Events and Programs
The Friends of SCNP provide lots of events that might bring understanding, joy, and a sense of contribution. If you have a Facebook account, we recommend you follow us there and sign up as “going” when you see an event you plan to attend.
If you would like to see some of our past events, we generally include a summary of the previous month’s events in our newsletter. You can find issues at our newsletter page – and you can subscribe for free.
The Wild Lives of Texas’ Reptiles & Amphibians
The Wild Lives of Texas’ Reptiles & Amphibians
For those with a serious interest in these animals, whether or not you have much experience or background. The content will have some depth without being very technical. Appropriate for nature enthusiasts, Master Naturalists, adults and teens.
This series of presentations focuses on the reptiles and amphibians of north Texas, how they live in the wild, how we can find and recognize them, and how we can protect and conserve them.
Each presentation uses PowerPoint to offer lots of photos, offered via Zoom so that people can join from a variety of locations. Most presentations are 1.5 hours long with some time at the end for questions and answers.
The presentations are free and scheduled on Thursday evenings at 7:00pm, every other Thursday. We encourage you to plan to attend the series (we will be adding each event date), but you can selectively attend one or more of them. The Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8393
The presenter, Michael Smith, has field experience with these animals all over Texas and has written or co-authored two books on the subject (https://livesinnature.com/about/).
The sessions are as follows:
4/30 – Part One: Getting Started
We will discuss what these animals are and introduce the topic of herpetology and things like scientific names and community science. We will also try to answer the question, “what good are they?” We’ll also cover some essential skills in the field, skills that can help participants find the animals safely. There are photos of a poison ivy, bull nettle, and our local venomous snakes.
5/14 – Part Two: Amphibians
We’ll start with what makes a species an amphibian, and the frogs, toads, and salamanders that represent this group in the U.S. The presentation offers photos of most of the species encountered in North Texas along with the calls of frogs and toads. We will talk about amphibian extinctions and the threats to their survival.
5/28 – Part Three: Crocodilians and Turtles
These are the oldest reptiles in terms of evolution and paleontology. We will talk about our American alligator and its adaptation for aquatic life and get into the strange but successful structure of turtles and their shells. There are plenty of photos of most of our North Texas turtle species. We will discuss turtle conservation issues.
6/11 – Part Four: Lizards and Snakes (two hours)
We will talk about the natural history of these species (why do some lizards’ tails break off, and how do snakes move and swallow big food items?). Photos will illustrate representative species from each family, including each of our venomous snakes. We also will discuss venomous snake bite. This presentation will be longer than the others, probably until 9pm.
6/25 – Part Five: Herp Conservation Challenges
These animals are facing severe conservation challenges. We will talk about how conservation scientists keep track of various species, how federal and Texas state laws and policies may help protect them, and we’ll take a good look at several representative Texas species. We will also take a look at how we, as citizens and naturalists, can help.