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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, they thrive in dry, rocky places where Ponderosas, firs and aspens can’t make it.

West Texas avians have passionate local advocates. That includes Trans-Pecos Bird Conservation, or TBC. This small but potent cadre of bird experts is cultivating the bonds between our region’s birds and its people.

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, scientists have turned to an unlikely place: Carlsbad Cavern.

Órale, the onda this week is refulata. It means counterculture or, in general, that which goes against the grain or challenges the reigning zeitgeist, that is, the intellectual and/or cultural norm. It doesn’t have to be an organized movement or act or even intentional. The refulata can be a solo act, a meme, a fluke or even a lost cause or an unrequited aspiration. It’s refulata if it catches attention and inspires people to see things differently. La refulata doesn’t mean, invokes or even actually causes change. It often loses out, but not always, to the times. But it presents an adaptable alternative to bedrock thinking about what’s real, what is and isn’t valuable, and what’s certain vs what’s not certain.

Robert Anderson, a senior research scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, has journeyed from South America to Southeast Asia studying this group of insects. And in our region, he’s discovered creatures previously unknown to science, including some found nowhere else on Earth.

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 Guadalupe Mountains, can see they’ve entered a different landscape.

Órale, the onda this week of Caló is puchy. It comes from the name of the Mayan god of Death, Ah Puch, who’s iconic representation is that of a rotting corpse. In Caló, puchy is the expression one would use to express revulsion or even nausea over something or someone. “Puchy! Who has the upset stomach back there?”

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 striped faces and chestnut bellies covered in white polka dots. But they’re also masters of concealment. You could spend a lifetime here and never see one.

Órale, the onda this week is cincho. It’s Spanglish for sure thing. It comes from the English nuance of cinch, a strap with a buckle, that means secured, certain, or easy, as in something is a cinch. In modern Spanish, however, cincho only relates to a strap with a buckle or the act of buckling something, as in a business deal has been cinchado or closed. In Caló, however, the word cincho solely means secured or certain. You use it to say something is cincho going to happen or cincho it’s gonna be proven right.

Scaled quail – also known as blue quail and “cottontops” – are quintessential creatures of the arid grasslands and the dominant quail species in West Texas. Researchers at Alpine’s Borderlands Research Institute are learing how adaptable these seemingly vulnerable creatures are.