Joann Merritt's Essays

Two Midnats Celebrate Presidents Day
Don & Joann Merritt – February, 2005

It seemed like a good idea to check the area around our President and First Lady’s sign that Midnats have adopted through a Keep Midland Beautiful program. It also seemed like a good idea to wear snake guards as we cleaned this spot since the grass was tall and thick.

Placing a small American flag on a fence post by our ladder we crossed into the mesquite pasture land and began collecting the windblown litter. With our heads down it was easy to spot the tiny white blooms of Whitlow, Frances Williams’ First Fairy Bouquet of Spring, as well as a species of Cryptanth. What looked like pieces of paper from a distance turned out to be a patch of large white buttercups, or in Burr-speak Oneothera albicaulis, a Prairie Evening Primrose. Yellow Aster and Scrambled Eggs along with the golden Honey Daisy were in evidence. The butterflies also came in hues of yellow and white - Dainty Sulphur, Orange Sulphur, Sleepy Orange and Checkered White. One native legume, Quail Pea, had pale purple flowers which will mature quickly and furnish food for migrating birds this spring.

Speaking of birds, the Cassin’s Sparrows began singing from the tops of mesquite bushes and let us approach to within 20 feet or so before flying a short distance away, skylarking just once. Don said they assumed we were cattle grazing with our heads down and so were not concerned with our presence. Frances Williams wrote about the Cassin’s Sparrows in Midland for Roland Wauer’s book Heralds of Spring in Texas. She said “February usually begins with a two week period of unseasonably warm weather which causes fruit trees to put forth sure-to-be-frozen blossoms. Native vegetation ignores the false spring, but from the sere and brown pastures may be heard the high, sweet trills of Cassin’s Sparrows. There is no skylarking yet, but their haunting song is henceforth heard in each warm spell, a promise that spring is on the way”.

The sheer joy of the morning caused me to burst forth in song:

America, America, God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.

While I do not impress anyone (except negatively) with my singing, three handsome Pronghorns came close to investigate!

For these two naturalists it was an enjoyable and satisfying celebration of President’s Day and of nature in the early spring.