada Goose American Robin Blue Jay Red-winged Blackbird Killdeer Meadowlark specie Mallard Greater Yellowlegs Red-shafted Flicker Yellow-shafted Flicker Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Northern Mockingbird During the Take Me Outside event at LASP October 10 James and guests along the trail Northern Cardinal dissect scat. Starling Rock Pigeon Eastern Phoebe

Cormorant Yellow-headed Blackbird Black-crown Night Heron Lynn leads a geocaching hike at LASP during the October 10 event.

ROLLING PLAINS CHAPTER — 2 — TEXAS MASTER NATURALIST Endangered Texas Poppy-mallow ( scabriuscula) Texas Poppy-mallow minutes after , (Callirhoe scabriuscula) the flowers close forever. is on both the Texas If not pollinated, flowers Endangered list and was continue to open each listed on the US Endan- morning for 6-8 days. gered list in January of 1981. The Texas poppy-mal- low grows only in wind- Like the common wine- blown, river-deposited cup, the Texas poppy- deep sands near the mallow has deep red to upper Colorado River. purple cup-shaped flow- ers. You can tell the Tex- This wildflower is found as poppy-mallow from in Coke, Mitchell, and the winecup because the Runnels counties in the stems are stiffly erect Rolling Plains of Texas. and thick as a pencil. Also, the leaves of Texas It is endangered because poppy-mallow have of habitat loss due to broad, irregularly-shaped farming, pasture - lobes. It grows to a height of 2 1/2 feet or taller. ing, sand mining, and urban development. Because it has such beautiful flowers, the poppy-mallow is threat- The poppy-mallow usually blooms from May to June. ened by people picking the flowers or collecting use the flowers for nectar, pollen, and shelter, and for their garden. If you see this plant, don’t pick the help the plants reproduce by spreading pollen between flowers or disturb the area where it is growing. Take a plants. The flowers open each morning 2-3 hours after picture instead! Photograph of the Texas Poppy-mal- sunrise and close right before sunset. Within 30-90 low TPWD ©

TPW Television Series Airing Soon on PBS Stations Dallas Paddling Dark Skies Ranch Catching Up on Shotguns Restoration & Quail, Balmorhea & Bighorn Sheep Rockin’ Art Cool & RVs November 1-7, 2015 November 8-14, 2015 November 15–21, 2015

Traverse the Trinity River near Dal- See what’s happening with Texas’ las by canoe or kayak. Get some four distinct quail species. Get tips for safe, and accurate, shotgun above and below the clear water of shooting. Thirty years ago the Des- Balmorhea Springs. Travel Texas ert Bighorn Sheep was mostly gone with some snowbirds in their RVs. from Texas. See what was being done to bring back the Bighorn. Discover the spectacularly dark skies of West Texas, and meet some folks who are working to keep them dark. Take a trip back in time through the discovery of ancient rock art. Enjoy the beauty of a wide open Panhandle ranch.

ROLLING PLAINS CHAPTER — 3 — TEXAS MASTER NATURALIST Snow doughnuts, or rollers, CORNER are a rare natural phenom- RESOURCE enon. If snow falls in a The Bees in your Backyard: clump, gravity can pull it A Guide to North America’s down over itself as it rolls. Bees Normally it would collapse, by Joseph S. Wilson but sometimes a hole forms, Paperback: 288 pages Wind and temperature also play key roles. ISBN-10: 0691160775 Price:$21.74

OIDS The Bees in Your Backyard pro- vides an engaging introduction to the roughly 4,000 different species found in the United States and Canada, dispelling common myths about bees while offering Welwitschia mirabilis, the so-called ‘living fossil’ plant of essential tips for telling them apart the Namibia desert in Africa grows only two leaves, over in the field. hundreds of years. They grow continuously and can extend more than 13 feet. FACT The Pompeii worm is a bristle- covered worm that can survive in hotter condi- tions than any other animal. It lives inside vent chimneys, where it’s over 176 degrees Fahrenheit. FUN

Now Taking Membership Dues for 2016 Get Your 2016 Home & Garden Tickets We’ll be taking dues payments for 2016 at that meeting and we’ll have The book features more than 900 tickets for the Home and Garden show available as well. Dues are $15 for stunning color photos of the bees an individual and $20 for a couple and Home and Garden Show tickets living all around us--in our gar- are $5.00 each. We’ll have a 100 tickets available. This is the only chapter dens and parks, along nature trails, fund raiser that we ask you to participate in. For each ticket and in the wild spaces between. sold your chapter gets $4.00 in return. It describes their natural history, including where they live, how they gather food, their role as pollina- tors, and even how to attract them to your own backyard. Ideal for amateur naturalists and experts alike, it gives detailed accounts of every bee family and genus in North America, describing key identification features, distribu- tions, diets, nesting habits, and more.

Chapter Contacts: Jim Hensley, President 569-4713; Kay Murphy, Vice President 704-0406; Judy Snyder, Secretary 569-4534; Larry Snyder, Treasurer 569-4534 Committees Chairperson: Leslie Fernandez, RiverBend Liaison 767-0843; Paula Savage, Newsletter Editor and Designer 691-0231, [email protected]; Tami Davis, Website Manager 224-0131; Activities Chair: Terry McKee 766-4097; Dian Hoehne, Communication Chair 692-7234 Advisor: Robert Mauk, TPWD Advisor 766-2383

ROLLING PLAINS CHAPTER — 4 — TEXAS MASTER NATURALIST