Joann Merritt's Essays

You Find It - You Name It
March, 1991

There are always new things to be found and named when you participate in the various Midnat activities.

On a recent Saturday morning field trip, Jim Henderson reported seeing a Lesser Glimpse, then just a few days later while looking for Longspurs Harold Williams saw a Least Glimpse. Donna Kelly has long been known for her Elusive Warbler. On March 16th while searching for this warbler, Don Hunter and Jim found a mature male Scott’s Oriole. I would have said a “perfect male” but Donna says there’s no such thing. He shone from the top of a hackberry tree on a windy, cloudy day at the Buchanan Ranch. The beautiful yellow, black and white plumage of the oriole brightened the day and warmed our hearts. Was that light rain falling or were our eyes just misty with joy? No matter, for if General Norman Schwarzkopf says it’s alright to cry, then it is.

One day while we were alley-walking, Jim instructed: “Someone look in the dumpster, there might be a Junco in there.” And on the March 2nd trip, when Rose Marie, Gene and Frances were in Costa Rica, Jim said “Well, since we’ve got all the experts out of the way, we can see whatever we want to see!”

When we had the Green Jay at our house we left a message for Allen Wemple. His Dad wrote him a note saying the Merritts had a Green J and he hoped we would also find a Purple K and an Orange M.

Seeing is believing and since Gene Grimes hasn’t seen Longspurs he doesn’t believe there are such birds. But then, he probably doesn’t believe in fairies either. Variegated Fritillaries maybe, but not fairies.

Betty Rae Davis knows from her childhood that there are fairies and she found one of the first Fairy Bouquets of Spring - a Dwarf Verbena with its tiny lavender-pink circlet of flowers. Golden yellow Scrambled Eggs were blooming, and if they could be eaten, there was the Peppergrass and Tansy Mustard for seasoning. The white blooms of the strongly scented Spectacle Pod were scattered in the pasture. When this plant matures it’s seed pods are shaped like a pair of glasses, which explains its name. Betty Rae also found Toad Flax, which blooms only when there has been winter rain. Then there’s the Bladder pod - what a name! When mature it has bladder-like seed pods that make a pop when stepped on and thus its common name of Pop-weed. The following is a quote from a book on Texas Wildflowers: “The first flush of yellow on plains and prairies is usually due to the Bladder-pods”. Since the author’s brother was a Doctor I suppose she was accustomed to using that terminology. The book is Texas Flowers in Natural Colors by Eula Whitehouse, and I recommend it. She painted many of the flowers while living here in Midland and you will easily recognize them.

A neighbor boy was helping me list the species of butterflies which had visited our yard that day when he added “Oh, yes, and don’t forge the Spinach Butterfly”. We had seen the Cabbage Butterfly and he remembered it as one of those vegetables most children don’t like.

Donna piqued our interest in stars so Don built a six foot high platform to better view the constellations. Since Donald made it, I named it Mock Donald’s Observatory.

You are invited to attend our next Midnat field trip so you can find and name discoveries of your own. Bring your binoculars and don’t forget your imagination even though there seems to be a good supply available.