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Nature Notes
Why do rattlesnakes rattle and hummingbirds hum? How do flowers market themselves to pollinators? Why do tarantulas cross the road? Nature Notes investigates questions like these about the natural world of the Chihuahuan Desert region and the Llano Estacado. Through interviews with scientists and field recordings, this Marfa Public Radio original series reveals the secrets of desert life. Join host Dallas Baxter for new episodes on each week on Thursdays. Episodes are written and produced by…
Episodes
Nature NotesSeeking Crops for a Warming World, “Extreme Bean Dream Team” Turns to the West Texas Mountains
Wild tepary beans thrive in the borderland mountains – including in El Paso’s Franklin Mountains. These remarkably hardy West Texas legumes could play a role…
Nature NotesIn Fiber Artifacts from West Texas, Archeologist Finds a Thread Connecting the Deep Past and the Present
Lauren Bussiere is the head of collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, or TARL. She’s investigating more than 800 fiber artifacts collected…
Nature NotesOn the Pecos, Sul Ross Scientist Finds the Resilience of a Beleaguered River
The Pecos River is the Rio Grande’s longest tributary, and it’s famously the threshold of the West. It’s also among the most endangered rivers in the United…
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Anthropologist Finds “Multispecies Conviviality” Among Javelinas and Texans
In “Living with Javelinas: Multispecies Conviviality in Texas,” forthcoming from UT Press, anthropologist Adam Johnson explores how people can coexist…
Nature NotesAt Indio Mountains, Scientists Track the Secret Lives of West Texas Rattlers
Rock rattlers are small, rarely exceeding 2 ½ feet. Their coloration reflects their environment. Rock rattlers in limestone landscapes are typically light…
Nature NotesWhile the Risks Here are Low, West Texans Are Still Wise to Be Tick Aware
Alpha-gal Syndrome is a potentially dangerous allergy to red meat, and it’s transmitted by the lone star tick. The tick gets its name not from our state, but…
Nature NotesIn New Research, Alpine Geologist Traces the Forces Behind the Big Bend’s Dramatic Landscapes
The American West is slowly being torn apart by tectonic forces. One element of this “extension” is the Rio Grande Rift, a growing rip in the continent, traced…
Nature NotesOn the Rio Grande’s “Forgotten Reach,” Border Wall Imperils Wildlife and Science
The Trump administration’s planned 30-foot-high border wall, stretching more than 160 miles from Hudspeth County to the western boundary of Big Bend Ranch…
Nature NotesBorder Projects Could Complicate the Return of Bears to Texas
How will the Trump administration’s new border-infrastructure projects impact these bears? Scientists at Alpine’s Borderlands Research Institute, or BRI, are…
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Archeologists Mobilize as Border Projects Threaten Ancient West Texas Sites
In the coming months, the Trump administration’s construction of border barriers could impact hundreds, even thousands, of archeological sites in the Lower…
Nature NotesWith Community Science, Big Bend BioBlitz Documents Biodiversity Threatened by Border Projects
The Trump administration’s plans for an unprecedented expansion of border-policing infrastructure in Big Bend have also triggered an ambitious scientific…
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From Balmorhea to Big Bend, Geologist Jesse Kelsch Seeks Insight into West Texas Aquifers
Alpine geologist Jesse Kelsch is seeking insight into the groundwater that sustains the San Solomon Springs as part of her broader research into the region’s…
Nature NotesTrans-Pecos Wildlife Conference to Connect Landowners, Scientists for Conservation
August 5th to 7th, the Trans-Pecos Wildlife Conference will bring together landowners and scientists – to explore practical solutions for sustaining our…
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At Hueco Tanks, Archeologists Discover Hundreds of Previously Unrecorded Pictographs
Hueco Tanks, east of El Paso, will always inspire wonder. Its red volcanic mountains create a desert oasis. And the prehistoric imagery painted on its cliffs…
Nature NotesSeeking the “Blue Birds of Happiness” in West Texas
Far West Texas is home to several species of azure-hued avians. Some of these bird species are full-time residents, while others are summering now in our…
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When It Comes to Birds, the West Texas Summer is Red Hot
Each spring, hepatic tanagers journey from as far away as Central America to the Chisos, Davis and Guadalupe mountains, to breed in the Ponderosa pine forests…
Nature NotesAmidst Changing Landscapes, Scaled Quail are West Texas Survivors
Scaled quail – also known as blue quail and “cottontops” – are quintessential creatures of the arid grasslands and the dominant quail species in West Texas…
Nature NotesMontezuma Quail: Alpine Researchers Unlock the Secrets of West Texas’s “Invisible Bird”
Montezuma quail are an avian conundrum. They’re among the most visually stunning birds in Far West Texas: The males have sky-blue bills, black-and-white…
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The Wild West of Weevils: Entomologist Robert Anderson Discovers New Lifeforms in West Texas
Robert Anderson, a senior research scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, has journeyed from South America to Southeast Asia studying this group of…
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Exploring the “Weird White World” of Parks Ranch Cave
An interstate might seem an arbitrary boundary. But an attentive West Texas traveler driving north of Interstate 10, on Highway 54 from Van Horn to the…
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In Planning a Mars Mission, Scientists Find an Analog in a Desert Cave
How can we limit our contamination of other planets? And how can we prevent bringing potentially harmful life forms back home? To address those questions…
Nature NotesWild Women for Good: April 25th Book Event Celebrates Texas Women in Conservation
On April 25th, Alpine’s Front Street Books hosts an event to celebrate the publication of “Wild Women for Good,” from Texas A&M University Press.
Nature NotesSeeking Insight into Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands, the Southwest’s Defining Forests
PJ woodlands are the Southwest’s dominant forest type, covering 100 million acres here. Pinyons typically top out at 20 feet – and alongside diverse junipers…
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Local Nonprofit Works to Celebrate & Sustain West Texas’s Rich Avian Diversity
West Texas avians have passionate local advocates. That includes Trans-Pecos Bird Conservation, or TBC. This small but potent cadre of bird experts is…
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In West Texas Pictographs, Archeologist Sees Roots of Today’s Kachina Tradition
Kachina dolls are an iconic Indigenous art form. Their craftsmanship is striking, and non-Native people have long admired and sought to acquire them. But…
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Ask the Bones: Practicing “Taphonomy” in Big Bend
Dr. Rachel Laker, of Hanover College in Indiana, specializes in taphonomy, which explores the processes bones undergo between an animal’s death and…
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In the Pecos Canyonlands, Ancients Foragers Created a “Painted Landscape” Charged with Religious Meaning
Painted on cave walls where the Pecos and Devils rivers join the Rio Grande, the rock art of the Lower Pecos canyonlands casts a powerful spell. Its imagery is…
Nature NotesWeather Underground: Studying “Speleometeorology” in Carlsbad Cavern
Cave scientist Riannon Colton is working to unlock one of the cavern’s mysteries: its “speleometeorology.” Because it turns out that big caves, like big…
Nature NotesIn the Pecos Canyonlands, Discovering the Daily Lives of Ancient Mural Makers
The Lower Pecos Canyonlands – where the Pecos and Devils rivers join the Rio Grande – contain globally significant rock art. But these same shallow caves have…
Nature NotesDating La Junta: Filling in the Story of an Indigenous Borderlands Culture
It features prominently in the earliest European account of the American Southwest, and it’s a fascinating chapter in Texas history. And yet, much about La…
Nature NotesAlongside Landowners, the Devils River Conservancy Fights to Save a Singular Place
The Devils River is frequently described as the most pristine river in Texas. Flowing where the Chihuahuan Desert blends into the Hill Country and the South…
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Can We Keep It a Forest? Fire & the Future of the Chisos Mountains
Wildfires burn landscapes, but they also sear themselves into memory, and many Big Bend National Park enthusiasts remember the South Rim 4 Fire of April 2021…
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An Archeologist Uses Pottery Fragments to Illumine Prehistoric Social Relations
Broken pieces of prehistoric pottery – known to archeologists as “potsherds” – are striking artifacts. As fragments of painted vessels, they vividly evoke…