As much as snow-on-the-prairie (Euphorbia bicolor) dominated a piece of the Blackland Prairie in Pflugerville on September 1st, that colony still shared the land with other species. Notable among them was the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus), which, now mostly dried out, still towered in some areas above the vigorous snow-on-the-prairie. In one place I even found a single fresh (though lowly) sunflower flower head.
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Eight years ago I did a post about the takahē, a New Zealand bird that people once believed extinct but that was eventually found to still exist. Fortunately the species has continued making a comeback. As an article on the Good News Network reported the other day:
In a massive and historic conservation success story, eighteen takahē birds have been released into the wilds of a nature reserve on Lake Wakatipu.
This is hoped to be followed by seven more in October, and another 10 in the early months of next year as this rediscovered wonder continues its long road to recovery into the third separate breeding population in the wild.
Lake Wakatipu was one of my favorite places in New Zealand, and it appeared in a bunch of posts that you're welcome to scroll back through.
© 2023 Steven Schwartzman
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