🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅

My non-political side account. All things that make me smile. #Wildlife #HTownNatives #Monarchs #Gardening #Birding #Pollinators #Milkweed #Pescetarian ♻️ ♻️ ♻️

[Texas Parks & Wildlife @TPWDnews]

We’re working with @USDA_APHIS to use drones to look for sick or injured wildlife that may be infested with New World screwworm, a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on living tissue.

(See note on drone usage below👇)

@USDA
@Screwworm_RR
@TAHC

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

'The sky was full of them': Thousands of butterflies descend on Texas beach https://t.co/zGPZioeFLE via @chron

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

Here is a beauty 👇

[Texas Parks & Wildlife @TPWDnews]

2,500-acre expansion of the Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area in Brazoria County now connects 17,500 acres of some of the most ecologically significant Texas coastal habitat.

DETAILS at https://t.co/i6CsvW4SOu

with @coastal_prairie

#TexasCoast

[Give A Shit About Nature @giveashitnature]

An Iowa woman moved to South Dakota to single-handedly save 950 acres of native prairie.

Her name is Tracy Rosenberg. She grew up on an Iowa farm in a state that had once been 85% Northern Tallgrass Prairie. By the time she graduated high school, that number was down to one-tenth of one percent.

She spent 35 years in Des Moines. A divorce forced the sale of the small farm she'd been planning to convert. She started looking for native prairie to buy in Iowa, but there wasn't any left to find.

Then she read a 2012 Star Tribune article about prairie conservation that mentioned Pete Bauman, an ecologist with the Nature Conservancy working in the Dakotas.

She emailed him. Within an hour, he wrote back and told her that the Benedictine monks at Blue Cloud Abbey near Marvin, South Dakota, were closing and selling their land, including some of the last unplowed native sod in the state.

So she packed up and moved to a place she had never been.

In 2013, Tracy bought almost 1,000 acres of virgin tallgrass prairie. She named it Abbey Grasslands of the Prairie Coteau. Then she got to work with prescribed burns, intensive rotational grazing, and integrated pest management.

She's spent the last 13 years restoring degraded sections and protecting the intact ones. The federally threatened Dakota Skipper butterfly, gone from most of its historic range, has been documented on her land.

Tracy received the USDA NRCS Earth Team Individual Award and was named Conservationist of the Year by the National Organization of Professional Women.

She gives talks at national prairie conferences, hosts educational tours for ranchers and tribal college students, and runs the property as a working classroom.

Less than 4% of America's tallgrass prairie remains. The nearly 1,000 acres Tracy is protecting is some of it.

[Texas Parks & Wildlife @TPWDnews]

New World Screwworm is a devastating pest that can kill infected animals.

It's been detected in Zavala County, Texas.

PLEASE REPORT:
- Open sores or wounds with live maggots
- Animals shaking heads or acting irritated
- Foul, rotted flesh odor

👉 https://t.co/jFMGHcCQNo

[Gary Sinise @GarySinise]

Today is our nations Memorial Day. Enjoy your day and take a moment to remember the true meaning of this day. A day to pay our respects to all those who have given their lives in our country's defense. God bless these brave heroes and their families.

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

https://t.co/9muwCrHCHB

[Texas State Parks @TPWDparks]

Are you a demure birder or a full blown hardcore bird whisperer 👀

Up your game this summer with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine Texas Bird Bingo! Explore region-specific Bingo cards across Texas and play along for prizes!

📲 Join the fun at https://t.co/EzoAP3S7WC

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

@giveashitnature Things that make ya go hmmmmm

[NWS Fairbanks @NWSFairbanks]

☀️ Today in Utqiagvik (the northernmost city in the United States), the sun rose above the horizon at 2:57 AM and won’t set again for 84 straight days or until August 2nd! Here's a look at a timelapse showing the sunset and sunrise this morning. #akwx

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

The Elderberry blooms just keep a coming

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

Elderberry in year 3, happy times for pollinators

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

Endangered Houston-area prairie welcomes visitors at new center https://t.co/RSbwufppDl

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

Box turtle this morning cleaning up after Baltimore Orioles and their discarded oranges

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

Just like clockwork every year on San Jacinto Day. This time they brought friends, the Orchard Oriole. #BaltimoreOriole #SpringMigration

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

The first fawn of the year. Mid April always.

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

@NatureEnjoyer_ Been tracking them, getting close to Houston now. My oranges are out.

[Adam Carolla @adamcarolla]

All the sheep obeyed

[🌱DeepNTheHeartOTexas 🐝🦋🐛🦅 @DeepNTheHeartO1]

This one gonna stink up the front porch. That time of year, looking for a soulmate