Essays

The Executive Director of the Sibley Nature Center, Burr Williams, has written extensively about the Llano Estacado. A collection of his essays is provided in this section. Many of these essays have been previously published in newspapers and magazines; in those cases, the date(s) of publication is shown next to the article's title.

The essays are organized into three broad categories. Wild on the Prairie includes articles which focus on observations of the flora and fauna and other natural phenomenon of the region. Moseying is a series of articles documenting the exploration of our home bioregion.

Most Recent Essay: The economic benefits of the pecans of the Concho River for the Jumano Indians [2-24-13]
Category: Moseying | History of the Southern Llano Estacado

Joann Merritt is a long-time volunteer at Sibley, and for almost 30 years she has contributed stories to the Midnat’s (Midland Naturalists) newsletter, The Phalarope. We've placed almost 150 of her essays here for your reading pleasure.

A fourth category is a recent addition to our website. Harold Williams was the long suffering driver for Frances Williams, the pioneer ornithologist for West Texas.  An oilfield paleontologist who examined foraminifera, he was instrumental in helping to create the Stratigraphy of the Permian Basin Geology. He loved to go with his wife along the back roads of West Texas. He kept an eye out on the geology, but his favorite sight along the road were big range bulls bellering in ranch pastures. During his childhood, his father ran cattle on the Seminole Indian reservation in Oklahoma and in Alberta province in Canada, so his heart and soul was filled with ranch memories. A collection of his essays are found here.

Before Executive Director Burr Williams wrote for the Midland Reporter Telegram, he wrote for the Midland Naturalists newsletter, The Pharalope. Those articles are available here.

Updated! Frances Williams was the pioneer ornithologist for West Texas.  She was the co-author of the first study on Cassin's Sparrow (published in Arthur Bent's Life History of American Birds). She was also a founding member of the Texas Ornithological Society,  and the regional editor for 25 years for Audubon's American Birds Journal. Frances also edited the Midland Naturalists newsletter, The Phalarope, for 35 years. We have selected many of her essays and divided them into categories. Note: This is an ongoing project; we will eventually have more than 300 of her articles online, so please check back.

Essays: Wild on the Prairie

Jump to Sub-Category: Invertebrates | Mammals | Plants | People | Drought | Herptiles | Birds | Habitats | Learning | Temporal Observations | Elemental Forces

Invertebrates

• Facing bugs without fear and revulsion [7-18-99]
• Sometimes there are just too many bugs! [8-1-99]
• To indulge in butterfly identification is great fun! [10-10-99]
• Dung beetles are understudied, despite being very important to local ecology [7-2-00]
• The ecology of ants as discovered by children [11-12-00]
• Jigging urticating tarantulas is fun, not scary [date n/a]
• Pseudoscorpions are rarely noticed, except by kids on a field trip [6-15-01]
• Termites are important to ranchers [8-19-01]
• Harvester ants do not prevent seed bank accrual [11-11-01]
• Leeches in the Pond [12-9-01]
• Jerusalem Crickets [1-20-02]
• Springtails are rarely found on the Llano Estacado [3-17-02]
• Tick population explosion [7-28-02]
• Invasion of the flitterbys -- billions of snout butterflies from the Brasada [8-2-06]
• White cotton on cactus once worth billions [4-3-11]
• Every home should have pet jumping spiders [5-29-11]

Mammals

• Comanche Burrowing Owl Folktale [12-5-99; 2-2-03]
• Buffalo ecology before the Llano Estacado was settled [5-21-00]
• The buffalo prairie ecosystem [7-30-00]
• There is still Pronghorn on the Llano Estacado [10-8-00]
• Buffalo Dream [1-28-01]
• The Long Drought and a family of skunks [10-28-01]
• Gray Fox Behavior [2-3-02]
• Pocket gophers are important to the prairie [6-2-02]
• Being neighbors to a gray fox [12-1-02]
• Who da’ fool who thought Midland needed tree squirrels? [6-22-03]
• Packrats are industrious neighbors for rural residents [8-26-09]
• Know the  Odoriferous and Ferocious: the Mustelidae [2-3-10]
• Say howdy to a badger, but leave him alone! [2-17-10]
• Naturalists just want to have fun by porcupine following [7-28-10]
• Buffalo are a symbol of the past on the Llano Estacado [8-29-10]
• Pronghorn [4-10-11]
• A thief in the night – the ringtail [8-28-11]
• Prairie dogs have a great social life [9-2-12]

Plants

• Wildflowers in a drought [4-29-99]
• Wild in the Garden [9-19-99]
• What everybody ought to know about Mesquite [3-12-00; 2-16-03]
• Adaptive Horticulture [3-11-99]
• Plant Speciation on the Llano Estacado [9-24-00]
• No watering in winter [11-26-00]
• A Walk in the Garden in March [3-4-01]
• Big Bend plants [3-11-01]
• Plants in the winter [3-18-01]
• Cryptogamic Soil [8-6-00]
• Amateur Naturalists discover new species of plants for Midland County [6-25-00]
• Plant adaptations to heat, wind, and drought [7-9-00]
• A group of Purple Thistle teaches some children about ecology [10-1-00]
• The Solanaceae are well adapted to west Texas [7-14-02]
• The role of story in horticulture [3-23-03]
• The passalong plant Winter Jasmine is more than the first bloom of spring [2-13-08]
• Field Botanists are Bold Explorers! [7-3-11]

People

• Frances Williams [8-20-00]
• Midnats and Ola Dublin Haynes [1-7-01]
• Magoosh, the person [2-18-01]
• Indians and Hispanics [3-3-02]
• The Boopster [6-16-02]

Drought

• Lessons for humans from the drought [1-30-00]
• Experiencing the drought -- guided imagery [5-28-00]

Herptiles

• Yard box turtles -- the favorite wild animal of Llaneros [9-26-99]
• Is there a new genetic strain of Couch's Spadefoot Toad in Midland? [7-16-00]
• Salient batrachians on the Llano Estacado [10-29-00]
• Are Snakes Evil? [10-14-01]
• Little snakes are not baby rattlesnakes [8-11-02]
• Doing the impossible – "taming" a whiptail lizard [8-25-02]
• Mojave Rattlesnakes are not found north and east of the Pecos River [10-27-02]
• Geckos and Anoles are accidental immigrants to the Llano Estacado [11-10-02]
• Local sightings of “Mojave rattlesnakes” are a symptom of hysteria caused by “nature-deficit disorder” [10-4-06]
• A summer’s fascination in adaptation -- Horned lizards [8-20-08]
• “Disappearing Amphibians” talk by UT Jackson School of Geosciences at Sibley [1-28-09]
• The perfect model for life in the summer -- the box turtle [7-7-10]
• Have rattlesnakes stopped rattling? [8-7-11]

Birds

• Sandhill Cranes, the symbol of winter on the Llano Estacado [1-2-00]
• The ethics of finding an injured bird [2-13-00]
• Kingbirds and grasshoppers on the Llano Estacado [6-18-00]
• Meet Magoosh the Roadrunner (Part 1) [9-12-99]
• Magoosh the Roadrunner (Part 2) [4-23-00]
• Magoosh the Roadrunner (Part 3) [6-4-00]
• The favorite bird of the Llaneros – Hummingbirds [8-13-00]
• Burrowing Owls as Neighbors [9-10-00]
• All about bird feeding [12-31-00]
• A Roadrunner meets a Sharpshinned Hawk [2-4-01]
• Cassin's Sparrows are the icon of spring for Llaneros [5-13-01]
• The Inspector, the Cactus Wren [7-1-01]
• Uncommon common birds -- Painted Buntings and Pyrrhuloxias [7-29-01]
• Roadrunners as icons [9-16-01]
• Take a look at a bird's tail! [4-28-02]
• Chihuahuan Ravens are a symbol of the Llano Estacado's wide open spaces [3-31-02]
• Windows kill birds, but some birds try to kill windows! [9-8-02]
• Scaled Quail, also known as Blue Quail, are familiar to rural Llaneros [9-29-02]
• Cowbirds adapted to the Buffalo Prairie [3-2-03]
• When daytripping in the fall and winter, watch for wintering hawks [9-20-06]
• Every winter the Llano Estacado has the world’s largest concentration of cranes [12-24-08]
• Hawk watching is easy to do on the Llano Estacado [8-18-10]
• Phalaropes, "Women's Lib" and the MidNats [9-12-10]
• Horned Larks live here year around but few people see them [8-21-11]
• Barn Owls have become more common over the years [2-19-12]
• Doves of the Southern Llano Estacado [9-9-12]
• The prettiest bird you have never seen [12-9-12]
• Don't underestimate the intelligence of this bird [1-20-13]

Habitats

• The landscape of the Llano Estacado is always changing [3-18-99]
• Temporary Pluvial Ecosystems [4-15-99]
• Trash has its own ecosystem [10-24-99]
• A home-made ecosystem - the windbreak [1-16-00]
• Water features in landscapes are shrines to the wonder of water [2-20-00]
• The Oak Tree and the Urban Forest [2-27-00]
• The number of species of animals on the Llano Estacado is increasing [3-26-00]
• A new habitat for people -- greenbelt parks [2-25-01]
• Exploring the Draw Habitat [12-10-00]
• Introduction to the grassland habitat [10-22-00]
• Fire as a determinant in aridlands ecology [6-1-01]
• Mustang Draw [7-15-01]
• Oilfield tank battery catwalk needed at the Sibley Nature Center [4-14-10]

Learning

• Role of anecdotal evidence [6-9-99]
• Camping philosophy [7-4-99]
• The value of studying the natural world [8-15-99]
• Teaching philosophy [5-7-00]
• Philosophical pedagogy [12-17-00]
• Homeland curriculum [1-6-02]
• After a family hike on a daytrip, write and then read each other’s stories about the trip [2-8-06]
• A new opportunity for fun education; the Sibley Kids’ Club [2-14-07]
• Can you pass a test for 5th graders on the playas of the Llano Estacado? [11-28-07]
• Teaching teachers extends the audience of the Sibley Nature Center [7-30-08]
• Place-based storytelling is a comprehensive teaching technique [12-31-08]
• Nature study cultivates accurate observation and stimulates the imagination [10-30-11]

Temporal Observations

• First week in April [4-1-99]
• May walk [5-27-99]
• Late summer observations [8-29-99]
• Fall Walk [11-7-99]
• Christmas bird count walk [12-19-99]
• Fall report to Frances Williams [11-5-00]
• Brushpiles [5-14-02]

Elemental Forces

• Wind [4-20-03]
• When the rain is not gentle, everything suffers [8-30-06]
• Just what do birds do when the snow is falling? [1-17-07]
• Chasing thunderstorms in Wild Borden County is revitalizing! [4-3-08]
• Old timers survived Llano Estacado blizzards in extreme ways [2-13-11]
• Weather predictions are often based on the behavior of animals [11-4-12]

Essays: Moseying

Jump to Sub-Category: Exploring the Natural World | Locations of Interest | Outdoor Recreation Activities | History of the Southern Llano Estacado | Living La Vida Llanero

Exploring the Natural World

• Salt Playas [3-06-02]
• Sandhills [5-8-02]
• Red Bluff Reservoir [5-29-02]
• The Devil’s River [6-12-02]
• A bear at night in the fog in the Sacramento Mountains [6-5-02]
• Angelo State University Biology Department [2-5-03]
• Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge [3-19-03]
• Dugout Wells at Big Bend National Park [3-26-03]
• Madera Canyon Roadside Park, Davis Mountains [4-2-03]
• Balmorhea State Park [4-9-03]
• Thunderstorm at Midkiff [6-25-03]
• Frijole Ranch in the Guadalupe Mountains [8-13-03]
• The rim road in the Guadalupe Mountains [8-20-03]
• Fall in Midland County [10-8-03]
• Sandhill Cranes make holy Llanero music [12-17-03]
• Midland County Sandstorms [2-25-04]
• Hailstorm south of Ozona [3-31-04]
• Spring Wildflowers and ethnobotany [4-28-04]
• Prairie Dog in a tree [6-23-04]
• Heavy rain [7-7-04]
• Summer pasture walking [7-14-04]
• Coyote trailing in the sand dunes [7-28-04]
• Oilwell pad ecology [8-25-04]
• Gyppy and alkaline soil [9-1-04]
• Davis Mountains fall wildflowers [9-15-04]
• Doing nothing in Davis Mountains State Park [10-6-04]
• Endemic Plants of West Texas
• Winter storms; Blue northers, ice fogs, and blizzards on the Llano Estacado [12-29-04]
• Sandhill cranes, again [2-16-05]
• Chimaya at Big Spring State Park [3-16-05]
• Council of animals on the Llano Estacado [4-13-05]
• Creosote bush along the Midkiff road [4-20-05]
• Draws of the Llano Estacado [12-28-05]
• Flashflood in the Davis Mountains [5-25-05]
• Dreaming of buffalo at Muleshoe refuge [5-4-03]
• 4th of July butterfly count [7-13-05]
• Africanized bees in Glasscock County [7-20-05]
• Seven Habitats of the Llano Estacado [11-9-05]
• New species of beetle in the Sand dunes [12-14-05]
• Visitors to a pond [3-28-04]
• In the heat of August seek promise in green fruit [9-28-03]
• A breakfast interrupted by a cat, a fox, and stray dogs [12-28-03]
• Agave stalk visitors [5-9-04]
• Baby bird on the ground [6-20-04]
• Chemistry lesson in the garden from a beetle [8-8-04]
• Walk in the rain with cat [8-29-04]
• Chihuahuan Ravens - A bird is more than just a bird [9-25-04]
• Wildfire is part of the natural cycle [1-11-06]
• Observing a Peregrine Falcon on the Cliffs of Downtown Midland [1-18-06]
• Bringing back the boom – Tympanuchus restoration and protection [4-26-06]
• After it rains, the rainbugs circle-dance in the morning sun [7-5-06]
• Introduce yourself to the kangaroo rats at the Monahans State Park [7-26-06]
• Do you have a personal story of prairie chickens? [8-16-06]
• This weekend – daytrip in the dunes and hear about the Comanche War Trail [9-13-06]
• 20 years of traveling 7 miles at the edge of town [11-22-06]
• Sometimes the birds come to watch the birdwatchers [12-27-06]
• Help the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department find out where the prairie chickens live [1-31-07]
• A fine young male, fresh and brightly colored and very handsome [4-4-07]
• The glories of wildflowers bring tears of joyful thankfulness [4-18-07]
• A 20 percent chance of rain with an isolated thunderstorm on the Stockton Plateau [5-2-07]
• Wildflowers of the genus Penstemon demonstrate the diversity of WestTexas wildflowers [6-6-07]
• Are bears moving north into the McCamey – Iraan area? [6-27-07]
• Playas are the focus of Programs at the Sibley Nature Center this fall [8-22-07]
• Are tarantula populations declining on the Llano Estacado? [10-10-07]
• Midland’s Urban Forest – a dynamic ecosystem always changing [10-31-07]
• Collisions with cars is the number one killer of animals at the hand of man [11-7-07]
• If a child has never seen nature, what does the child see during a hike? [11-14-07]
• Sign up for the 2008 Master Naturalist class and explore the wilds of West Texas [12-5-07]
• Will the Mallet Ranch become an Outdoor Education center? [12-26-07]
• A winter daybreak brings chilly birdwatching in a mesquite pasture [1-2-08]
• According to the folktale “la lechuza” a barn owl can be a witch [1-9-08]
• Salt Playas can be a diverse habitat – just add water! [2-27-08]
• A fairy bouquet can teach about runny noses, slime, limestone, and caliche [3-3-08]
• Overwintering grasshoppers may mean summer population explosion [4-2-08]
• 2008 – the worst year ever for wildfires [4-23-08]
• The Bug Man of Sibley and Summer Bug Camp [5-14-08]
• Stories from bug camp – Sign your 4th-6th grader up for the July and August bug camps [6-25-08]
• Behold the Devil’s Claw, a Pleistocene anachronism [7-2-08]
• Sibley volunteer discovers unknown gelatinous goo on cryptogams that attracts insects [7-9-08]
• When you meet a javelina look for interesting behavior [7-23-08]
• A summer’s fascination in adaptation -- Horned lizards [8-20-08]
• Why do birds form large winter roosts and flocks? [9-17-08]
• Master Naturalists and bloggers record West Texas biodiversity [9-24-08]
• When the honeybees are gone, we will need our native bees [10-1-08]
• The Sibley Nature Center helps conservation groups in Whiteface, Rankin, Colorado City [10-8-08]
• Admire the subtle colors of the grasses of autumn [10-22-08]
• “The special value of water in the desert” Program at Sibley [11-05-08]
• Master Naturalists discover the diversity of Midland’s urban forest [11-12-08]
• Creosote bush deserts are fun for naturalists [11-19-08]
• In the land of the invisible lesser prairie chicken [11-26-08]
• Aliens at Sibley! Aliens from other countries on Earth and Aliens from Space! [2-18-09]
• Teachers and students learn to read the land at Castle Gap and Big Spring [2-25-09]
• Water Holes of the Sand Dunes: Anyone can add to scientific knowledge [3-4-09]
• Seldom seen Great Plains skinks are surprising backyard finds [05-20-09]
• Does anyone have a recipe for possum? [05-27-09]
• Looking for rare plants and lizards [06-10-09]
• Do you know the wild neighbors of your residential street? [06-17-09]
• Comparing two communities of organisms 100 yards apart [06-24-09]
• When and why do critters take night trips to town? [07-01-09]
• Triassic and Cretaceous fossils needed at the Sibley Nature Center [07-08-09]
• Paper wasp behavior is evidence of the theory of kin selection [07-15-09]
• Join the Sibley Nature Center Nature Photo Club this Saturday [07-22-09]
• Learn more about Box turtles, prairie dogs, and toads [08-5-09]
• West Texas authors  of new Texas wildflower book to speak Saturday at Sibley Center [08-19-09]
• Packrats are industrious neighbors for rural residents [08-26-09]
• Roaming with researchers rounding up ringnecks, rats, and rabbitbrush [09-02-09]
• Feel the gaze of a raptor this Saturday at 1.30 p.m. at the Sibley Nature Center! [09-09-09]
• Hiking in the fall down Midland Draw on a private ranch [09-23-09]
• Hummingbird scientist and author to speak at Sibley Nature Center Saturday [09-30-09]
• When the Monarchs came the mesquite twig girdlers invaded [10-7-09]
• Midland College student promoting prairie dog viewing area [10-14-09]
• Schoolchildren can walk the Sibley Nature Center Trails and win prizes! [11-30-09]
• Sibley Nature Center sponsors a Nature Photography Club [12-9-09]
• Rescue of a bald eagle resonates with symbolism [12-23-09]
• Belted Kingfishers mean winter has come to the Llano Estacado [12-30-09]
• Become a Master Naturalist and explore habitats found on local private ranches [1-6-10]
• West Texans are great observers of the out-of-doors [1-13-10]
• Small bird-hunting hawks come to yards in the winter [1-27-10]
• Selenia is the southern Llano Estacado’s valentine plant [2-10-10]
• The Midland Naturalists have promoted ecological education for 60 years [2-24-10]
• Do you know the song of the Cassin’s Sparrow, the symbol of spring? [4-7-10]
• Photography Exhibits a regular feature at the Sibley Nature Center [4-21-10]
• Students to learn about good and bad bugs in Bug Camp [4-28-10]
• Sign Your Child Up for Bug Camp [6-2-10]
• Nature walks every Monday and Friday at  Sibley – come join in! [6-9-10]
• Crayfish or Crawdads live in Midland County [9-19-10]
• Salt cedar is public enemy number one along draws [9-26-10]
• Wildlife gardening is an exciting exploration of ecology and culture [10-1-10]
• The pluvial ecosystem of a salina [10-31-10]
• Braving a sandstorm is a valuable educational experience [11-28-10]
• December Holidays bring Christmas bird counts [12-5-10]
• Connecting to the natural world means more than learning names [12-19-10]
• Become a Master Naturalist and explore habitats found on local private rancher [1-2-11]
• Facebook is an important part of the Master Naturalist class at Sibley [2-20-11]
• Rare trumpeter Swan visited Green Tree Country Club [3-6-11]
• A visit to a "dry lake" or playa [5-1-11]
• Every home should have pet jumping spiders [5-29-11]
• Basic knowledge about the ecology of the sanddune habitat [6-12-11]
• Get up close and personal to the drought [6-19-11]
• The  reality of  the  drought is becoming oppressive [7-17-11]
• The prettiest bird on the Llano Estacado is the Painted Bunting [7-31-11]
• Visit the Monahans Sanddunes with the Master Naturalists October 15th [10-9-11]
• Exploring wintertime brushland is anything but boring! [12-25-11]
• Come see a snookums bear and other omnivores at Sibley on Saturday March 24th [3-18-12]
• Spring is the time of rattlesnake love in West Texas [4-15-12]
• In the aridlands, humans should be fossorial [7-8-12]

Locations of Interest

• Odessa Meteor Crater [3-13-02]
• Big Spring and the Potton House [5-1-02]
• Calvinites, Campbellites, and Marfa Lights [5-15-02]
• Pecos at rodeo time [7-17-02]
• The Guadalupe Mountains [7-24-02]
• Horsehead Crossing [8-7-02]
• Lone Wolf Mountain [8-14-02]
• The road from Midland to Patricia [10-2-02]
• From Patricia to Andrews -- playas, homeplaces, and fences [1-8-03]
• Shafter Lake [10-9-02]
• Stanton Historical Museum [11-6-02]
• Clairemont and Fluvanna [11-13-02]
• Buffalo Gap [11-27-02]
• Edith, Texas [12-04-02]
• Water Valley and Shelving Rock Spring [12-26-02]
• The breaks at the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado [2-19-03]
• Iatan and grassroots historians [1-22-03]
• Roswell, New Mexico [2-26-03]
• Backroads of Crockett County [4-30-03]
• Carlsbad Texas sanatorium [5-14-03]
• Andrews 4th of July celebration [6-18-03]
• Odessa museums and summer wildflowers [7-9-03]
• Mescalero, New Mexico 4th of July [7-2-03]
• Lubbock Windmill Museum and role of windmills in west Texas [7-16-03]
• Guadalupe Mountains’ Dark Canyon rattlesnakes [7-23-03]
• Nickel Creek Café in the Guadalupe Mountains [8-27-03]
• Santa Rosa Spring [10-22-03]
• Dinosaur tracks east of Fort Stockton and Sotol Liquor [11-26-03]
• X-bar ranch at Eldorado and nature tourism [1-21-04]
• Archer City [3-3-04]
• Lajitas [4-14-04]
• Girvin [5-19-04]
• Gomez Peak [5-26-04]
• Lubbock Lake Landmark [8-11-04]
• South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center [9-8-04]
• Chihuahuan Desert Symposium [10-27-04]
• Back roads of Coke County [11-17-04]
• Papalotito colorado, Big Bend Ranch State Park [1-5-05]
• The Sierra Madera Astroblem [2-9-05]
• Crockett County road 307 east of Sheffield [3-30-05]
• Notrees to Kermit to Wink to Andrews [6-15-05]
• Dreaming of the Pecos Headwaters at Horsehead Crossing [6-22-05]
• San Angelo State Park in the Summer [7-27-05]
• Borden County [8-10-05]
• To get to know west Texas, take the back roads! [3-22-06]
• A town becomes a ghost town when memories are gone [4-19-06]
• Windmill Ranch Preserve -- ecotourism near Snyder, Texas [5-10-06]
• Exploring the empty country of Los Medanos [5-24-06]
• It is good to honor the memory of those that have served their people [12-6-06]
• Geddis Canyon and the old Pumpville Road worth exploring [2-21-07]
• Open Preserve Day at Independence Creek Preserve [7-4-07]
• Live snakes at the Sibley Nature Center 1:00 p.m. September 15th [9-12-07]
• The rugged Scurry County landscape has hidden mysteries [9-26-07]
• Visit the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute near Fort Davis [2-20-08]
• Tahoka students meet Texas Tech archaeologists at Tahoka Lake [12-3-08]
• Memories of Frances Williams in the hills near Sheffield [12-10-08]
• With new improvements planned, Fort Lancaster is no longer a forgotten historical site [1-21-09]
• I-20 pond is a wonderful place to view birds, butterflies, and more [04-15-09]
• Chihuahua Desert Nature Center to present program on Davis Mountains Geology [10-28-09]
• Nazareth Texas has the first Playa Education Center in the world [6-16-10]
• From the country to you – the Downtown Farmer's Market [6-30-10]
• Yesterday's  expedition explored history and ecology at a salina [10-17-10]
• Have you explored the Ceja of the Llano Estacado? [1-9-11]
• Cemeteries are wonderful locations for birdwatching [2-3-13]

Outdoor Recreation Activities

• How to be a Daytripper (A visit to Howard County) [2-27-02]
• Camping on the Stockton Plateau [4-3-02]
• The stories that wildflowers tell [4-24-02]
• Collecting medicinal plants – Nolan County [5-22-02]
• Investigating the Fish of West Texas [6-19-02]
• Breeding Bird Survey east of Iraan [7-31-02]
• A nature hike with kids at Comanche Trails Park in Odessa [7-3-02]
• Birdwatching in Midland’s urban forest [9-11-02]
• Night driving for wildlife [9-18-02]
• Searching for the ghost forest of the breaks [10-30-02]
• Living History Christmas at Fort Concho [12-18-02]
• Geocaching [7-30-03]
• Nightwalking: Strangeness in the night [10-13-04]
• Daytripping by the flip of a coin [12-8-04]
• Porcupine Chasing at Moss Creek Lake [1-26-05]
• Hightech daytripping [3-2-05]
• Observing the landscape from 30,000 feet [6-1-05]
  
• Dragonfly watching [6-29-05]
  
• Motley County Ranch features West Texas history from dinosaurs to cattle-baron times [1-31-06]
• Arrowhead hunting is a traditional daytripping adventure for West Texans [3-8-06]
• Superb Andrews teacher leads three-day field trip for 8th graders [5-3-06]
• You too can dangle from a cliff – rappelling is fun! [6-21-06]
• A kangaroo rat meets a family that camps and rides ATVs in the sanddunes [Unpublished]
• When it rains the Llano Estacado explodes with life [8-23-06]
• Research in Midland County seeks to find out if mourning doves are declining [8-1-07]
• Stalking the wild – daytripping with a digital camera [12-12-07]
• Volunteers needed to pick thousands of Seeds for Lady Bird Johnson Center project [7-16-08]
• Bring a picnic and learn about horny toads, butterflies, and other pollinators this Saturday [8-6-08]
• The gypsum of Rustler Hills: A barren worthless landscape – or fascinating and amazing? [8-27-08]
• A free deer hunting pasture can come with a price [9-10-08]
• Ethnobotany Program at Sibley – the art of living off the land [2-4-09]
• Wildfire protection and prevention workshop and thoughts of spring planting [3-18-09]
• Win hundreds of dollars worth of drought adapted plants! [3-25-09]
• Facebook and digital photography for citizen scientists [11-18-09]
• Identifying a bird can be difficult even for experts [8-11-10]
• The Sibley Nature Center has been doing Real-world inquiry education for 23 years [11-21-10]
• Brushpiles are full of birds at the Sibley Nature Center [12-12-10]
• Modern high tech hunting is not traditional hunting [1-23-11]
• Gardens tell thousands of stories [3-27-11]
• Kids that go outside are cool – Bug Camp for 4-6th [7-3-11]
• Judge Rob Junell to talk at Concho Resources brown bag luncheon at Sibley [9-25-11]
• Duck-watching can be addictive! [11-13-11]
• Plenty to see on a walk in a mesquite brushland [6-17-12]
• Becoming impassioned about exploring the out-of-doors is tons of fun! [7-29-12]
• Fun along a sewage creek [1-27-13]

History of the Southern Llano Estacado

• Goldsmith: Living in the ruins of the oilfield [3-20-02]
• Place of Dreams or Overgrazed Pasture filled with Cactus? [3-27-02]
• The Landscape of the Boom and Bust Economic Cycle (Lubbock to Lenorah) [4-10-02]
• Oil camp memories [8-21-02]
• Hermit Harry Robinson [9-4-02]
• Indian and Texas Ranger fight near Big Lake [8-28-02]
• Mustang Springs [9-25-02]
• The Blue Nun of the Concho River [10-23-02]
• The pictographs of Paint Rock [1-1-03]
• Fort McKavett [1-15-03]
• Seven Wells [1-29-03]
• Ozona-Barnhart Trap [4-03]
• Muchaque Peak [2-12-03]
• Memories of Elderly Ranchers of Stiles [3-12-03]
• Lipan Apache Magoosh in the Guadalupe Mountains [4-23-03]
• Consolidated Schools in West Texas [4-16-03]
• Fort Chadbourne – 6 generations of preserving history [5-28-03]
• High Lonesome Draw [9-24-03]
• Ghost towns of Howard and Martin County [12-3-03]
• Bull Creek and Comanche Daily Life [12-10-03]
• Black Cowboys [11-12-03]
• Penwell – ghost oil town [11-19-03]
• Northern Lea County [12-24-03]
• Pictographs of Paint Rock revisited [12-31-03]
• gunfighters and outlaws of west Texas [2-4-04]
• Spotted Jack [2-11-04]
• The gangsters of Wink [2-18-04]
• Hispanic Immigration to the Llano Estacado [4-21-04]
• Midland and Northwestern Railroad [5-5-04]
• Ipa of the Lipan Apache [5-12-04]
• Lagunas sabinas and the ciboleros [6-9-04]
• McCamey historian Ethie Eagleton [6-30-04]
• The Texon scar [7-21-04]
• The past is alive [8-4-04]
• Indian captive on Independence Creek [8-18-04]
• German settlement in west Texas [10-20-04]
• Did Jumano Apaches exist? [11-10-04]
• Black Seminole soldiers chased Apache raiders [12-22-04]
• Apache-Comanche treaty at Willow Springs [1-12-05]
• The saga of Herman Lehmann [2-2-05]
• Fencecutting wars [1-1-05]
• Charlie Goodnight and Jose Tafoya meeting 1893 [3-9-05]
• Ice age woman at Lubbock Lake [4-6-05]
• Mexican immigration due to Green Revolution [6-8-05]
• Goldsmith – Living in the ruins part 2
• Dreaming of a Living History Center [8-17-05]
• Bombing ranges in west Texas in World War II [8-24-05]
• Torres brothers of Fort Stockton [10-5-05]
• Charlie Goodnight and the Charlie Goodnight Historical Center [9-28-05]
• The importance of Fort Lancaster State Park [10-12-05]
• Maljamar sand dune archaeology [11-16-05]
• Jim Downs' walk across the Llano Estacado [11-23-05]
• Manuel Musquiz of the Davis Mountains [12-7-05]
• The lost shaman in Carlsbad Caverns [12-21-05]
• Magoosh and the mountain lion at a salt playa [2-15-06]
• The liberated women of the Mexican Revolution are part of our history [3-1-06]
• In the graveyards little known history is revealed by learning the “rest of the story” [5-31-06]
• A salute to West Texas families that preserve West Texas History [6-7-06]
• Artifacts tell stories – the tale of a Chinese coin found near Deadman’s Cut [6-14-06]
• 129 years ago a conversation near Tahoka led to the death of four men [7-19-06]
• Before civilization came to West Texas, traders served as news reporters [8-9-06]
• Coke County is remote and resplendent in history and beauty [9-6-06]
• Can you imagine hunting mammoths on the Llano Estacado? [10-11-06]
• A reenactor portrays an early West Texas botanist [11-1-06]
• The wolves of Laguna del lobos locos -- when wolves lived on the Llano Estacado (Part 1) [11-8-06]
• The wolves of Laguna del lobos locos -- when wolves lived on the Llano Estacado (Part 2) [11-15-06]
• Charlie Goodnight, Prairie Chickens, and Fire; It only could happen on the Llano Estacado [12-13-06]
• 600 Apaches attacked Spanish soldiers near Pecos in 1773 [12-20-06]
• West Texas has a fascinating history while it was part of Northern New Spain [1-10-07]
• On a cold winter day, the ghosts of tlatoleros are on the wind [1-24-07]
• The greatest frontiersman of all time – Don Pedro Vial [2-7-07]
• West Texas’s first energy boom – prairie coal [2-28-07]
• Cochran County was the last frontier of Texas [3-14-07]
• Sabeata was the most influential man of West Texas in the late 1600s [4-11-07]
• Tipis, wickiups, chozas, pithouses, and jacales – the primitive architecture of West Texas [5-23-07]
• Bats give purpose to a Wild Kiowa-Apache Woman [6-13-07]
• Revisit the horrors at Buffalo Soldier Hill June 23rd [6-20-07]
• The Comanche War Trail was the result of the politics of Mexico [7-25-07]
• The history of one playa -- from Comanchero days to today [8-29-07]
• Indians of the Jornada-Mogollon culture on the Llano Estacado – 1100-1300 A.D. [10-24-07]
• Who were the Pickethouse Unionists in Texas during the Civil War? [11-21-07]
• Charles Goodnight saved an incompetent commander on the Llano Estacado in 1862 [1-16-08]
• Traveling by auto in West Texas in 1917 was not a simple daytrip [1-30-08]
• The story of an adobe structure mentioned in an archaeological report [4-16-08]
• The 1953 exhumation of the Midland Woman in the Monahans Draw sanddunes [5-21-08]
• The camp of the seven Comanche women in the 1850s [5-28-08]
• When did Jesus Perea bring 30,000 sheep to Tahoka Lake? [8-13-08]
• Kiowa Indians were important on the Llano Estacado in the 1800s [9-3-08]
• Vernon Bailey and the biological survey of Texas 1889-1905 [10-15-08]
• Fleteros and arrieros helped settle the Southwestern United States [12-17-08]
• Cabeza de Vaca led thousands of Indians across west Texas [1-7-09]
• Joe McCombs and the last buffalo hunt in Midland County [1-14-09]
• Ethnobotany Program at Sibley – the art of living off the land [2-4-09]
• How did Spanish artifacts get to West Texas? [3-11-09]
• Cotton farmers deserve recognition and a museum [5-4-09]
• Kerosene and castor oil - Home cures were once universal health care [05-13-09]
• Stage stop operators were the backbone of the superhighways of the past [08-12-09]
• Camels in West Texas -- Fort Stockton Sesquicentennial [10-21-09]
• Did the mustangers of the early 1800s and late 1700s come to West Texas? [11-11-09]
• The cold fronts of winter reminds Llaneros of  a story of loyalty [12-16-09]
• Hobbs’ Western Heritage Museum to build new Archaeological Center [1-20-10]
• Jumano Indians were here when the first Europeans arrived in the 1540s [3-3-10]
• Mescalero Apaches visit an overnight campsite at a playa [7-21-10]
• Author and Former Midlander to speak at Sibley [8/4/10]
• At Airsho learn about Medal of Honor Winners of the Indian Wars [10-10-10]
• Dateline 1881 -- The railroad is coming to Midland [11-7-10]
• The Comanche Empire ruled West Texas for 140 years [11-14-10]
• Brown bag luncheon about the Llano Estacado in the years 1500-1875 [4-24-11]
• The Turning Point in the Comanche Empire [5-8-11]
• Genizaros [5-22-11]
• Judge John Hyde to speak July 28th at noon at Sibley Nature Center [7-24-11]
• The late Glen Evans, former Midlander, was a leader in paleontology and archaeology of the Llano [9-11-11]
• Memories of Storm cellars, once considered a necessity in West Texas [9-18-11]
• Monarch butterflies awed Comanche Indians too [10-16-11]
• The golden light of winter evenings is most memorable [12-11-11]
• An early New Year's Day on the Llano Estacado [1-8-12]
• Seminole Indians are an important part of our history [1-29-12]
• Knowing local and regional history is important [3-11-12]
• Tejas Alliance may have lasted thousands of years [4-8-12]
• A pronghorn story and Eve Ball, Ma'am Jones, and Magoosh [5-13-12]
• In the late 1890s West Texas cattle wintered in Oklahoma [5-20-12]
• The first Lozen, warrior woman of the Llanero Apache [7-15-12]
• Jumano Indians were important part to West Texas History [8-5-12]
• News from the Northern Llano Estacado in 1599 [8-19-12]
• Eastern edge of the Llano Estacado was used as trail by Seminole Indians [8-26-12]
• Remembering history is an act of imagination as well as scholarship [2-17-13]
• The economic benefits of the pecans of the Concho River for the Jumano Indians [2-24-13]

Living La Vida Llanero

• Nature tourism and pride in landscape [4-17-02]
• Big Spring artist H.W. Caylor [6-26-02]
• El Bulto’s ghost stories [7-10-02]
• West Texas Architecture [10-16-02]
• Cowboy folktales [11-20-02]
• McElroy Ranch and author Elmer Kelton [12-11-02]
• Murals of West Texas [3-5-03]
• Curanderismo [5-7-03]
• Descansos [5-21-03]
• Did Metal Silhouette Art originate on the Llano Estacado? [6-11-03]
• Trash dumping in the rural landscape [6-4-03]
• Hurtful stories of cultural conflict [9-10-03]
• Rasquache, an aesthetic from the borderlands of Mexico and the United States [9-17-03]
• Vandalism [8-6-03]
• La virgen [8-20-03]
• Decoration day at graveyards [9-3-03]
• Ranching is more than cows nowadays [10-1-03]
• West Texas is where music styles begin [10-15-03]
• West Texas as a crossroads [10-29-03]
• Dia de los Muertos [11-05-03]
• Sheepranching [1-7-04]
• Fiberglass buffaloes in Windlands Park are great Interpretations of a Llanero Icon [1-14-04]
• Tacinques (sheepshearers) [1-28-03]
  
• Caliche pits [3-17-04]
• Women ranchers [3-21-04]
• More ghost stories of the Llano Estacado [4-7-04]
• Old-time lingo of west Texas [6-16-04]
• Art Show at the Scarborough-Linebery house [6-2-04]
• The changing landscape of the oilfield [9-22-04]
• Changing the landscape of one’s town [9-29-04]
• Cotton farming on the Llano Estacado [11-4-04]
• The people of Midland [12-1-04]
• Sweat lodge [12-15-04]
• Brush control [2-23-05]
• Life at MaryNeal [5-11-05]
• Windmills, revisited [8-3-05]
• Day of the Dead in the garden, in memory of BW’s parents [11-2-05]
• Winter Memories of Water Walks [1-11-04]
• A Garden can Heal Grief [8-31-03]
• Saints in the Garden [2-29-04]
• A Garden Gives Wildlife a Home [2-1-04]
• Irrigationless Gardening [11-4-04]
• Spanish introductions to horticulture of the Southwest [4-27-05]
• The soul of the Llano Estacado -- the best two novels of the region [2-8-04]
• John Phillip Santos [8-16-01]
• Jane Gilmore Rushing – Novelist of the Breaks [7-4-04]
• Trends in the Landscape [1-4-06]
• West Texas has always been home to big spreads [1-24-06]
• We would like you to solve Magoosh's dilemma [3-15-06]
• County dogs have nighttripping adventures – and the damage left behind is preventable [3-29-06]
• Magoosh's dilemma is back by popular demand! [4-5-06]
• Spring is here! Sing Hallelujah! Go daytripping in the garden [4-12-06]
• On the road to the world's greatest lizard race [7-12-06]
• Bringing a brother home – landmarks, memories, and the sense of place [9-27-06]
• Changes in the landscape – the ecology of development [11-29-06]
• Bringing back the boom – “I love them prairie hens!” [1-3-07]
• Feral hogs are a part of the modern West Texas landscape [3-7-07]
• Small town schools are great places for students to learn [3-21-07]
• The Flache-White Ranch [3-28-07]
• Pioneering in the city – adventures in urban ecology [4-25-07]
• The Sibley Nature Center can find the perfect adventure for you or your child [5-9-07]
• All that is green is not plant material – West Texas goes “green” [5-16-07]
• Pronghorns and the professional biologists to whose care they are entrusted [5-30-07]
• Mad Science and Citizen Science at the Sibley Nature Center [7-11-07]
• Ranching the Holistic Resource Management way is good for the land [7-18-07]
• Everybody is from somewhere – the story of an immigrant couple [8-8-07]
• Natural Calendars, Live Snakes of West Texas, and the Sibley Kids Club [9-5-07]
• To navigate the present, look back at the other times the world changed [9-19-07]
• Poetry distills and crystallizes the human experience [10-17-07]
• Los Comanches – A Genizaro Christmas tradition on the upper Pecos River [12-19-07]
• West Texans work together to promote Heritage Tourism [1-23-08]
• How much should we fear mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and wildfire? [3-12-08]
• Graduate-level drought adaptive gardening at April 5th plant sale [3-19-08]
• Graduate-level drought adaptive gardening - Part 2 [3-26-08]
• JoAnn Merritt, The best ambassador for West Texas Wildlife in Midland [4-9-08]
• On May 10, 2008, learn about the Chihuahuan Desert and buy ornamental native plants [5-7-08]
• Along with the Amber alert, there should be a “Silver Alert” [6-18-08]
• Pecos County mesa country is rough and wild [07-29-09]
• In memory of Ed Dwyer, the Sibley Nature Center looks forward [11-04-09]
• Siberian Elms are never sold today, but are still found in Midland [3-10-10]
• Heroes are people that improve the quality of life for all [3-24-10]
• Celebrate Easter and the arrival of spring at the Sibley Nature Center Plant Sale [3-31-10]
• Jim Henderson – Hunter-conservationist par excellence [10-24-10]
• Art Classes, guided walks, gardening, and more at the Sibley Nature Center [1-16-11]
• Every day brings a surprise at the Sibley Nature Center [1-30-11]
• The Llano Estacado makes a person want to sing [2-6-11]
• Farmer's Appreciation Petting Zoo at Sibley Nature Center March 15th [3-13-11]
• Tish Hinojosa performing at the Sibley Nature Center April 23 [4-17-11]
• Texas Forest Service to give Brown Bag Luncheon at Sibley [6-26-11]
• The Sibley Nature Center offers adults the Sibley Academy this fall [9-4-11]
• Live animals and wild foods at Sibley Open house October 8th [10-2-11]
• Kissing Bugs and Chagas Disease [10-23-11]
• High Tech database project ongoing at the Sibley Nature Center [11-6-11]
• Sibley Nature Center briefly hosted an unusual bird – the kiskadee [11-20-11]
• Concho Resources presents Dr. Calvin Smith at Sibley Brown Bag [12-4-11]
• Xeriscaping and Drought [12-18-11]
• To "Bloom where you are planted" is good advice [1-1-12]
• Master Naturalist program begins in February [1-15-12]
• Wildlife in the oilfields video part of art show in Houston [2-5-12]
• Citizen science for a proposed endangered species [2-12-12]
• This year plan to adapt your garden to the drought paradigm [2-26-12]
• Bird rehabilitator  Dr. DVM Jessica Todia to present at Sibley Nature Center in March [3-4-12]
• When the flowers bloom, there is no spring like a West Texas spring [3-25-12]
• Midlanders and others weigh in on abusers of the water restrictions [5-27-12]
• Memorial Day is not only for remembering, but for making memories [6-10-12]
• Living with heat has changed for most of American society [6-24-12]
• Share your lists of favorite wildflowers and Xeriscape plants with others [8-12-12]
• Exotic pets from Australia at Sibley September 22nd [9-16-12]
• Program at Sibley about the world renown rock art of West Texas [9-23-12]
• Rescued exotic African animals at Peeps and Creeps presentation October 13th [10-7-12]
• Do not water your yard for the next month! [10-14-12]
• Sunday fun with the kids! Make  an animal costume! [10-21-12]
• A cautionary tale set in the breaks of the Llano Estacado [11-11-12]
• Oaks in our gardens enriched the ecology of our Urban Forest [11-18-12]
• Children 6-10 can Sign up for this spring's Sibley Nature Club [11-25-12]
• The Importance of Regional Literature [12-2-12]