Horse Crippler, Devil's Head

Echinocactus texenis

We came across this beautiful blooming cactus while driving around the refuge.

Mark bought this wonderful book called "Plants of Deep South Texas" by Alfred Richardson and Ken King.

Here is what the books says about this stunning cactus:

Like many cacti, this one is well camouflaged and often overlooked. The spines are sturdy and can penetrate a shoe or a tire. At one time, this was one of the barrel cacti used to make Mexican cactus candy.

Spines reddish, turning white with age, variable in length.
Leaves: None
Fruit: Red, spiny, up to 1 1/2 inches long
Bloom Period: Spring
Distribution: Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, and Starr Counties.

Spotlight Survey

Twice a year (Spring and Fall) the Refuge does a spotlight survey.

We go out for 5 nights, over a two week period. We start at dark using three trucks and at least nine volunteers. One driver, and two spotters in each truck. The driver also keeps track of the count unless there is an extra volunteer.


Our group of volunteers

Mark also has to get the trucks ready to go out. This includes making sure there is enough gas in the tanks, the back of the trucks are cleared out, and the spotlights are working.



The route that Mark and I are assigned to is the longest. We’re usually out about 2 1/2 hours. So far we have seen a lot of White-tailed deer and coyotes. We also have seen Nilgai, Bobcat and feral hogs. We haven't seen any Ocelot or javelina but they are also on the list.


Mark checking the paperwork used for keeping the count.

We don’t count paraque but we usually see 40-50 of them and a lot of rabbits.


Even though bats, owls and other night flying creatures aren’t on our list, that doesn’t mean we can’t check out the sky every once in a while too!

Stop and Smell the Flowers

"Don 't hurry. Don't worry. You're only
here for a short visit. So don't forget to stop
and smell the flowers along the way."

Walter Hagen


The wildflowers are really starting to bloom here, and this Armadillo seemed to be taking the quote to heart!!

---Mark

Great, Greater, Greatest...

One of the challenging aspects of birding is the ability to identify and name the birds. We see many different species of ducks here in South Texas, and most are distinctive enough to identify with certainty. But there is a pair of ducks that have caused ID problems for a very long time: Greater Scaup and Lesser Scaup. With names like that you would expect one to be obviously larger or flashier, but alas they are almost identical! The Greater Scaup is slightly larger, but they are almost never seen together, so judging size is useless. Field guides give information like "Greater has a more rounded nape contour" and "Lesser has a taller and narrower head". Also, "Black nail on tip of bill averages smaller on Lesser, but there is much overlap". For these reasons, we have never positively identified a Greater Scaup, as they are rare in Texas.

While at the South Padre Island birding center a couple of weeks ago we spotted a lone Scaup resting with a group of other ducks. I got some good pictures, and it seemed correct for a Greater Scaup. The head was "more rounded" and the black nail on the tip of the bill was large"ish". But how to be sure?? During this visit we had talked with one of the premier birding experts in Texas, Mary Gustafson. So we took our camera over to Mary, showed her the pictures, and she confirmed that it was indeed a Greater Scaup. Sometimes you've just got to get an expert to help you out!!
--Mark

Greater Scaup:


Lesser Scaup:


Greater Scaup:

You know what they say about South Texas ...

Well, they say a lot of things but, one of the things they say is:
"Everything has thorns and is trying to hurt you."





We certainly found that to be true the other day. We were clearing brush off a couple of the levies for the up-coming dam inspection.



Mark spent a lot of his time trying to keep the weed wacker and dull pole saw running.



I spent my time loading the brush into the back of the truck and hauling it away and unloading it.



After lunch we stopped by the shop and got a sharpened chain for the pole saw.

Mark decided to go old school and use loppers for some of the brush.



I would like to add something else to “You know what they say about South Texas ...”
“Everything has teeth!”

That lump in the water as an alligator. I kept a close eye on him but he didn’t seem too interested in us.



Eight hours and a lot of scrapes, and puncture wounds later, we completed our project for the day.

Texas Tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri)

We see quite a few Texas Tortoise here in the refuge. One sunny day we saw a total of 20 individuals while we were driving around the refuge roads.

References say their maximum shell length is 8 3/4 inches. We measured this big boy at 9 inches!



They feed mainly on the pads, fruit, and flowers of the prickly pear cactus.

In 1977 they were listed as a protected nongame (threatened) species. It's illegal to possess, transport, export, or sell a Texas Tortoise.



When two males meet in a territory, battles can lead to the death of one. Males try to turn each other over. If an over turned loser can not right himself, he can die from over heating. Males have long gular scutes that assist them in these battles.




The End!

Dolphins and Birds

We had perfect weather for our boat trip. It was a nice, sunny day with a cool breeze but not a lot of wind.

There are a lot of companies around South Padre that advertise dolphin watch boat trips. We had heard good things about Fins and Feathers and knew that we could make reservations for just the four of us so, that is who we went with.



We saw several shrimp boats out. We were told that they were catching bait shrimp.



We learned early on that when Gorgie started to growl, we were going to see dolphins.


Gorgie




When Gorgie started to bark, the dolphins were going to be close.



There were a few birds around too.


Red-headed Merganser

Eared Grebes

Great Blue Heron

The End!