Joann Merritt's Essays

Midnats Get Cooking
April, 2003

On his TV food show Emeril Legasse peers into a container where food is cooking and says “oh, look at that, now it’s getting’ happy.” I felt the same way on Good Friday, April 18th when peering into the depths of Big Spring’s Scenic mountain that was simmering with nature’s bounty and ready to be served to an appreciative audience.

Midnats Don Hunter, Bill & Kathy Lupardus, Don & Joann Merritt and Rose Marie Stortz obliged by sampling 28 species of birds in perfect weather, then as the morning temperature rose so did 21 species of butterflies, chief of which was the seldom seen in Midland Juniper (Olive) Hairstreak. One newly emerged specimen basked in the sun’s warmth showing its beautiful olive green and rust colors that were accented with dashes of white - “Oh, yeah, Babe!” The Olive Hairstreak is found near stands of juniper, its host plant and hopefully someday a population of them will become established in Midland. The bright orange Gulf Fritillary with silver spots on the underside, yellow Dainty Sulphurs, Orange Sulphurs and Reakirt’s Blues garnished Scenic Mountain. From the large number of Variegated Fritillaries present, we can reasonably assume their host plants grow there. “Are you with me so far?”

Midnats could not identify all the native plants but the challenge was there and it was great fun trying to do so. A hillside rock garden made from scratch by nature had yellow Paper Daisies and Bladderpods cascading down Scenic Mountain like a waterfall of flower petals, and in the midst of that bright yellow - "Bam! Bam! Bam!" - there grew a single group of eye-catching purple Texas Thistles. From the pleasing aroma of Rock Lettuce to the foul odor of tall Blue Curls the Mountain served as a good location for our native plant workshop.

The normally pale Texas Earless Lizard used a small wooden foot bridge which spans a shallow gully for his stage. He “Kicked it up a notch” by displaying so that his blue blotched sides with two black stripes were shown to good advantage and as he ran with his tail curved over his back the black crossbars underneath his tail were highly visible. “Another notch!”

Crissal Thrashers were the most sought after birds and were seen, but not by everyone because they disappeared so quickly into the thick brush; however, at noon as we approached our cars the very active Common Bushtits made their presence known with soft twittering and were seen by the entire group. It was then that I said to myself “Self! This wasn’t just Good Friday, it was Super Friday. Oh, yeah, Babe! We kicked it up a notch and now were all getting’ happy!”

P. S. If you don’t understand Emeril Legasse’s expressions that I have used, you might want to “Kick it up a notch” and watch his show.