Nature Notes From West Texas Public Radio

Lubbock Lake is one of several important archeological sites on the West Texas plains that testify to the earliest Americans, the “Paleoindians.”

Mississippi kites are slender and elegant, with 3-foot wingspans and plumage that fades from black to a pale gray-white. They once summered mostly in the Southeast, nesting in deciduous trees. But as people brought those trees to the Texas plains, the kites followed

Pound-for-pound, grasshopper mice are among the fiercest predators in the desert borderlands, and they’re unfazed by venomous prey.

Standing 2 and a half feet high, with wingspans of 7 feet or more, golden eagles are the apex avian predator of West Texas. The region is home to golden eagles that breed here and are year-round residents, as well as eagles that travel here from more northerly climes in winter.

West Texas is rich in reptiles, and the western hognose snake is one of the region’s stars. Its calling card is its shovel-like face, but the snake – which poses no threat to humans – also has a host of fascinating behaviors and adaptations.

Trans-Pecos Texas has a stunning diversity of reptiles and amphibians, and herpetologists, both professional and avocational, flock here from around the world. Now, researchers are turning their attention to one example of that diversity – a mysterious lizard known as the Dixon’s whiptail.

Gypsum landscapes occur globally, but they abound in the Chihuahuan Desert, from Coahuila and Durango to the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas and New Mexico’s White Sands. These white-sand outcrops are certainly harsh. But they’re also hotspots of biodiversity. That includes the complex, fragile ecosystems known as “biocrusts.”

Large swaths of West Texas are dominated by features called coppice dunes. These dunes reveal that, when human activity and extreme weather intersect, landscapes can be rapidly transformed.

When it comes to sand dunes in our region, we think of New Mexico’s White Sands, the Monahans Sandhills, or the Salt Basin Dunes near the Guadalupe Mountains. But there’s another great sand sea here.

Established in 1962, the National Natural Landmarks Program each year designates a handful of sites in public or private ownership that embody the best of the nation’s natural heritage. And the newest landmark is a West Texas property.

As archeological techniques and perspectives evolve, artifacts collected decades ago can be as revelatory as new finds.

Chirping frogs are typically less than an inch long, and you could mistake their whistling, trilling calls for an insect’s. But these little creatures have an epic story, one that distills the deep mysteries of biodiversity.

More than any mountains, mesas or canyons, the region's sand dunes distill the desert’s defining phenomenon, drought.

Five years ago, archeologists began excavating the San Esteban cave south of Marfa, searching for evidence of the Big Bend's earliest inhabitants.

At sunset tonight, a few thousand Mexican long-nosed bats will fly from a cave high in the Chisos Mountains. They’ll disperse to feast on agave nectar — pollinating the iconic plants in the process. These “agave bats” are deeply imperiled by human impact but for now, they’re holding their own.

In paintings and comics, Alpine artist Chris Ruggia has captured West Texas wildlife with care, curiosity and whimsy for two decades. Now, he has a new book inspired by the return of black bears to the Big Bend region.

With the return of black bears to West Texas, researchers are tracking their movements and studying their habits. And with careful science, they're hoping the bears can once again flourish in the region.

These ovens, where ancient people slow-roasted succulents like agaves, are rewriting the region's deep history.