Search results for

August 5th to 7th, the Trans-Pecos Wildlife Conference will bring together landowners and scientists – to explore practical solutions for sustaining our region’s wild creatures.

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 region.

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 and cave walls is deeply evocative.

Órale, last week we featured the Caló word for drive, arrear. This week we’re gonna continue with a different nuance of it, arre, which means move out of the way, get away from me, or simply stop engaging with me. It comes from the same old Castillian word for mule team driver, arrero, but it’s what arreros would say to their mules to drive them through a muddy creek crossing, up a steep hill, or for the last stretch of a long haul, arre. Indeed, it’s not a polite request. It’s a sura, pugilistic sound you blurt out to dominate and offend somebody and, with that, move them away from you. Arre at once calls someone a mule and gatcho de amadres commands them to move.

Órale, the feature this week in Caló is rayar. It comes from the same Indo-European roots that give us ray and rayo, as in a ray of light. In modern Spanish, it means to draw a rayo or move straight and fast like a rayo. In Caló it means to mark over or draw lines across something or someone, which is to curse someone or something. So when somebody rayas a person, they’re curing them out. The worst curse would be to rayar someone’s mother or an important saint or icon, in which case you’d say, le rayó la madre.

The Trump administration’s plans for an unprecedented expansion of border-policing infrastructure in Big Bend have also triggered an ambitious scientific initiative. The Big Bend Borderlands BioBlitz aims to document the biodiversity here before it’s damaged or destroyed.

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 aquifers.

In the coming months, the Trump administration’s construction of border barriers could impact hundreds, even thousands, of archeological sites in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, where the Pecos River and Devils River join the Rio Grande

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 from the single white spot found on the backs of females.

Órale, the onda this week in Caló is Mirlangas, AKA, Midland. While the resemblance between the two words might seem tenuous for a non-Caló speaker, it’s quite on the mark for everybody else. It’s based on how the older, non-English speaking raza used say Midland: Mirlang. The next generation found levity in it and incorporated the mispronunciation into Caló and added the a and s at the end to align with Caló’s aesthetic need to end all words, most especially placenames, with a soft sound.