Sunday, December 11, 2011

I am a Master Naturalist

Animal Tracking at NatureFest
Speckled king snake

Building a crappie habitat

Recently, I completed a three month long in-depth course of study regarding nature. I am sure you think me crazy! However, the classes offered by Smith County Agri-Life and Texas Parks and Wildlife have qualified me to teach and lead interpretive programs in all aspects of nature. Some of the curriculum covered was: geology, soils, weather, climate, ecosystems, archeology, mammology, ecology, herpetology, ichthyology, entomology, rangeland management, wetlands, forestry, ornithology, plant naming, aquatic ecology, and urban systems. Whew!!! Some trivia for you - Texas has 1200 different types of soil, the oldest rocks in Texas are in the trans- Pecos, the state fish is the Guadalupe Bass, and birds' bones are hollow. Recently 3 other MNs and I plus two Texas Parks and Wildlife guys went to the Old Sabine River Bottom around 6:00 p.m. We pulled up turtle and minnow traps and turned over coverboards. We identified two Western Ribbon Snakes, a Western Mud Snake, a Speckled King Snake, a Leopard Frog, two Bullfrogs, a five-lined skink, a ground skink, a few mice, assorted tadpoles, crawfish and dragonfly nymphs. The only thing biting were the mosquitoes.

No comments:

Post a Comment