Following is the description of this presentation provided by NPSOT: In the age of smartphones, our phones often double as our primary cameras—especially while doing activities for which carrying a camera is inconvenient. In this presentation, Lauren Simpson shares tips for using a smartphone to take clear, beautiful, and impactful photos of native plants and their wildlife visitors.

Registration, prior to the start of the meeting, is required to access the online event. You can find the link to register here.

On the second Monday of each month, the Friends of Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery conducts a bird survey led by a team of experts. All HLBWS members are welcome to help with the survey. Be sure to dress for the weather and bring all that you will need for the morning (water, sunscreen, bug spray, binoculars, etc.). For more information about the bird surveys, please use the “Contact Us” form found here.

This is the final meeting of the 2024-2025 program year! Following summer hiatus, HLBWS will resume its monthly meeting schedule on September 4, 2025.

Four members of HLBWS will share their perspectives on birding in a panel discussion. The panelists are Sherry Bixler, Kathy McFarlen, Greg White, and Bob Linder.

• Sherry has been birdwatching since she was about 5 years old. She has traveled to all 50 states and all 7 continents, and enjoyed birdwatching in all those travels. But birding locally is always interesting, and Sherry has organized and led birdwatching field trips for HLBWS to a wide variety of area destinations since 2009. Sherry will talk about Birding in Burnet County.

• Kathy’s interest in birding and wildflowers took root early in her retirement, when she began “ranch sitting” for family members southeast of Marble Falls. She combined a passion for photography with her love of nature, and made a resolution to submit an eBird checklist every day in 2024 - and succeeded! Kathy will discuss how she, and others, can Make Birds Count.

• Greg has always enjoyed the outdoors and graduated from college with a major in Wildlife Management. He began birdwatching as a hobby in 1981. He discovered HLBWS in 2017 and served on the group’s leadership team from 2017 to 2019. He continues to contribute to the organization by supporting the use of Groups.io, contributing to the Wildflower show, and facilitating room set-up for HLBWS meetings. Greg will focus on Northern Burnet County Birding Locations.

• Bob Linder’s “two lives” have centered on a masterful career in music, and a lifelong enjoyment of hunting - particularly for wild turkeys. He has served as an adjudicator for World Turkey Calling events and achieved “grand slams” in hunting wild turkey. Bob discovered HLBWS in 2021, and during the pandemic, began pursuing photography in earnest. He is the inspiration behind HLBWS’s photography group, which began in 2024, and loves sharing this hobby with others. His talk is titled, Covid Time to HLBWS: I Love Birds, Animals, and My Camera.

SAVE THE DATE! This is the “spring edition” of one of HLBWS’s most popular field trips. Members convene at the golf course and use golf carts to tour the diverse habitats on/around the course. Past participants have seen a good variety of birds - waterfowl, songbirds, raptors, and more. There is a $5/person fee, which is a “pass-through” fee to cover the cost of using a golf cart. Space on this trip is strictly limited, so members should submit their $5 fee in advance of the trip date. Participants should dress appropriately for the weather (closed toe shoes recommended) and bring their binoculars, water, personal snacks, sunscreen, insect repellent, and favorite bird guides/apps to help with bird identification. E-mail will be sent to all members via Groups.io with complete details.

Each Sunday (except for any 5th Sunday in a given month), for $10/person, an expert guide leads a bird walk around the various habitats of Mitchell Lake Audubon Center. Participants may see as many as 30-50 different bird species. The bird walk can last up to 4 hours and is best suited for those aged 15 and up. Tours are limited to a maximum of 10 participants each. For full information and the link to purchase tickets, please see the list of events on this page.

Geoscientist Brent Doty will discuss key features of the Edwards Balcones Fault Aquifer. It is one of the most prolific karst aquifers in the world. Brent will focus in on the geologic, hydrologic, and ecological characteristics of the Aquifer that make it so unique and critical to both the communities and ecosystem it serves.

Brent Doty is the Research Manager for the Edwards Aquifer Authority’s Aquifer Science and Modeling Team. He is a geoscientist with more than 16 years of experience in hydrogeology and water resources management.

Please visit this page for full details and the link to register for the online event.

The Gillespie County Horticulture Extension Agent, Elizabeth McMahon, will talk about the importance of native grasses to the Texas Hill County, focusing on examples that are both ecologically valuable and aesthetically pleasing. She will include a grass identification activity in this presentation. Full details about how to access the online event are available here.

Carol Clark will lead an informative, entry-level discussion of the details that help distinguish one plant from another. Participants will learn to describe plant anatomy and how to use botanical keys to support plant identification. The presentation will include a combination of
photos and hands-on lessons with fresh plant samples.

Social time is from 6:30-7:00 p.m. The online event will start at 7 p.m. For information about how to access the online meeting, please visit this page.

The HLBWS Study Group meets at 11:00 a.m. on the third Monday of each month, from September through June. This month’s topic is butterflies. The “study buddies” will bring interesting facts about a particular butterfly of their choosing. Come join in the fun and camaraderie, and gain a greater appreciation for Texas butterflies.

Ashley Lander is the invited speaker at this meeting of the Highland Lakes chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT). She is the founder of the Native Plant Rescue Project. Ms. Landry’s talk will include pointers about how people can save local ecotype plants, i.e., those that fill environmental niches specific to the Highland Lakes area.

This FREE meeting features speaker Kelly Tarla, the Burnet County AgriLife extension agent, discussing ways we can all be more “water wise.” This is the third part of a four-part water wise series that is open to the public.

If you are interested in attending this summer’s Davis Mountains Hummingbird Celebration, be advised that TODAY is the first day of online registration for those who wish to attend. Registration will cost $195/person. See the Hummingbird Celebration website for full details.

Gentle reminder for all HLBWS members: This is the last Great Blue Herald edition of the 2024-2025 program year! If you have content that you would like to see published this year, the deadline is on May 15th. Be sure to send in your articles, poems, and photos! Your contributions help to make this one of the best organization newsletters we’ve ever seen.

On the second Monday of each month, the Friends of Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery conducts a bird survey led by a team of experts. All HLBWS members are welcome to help with the survey. Be sure to dress for the weather and bring all that you will need for the morning (water, sunscreen, bug spray, binoculars, etc.). For more information about the bird surveys, please use the “Contact Us” form found here.

Join in the fun and contribute to a global citizen scientist data collection effort at Inks Lake State Park! The park is hosting a “Big Sit” event, in which people form a circle of a certain size and record their observations of bird species, and counts of individuals in each species. The cost is $7/person (or FREE if you have a state park pass). Participants, ages 8 and up, are asked to bring chairs, water, etc., and to dress appropriately for the weather. Binoculars will be available for those who do not have their own. More details can be found at birdingclassic.org.

A free birding class for ages 12 and up will be offered at the Marble Falls Public Library on Saturday, May 10, 2025. The class will include a bird walk at Johnson Park and is suitable for both mobility-challenged and wheelchair users. It is offered by the Highland Lakes Bird and Wildflower Society.

Registered participants are asked to bring the following items to the class: water, hat, comfortable shoes, sunscreen, insect repellent, and binoculars if they have them.

The information session at the library will cover binoculars, field guides and apps and will be followed by a walk to the park. Non-walkers can drive or ride to the park and watch birds at lakeside with a qualified instructor. Other instructors will accompany the walking group to spot and identify resident and migratory birds.

 The class is limited to 25 people and registration can be requested by completing the “Contact Us” form.

SAVE THE DATE! Global Big Day is a massive citizen scientist project that involves one of our very favorite activities: Birdwatching! Participation is as simple as birdwatching for 15 or more minutes, and reporting observations via eBird. More information will be posted here when it becomes available.

Flycatchers can be extremely challenging to identify, even for seasoned birders. In this informal, interactive online event, author Cin-ty Lee will facilitate a discussion that focuses on some of the most common - yet most commonly misidentified - flycatchers. These include the Acadian Flycatcher and Eastern Wood-Pewee, followed by a look at Least and Yellow-bellied flycatchers. Registration is required to access this FREE, online event.

Invited speaker Wizzie Brown will give a talk about invasive arthropods that should be reported, and how and where to report them. Wizzie Brown is a Senior Extension Program Specialist-IPM with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. She works to educate others about insects, integrated pest management, and to instill an appreciation for insects, which have their place in this world. Ms. Brown is a Board-Certified Entomologist specializing in urban and structural pest management.

The meeting will be held both in person and online. Registration is required to access the online meeting.

Please note: People can sign up for any one of the four times that the vireo bird walks are being offered. The choices, listed on the Friends website, include Wednesday, May 7, at 8 a.m. OR at 10:30 a.m., or, Saturday, May 10, at 8 a.m. OR at 10:30 a.m.

This guided walk is an excellent opportunity for birders at all levels of experience to learn about the Black-capped Vireo. It is one of two bird species that the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge was established to protect. Participants will have the opportunity to see the habitat that is being managed for these beautiful birds, and possibly get to see the vireos enjoying trees at the ideal height for nesting. Complete details and the link to registration are found here. Spaces are limited so early registration is advised.

Almost every Wednesday morning, Emily Grant and her colleagues host a Facebook live stream event that features one or more invited speakers, who talk about birds, birdwatching, and so much more. It’s FREE and no registration is required. You can find links to all of the past Cup Chats here, on YouTube. And here is where you can find their Facebook page to view the live events. They really have some wonderful speakers, and it’s a great way to start “Hump Day!”

Each Sunday (except for any 5th Sunday in a given month), for $10/person, an expert guide leads a bird walk around the various habitats of Mitchell Lake Audubon Center. Participants may see as many as 30-50 different bird species. The bird walk can last up to 4 hours and is best suited for those aged 15 and up. For full information and the link to purchase tickets, please see the list of events on this page.

Following social time and a brief business meeting, invited speaker Carol Clark will talk about gardening practices that anyone can implement to help native bees flourish. For more information, including how to register for the online meeting, please go here.

Invited speaker Stephanie Tourles will discuss six common healing herbs, three that are easy to grow and three that are locally wild-growing. Members will learn the beneficial properties of these herbs and how they can be used medicinally. Samples of the plants in their various forms and products made with them will be available for all to experience.

Stephanie Tourles's education began in the late 1960s -1970s as a little girl on her grandfather's farm in north Georgia. He grew up poor in Appalachia and was well versed in wild-growing herb identification, making home remedies, and Cherokee medicine. He took her for long walks and taught her about the local healing leaves, roots, flowers, barks, and clays, and the art of making salves and tinctures. With much guidance and experimentation, Ms. Tourles began experimenting, mixing up her own remedies and applying them to anyone who would submit to being her patient. She asked for feedback and kept copious notes for years.

Since that time, Ms. Tourles has undertaken extensive study with many herbalists and mentors, training in Western and Ayurvedic herbalism. Between 1994 and 2022, she wrote 15 books on the subjects of natural/herbal skin and body care, topically-applied herbal remedies, insect repellents, raw food nutrition, essential oils for home health, and natural foot care. Her publisher, Storey Publishing, sent her on frequent book tours around the country which included many TV, radio, and bookstore appearances. Currently, Stephanie is in private practice in Marble Falls, Texas, as a licensed massage therapist, certified foot/hand reflexologist, skin care herbalist/licensed esthetician, and craniosacral therapist.

Meeting room doors open at 9:30 a.m. for social time and light refreshments. The business meeting starts at 10:00 a.m., and the presentation begins immediately after the business meeting. Weather permitting, there is a pre-meeting bird walk at 8:00 a.m. at Haley Nelson Park in Burnet.

Zach Ritchie, a conservation manager at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, will introduce participants to the early stages of Texas native plants. He will talk about how to recognize the morphological differences of select examples of seedlings. Participants will learn some new terms like “eudicots” and “monocots” and examine the contrasting cotyledons of these two classes of vascular plants after germination. NOTE: For those attending in person, doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for a plant exchange. Those who attending via the Zoom platform are required to register in advance, to be admitted to the online meeting.

The HLBWS Study Group meets at 11:00 a.m. on the third Monday of each month, from September through June. Topics of discussion and related readings are announced to members in advance of each meeting. Come join in the fun and camaraderie, and gain a greater appreciation of the topic at hand.

Everyone is welcome to enjoy a morning of bird watching from the wildlife viewing station at Blanco State Park. A park ranger will discuss the basics of birding and then help participants learn about the birds that call the park home. Coffee will be provided, but participants should bring their own breakfasts or snacks, water, and binoculars. (The park has a very limited supply of binoculars available to borrow.) People should dress appropriately for the weather conditions. Please note that the program is subject to cancellation in the event of inclement weather. Park admission is $5/person aged 13 and over, and admission is free for children aged 12 and younger. It is strongly recommended that people purchase their day passes, here, in advance of this event. There is no additional charge to participate in Coffee with the Birds.

David Sarkozi will talk about the 2-year project that culminated in the book, Birds of Texas. At 614 pages, the book still doesn’t tell the full story of birds found in this state. Some remaining parts of the story, such as which of the common ducks in Texas is mostly nocturnal, don’t fit in the guide. Mr. Sarkozi has been an active - and avid - birder for over 30 years, and has served in numerous leadership roles, such as having been the president of the Texas Ornithological Society.

There is no cost to attend this meeting. Full details are available in Travis Audubon’s free newsletter. You can sign up to receive the newsletter by completing a form found here.