Nature Notes

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Nature Notes episodes

October 19, 2017 Blackwater Draw: A Journey into the Paleolithic Plains
A century ago, archeologists believed human beings had occupied the Americas for just 3,000 years. Then, a series of discoveries on the plains of West Texas and eastern New Mexico transformed that view.
In 1932, archeologists excavated the remains of a mammoth in Blackwater Draw, near Portales, New Mexico. Among the bones, they found a spearpoint. It was proof that humans had lived in North America as far as back as the Ice Age – and had shared the continent with a stunning array of now-vanished mammals.
At Blackwater Draw National Landmark, and Blackwater Draw Museum at Eastern New Mexico University, visitors glimpse the Paleolithic past.
In 1875, Quanah Parker and his Comanches ...
5 min
October 12, 2017 Keeping an Eye on the Winter Hummingbirds of the Trans-Pecos
West Texas boasts among the greatest diversity of hummingbirds of any region in the country. Each year in late summer, birders convene in Fort Davis for the Davis Mountains Hummingbird Celebration, as thousands of hummingbirds pass through on great migrations.
But in West Texas, hummingbirds aren't just a summer phenomenon. Some of these charismatic, high-energy creatures winter here – and their numbers are growing.
For those who hang hummingbird feeders – and for other nature lovers – it's a fact to be mindful of.
Hummingbirds are remarkable creatures. Peerless in their maneuverability, they're also peerless in their metabolism – their hearts beat a thousand times a minute....
5 min
September 21, 2017 Conserving a “Keystone Species”: Lynda Watson is “the Prairie Dog Lady” of West Texas
They form a sophisticated society, with intricate communication. Prairie dogs are remarkable for their intelligence and sociability. And they're a “keystone species” – a foundation of biodiversity – on the West Texas plains.
They nearly disappeared. Our region was once home to half a billion prairie dogs. Less than 2 percent remain.
For one West Texan, conserving these iconic animals is a profession. She's known as “the prairie dog lady.” During 35 years, Lynda Watson has rescued and relocated 110,000 prairie dogs.
What does it mean for an animal to be a “keystone species”? To understand, visit a prairie dog town.
“Have you ever got to see a really big prairie d...
5 min
September 14, 2017 Understanding the Risks and Realities of Africanized Bees
It sounds like science fiction. Africanized honeybees were bred in a lab. These hybrids were superior honey producers – but also proved ferocious toward perceived threats. They escaped quarantine in Brazil in 1957. By the 80s, they'd reached the United States.
There was alarm at their arrival. But africanized bees are now embedded in our natural environment, and our economy.
A majority of honeybees in West Texas are likely africanized. And, along with non-africanized honeybees, they're critical crop pollinators.
What sets africanized bees apart? What should we know about the risks they pose?
Africanized bee stings typically kill one or two a people a year. Our region hasn't bee...
5 min
August 24, 2017 Caprock Canyons State Park: The West Texas Plains as They Were
The drive to Caprock Canyons State Park is a quintessential West Texas experience. Traveling northeast from Lubbock, one is swiftly submerged in an immensity unique to the Great Plains. Rural isolation increases, and you surrender to the scale of the great plateau, the Llano Estacado.
You pass through tiny towns, farming communities, their lush fields and historic buildings suggesting strong foundations. Only giant new wind turbines remind you you're not in an earlier century.
A hundred miles, and you arrive at the Llano's edge – the caprock. The feeling of time travel deepens. On rich prairie, beneath dazzling red cliffs, bison roam – the Texas state herd. At Caprock Canyons, you ...
5 min
August 17, 2017 At the Museum of Texas Tech, Exploring the Deep History of Life in West Texas
Mountain lions and mule deer, rattlesnakes, prairie dogs and falcons – West Texas has a rich assortment of wildlife. But rich as it is, it's only the present chapter in the history of life. And that history contains volumes.
Across ages, complex communities of animals have emerged and flourished on the land we inhabit. They flourished, and they faded – leaving their traces, fragments of their story, in the land itself.
At the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, visitors encounter some of those vanished creatures, drawn from the fossil record of West Texas. The university's paleontology collection contains even more.
Meet quetzalcoatlus, the largest flying animal ever kno...
5 min
August 10, 2017 For Endangered Long-Nosed Bat, An Intimate Link to Agave Is Threatened
Agave is one of the great resources of arid North America. It was a staple food for Native Americans. It's notable for its beauty – its luminous floret and towering stalk. Agave spirits – tequila, mezcal – are prized exports.
But as close as the relationship between agave and humans has been, one mammal in our region has an even more intimate relationship with the plant.
Each summer, Big Bend National Park is home to a population of endangered Mexican long-nosed bats. As the glow fades on the Chisos' ramparts, the bats set out from a mountain cave. They're hungry, for only one thing: agave flower nectar.
The relationship benefits both bat and plant. Human activity imperils tha...
5 min
August 03, 2017 Lubbock Lake Landmark: A One-of-a-Kind “Archive” of Life on the Llano Estacado
It was WPA site 17 dash 1. In 1936, federal works crews were using heavy equipment – the likes of which had never been seen in West Texas – to try to rejuvenate springs in Yellow House Draw, at the north end of Lubbock. The spectacle drew onlookers, including local high schoolers Clark and Turner Kimmel.
In the debris, the Kimmels saw something unusual – strange animal bones, and a stone tool. Wisely, they sought professional advice.
Dr. William Curry Holden, director of the West Texas Museum, recognized what they'd found: a Folsom spearpoint, at least 10,000 years old.
So began a process of discovery that continues today. Native Americans visited this prairie oasis for 12,000...
5 min
July 06, 2017 Operation Ponderosa: Working to Save the Big Trees of the Davis Mountains, Amidst a Changing Climate
To walk in a forest in West Texas feels like a form of grace. The Davis Mountains are the state's largest “sky island” – a place of green pastures, a wooded country above a sea of desert.
Oak and juniper, aspen and madrone. And on high slopes and canyons, trees that tower above the rest – ponderosa pines. They're majestic – and a foundation of rich biodiversity.
In 2011, Texas had its driest year on record. The drought, and ensuing wildfires and insect attacks, killed more than half the ponderosas in the Davis Mountains. The forest habitat is now at the brink.
Saving those trees – giving the ponderosas a chance in a changing climate – is a top priority for conservation...
5 min
June 29, 2017 The Squash Bee: A West Texas Native with an Outsized Impact
The hum of a hive, the burning pain of a sting – honeybees are hard to ignore. But don't let the buzz of these European imports drown out the broader bee story.
The native bees of the Americas are solitary, ground-nesting. And West Texas is the “Amazon” of native bees. From the Southwest through Mexico, arid North America has among the greatest bee diversity of any place on Earth.
One of those bees stands apart. Peponapis pruinosa – the eastern cucurbit bee, or squash bee – was critical to the birth of agriculture in North America. Over thousands of years, this desert native made a remarkable journey.
“I love squash bees. This is kind of my baby, my research baby, if you...
5 min

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