After a lot of remote camping, we needed a day to get caught up on mundane tasks, which I thought I should describe. We do most of our shopping at Wal-Mart, because the chain is widespread and has most of what we need at reasonable cost. In addition, the stores have similar inventories and are […]
Category: Natural History
So Where Are the Prairies, Anyway?
Our first stop after the Big Thicket was at the Lennox Woods Preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). It is located northeast of Dallas, close to the Arkansas border. Although part of our prairies expedition itinerary, it was just thrown in for variety, as it is actually a very westerly example of the southeastern […]
The Big Thicket
We briefly came through the Big Thicket around Christmas of 1989 and really liked the area. It was well located to spend some time before beginning the main endeavor of the year, our tour of prairies from south (northeast Texas, in March) to north (southern Saskatchewan, in August), and we looked forward to a spring […]
LRGV: a Reprise
We had a good time in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV), where we spent 4 days. There is no dispersed or public camping in the prime area so we stayed in an RV resort for 4 nights, which cost more than the studio apartment we rented when we were in the LRGV in December. […]
On the Road – But Just Barely
I am writing this outside Laredo, Texas, about 600 miles southeast of El Paso, listening to the incessant and haunting calls of a Pauraque. This nocturnal bird is characteristic of the subtropical habitat along the lower Rio Grande. Like several other species with similar ecological preferences, here it is close to the northwesternmost extent of […]
Butterflies!
In the last post, I described the first half of our trip to the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV). We spent another 9 days in the field before returning to El Paso for New Years. Fortunately, the weather improved somewhat, and we had many more opportunities to photograph butterflies than in the first half of […]
South Texas Interlude
It was not easy, but we are now Texans. Most people never have to worry about defining their state of residence, as it is obvious from their job and/or housing location, but when living in an RV, it is not so straightforward. We wanted the transition to be very clear so that our new truck […]
Natural History Quests
My first natural history “quest”, one pursued by many others as well, was to see 700 species of birds in the continental U. S. and Canada (hereafter, “North America”, even though properly that should also include Mexico through the Panama isthmus). There are about 670 bird species that breed in North America, and a few […]
Nomadic Naturalists 