Before heading back to Arizona, we went from Houston down to South Padre Island (far southeast tip of Texas) for a couple of nights. The drive down consisted of large brush-fires in drought-stricken thronscrub, vibrant Green Jays in live oaks at rest areas, and large flocks of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes. The ocean waves were really choppy when we arrived, but we waded a bit in the surf until we saw a bunch of Portuguese man o' wars washed up on the beach (which are more venomous than jellyfish).
Besides checking out the beach and the Laguna Madre nature trails/boardwalks by the convention center, we also visited Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park on the mainland. Despite the urban sprawl in that area, wildlife is abundant down there, with the northern distribution of many species that are only found here in the U.S. and much more common in Central and South America. Laguna Atascosa refuge is on the mainland across the Laguna Madre from S. Padre Island and had probably the highest number of birds that we have seen at once ever! Besides the brackish water in the lagoons and the coast, the habitat is sub-tropical desert-scrub with lots of tall yuccas. The refuge is well-known as having one of the few populations of ocelots in the U.S., but we didn't luck out with seeing any. However, we did see our first ever American alligators, in addition to a couple nine-banded armadillos.
After south Texas we stopped again in the Segovia/Junction area of west-central Texas where highlights included Green and Ringed Kingfishers (which usually occur further south). Just west of Ft. Stockton our SUV broke down on on I-10. Our fuel gauge was broken and we "misunderestimated" (being in Texas, I might as well use the terminology of one of the state's great orators) how much gas to put in and we had to be towed 20 miles to Ft. Stockton. It's very bizarre to ride in an SUV with a luggage carrier on top being hauled on top of a tow-truck on a windy day. Yee-haw! Below are various photos of the aforementioned trip:
Brush-fire:
Beach on east side of South Padre Island (with Black-bellied Plover and Ruddy Turnstone, left to right, in first picture):
Ruddy Turnstone:
Brown Pelicans:
Sanderlings:
Off-shore oil rig visible from S. Padre (looking east). Hope this one doesn't rupture!
Portuguese man o'wars, or "blue bottles" (Physalia physalis). These are related to jellyfish and are actually colonial organisms in that the whole structure is composed of many polyp and medusa forms of individual organisms. Portuguese man o'wars fill up their top side with gases to form a floating structure which is carried by wind and waves across water while its stinging tentacles hang down waiting for other marine life to trigger the stinging nematocysts cells. Even after they wash up dead on a beach their nematocysts can still be triggered on the tentacles. Their tentacles can measure up to around 65 feet long, although the ones we saw on South Padre ranged from the size of my thumbnail to about the size of a small Nerf football:
A jellyfish washed up on beach:
Sunset from Laguna Madre boardwalk:
Green Jay at Laguna Atascosa NWR:
Small alligator hanging out in wildlife trough near refuge visitor center (the first gator I've ever seen in the wild). There were lots of leopard frogs on the opposite side of the tank, so I assume it has been picking them off for snacks:
A much larger alligator at a spot called "Gator Pond" at the refuge. Right across from the pond is the Laguna Atascosa (an inlet from the ocean) and there is a break in the fence around the pond for the alligators to move to and fro. Good thing we weren't going by when they were enroute. We only saw the head of this one, which appeared to be at least 2 feet long! We could only imagine how long its whole body was:
Nine-banded armadillo along one of the refuge roads. They have really poor eyesight, so you can walk right up to them for photos. This was only the 2nd time we had seen armadillos. Reading up on them afterwords, they are interesting in that they give birth to 4 genetically identical offspring with each breeding cycle. They come from a very old lineage that is related to anteaters, but apparently there is disagreement over what their taxonomy exactly is.
Great Kiskadee:
Long-billed Thrasher:
Crested Caracaras (a type of raptor related to falcons):
Olive Sparrow:
White-tipped Dove:
White-tailed Hawk:
Eastern Phoebe:
Views of coast along Bayside Drive at Laguna Atascosa NWR. Photos of high-rise buildings across the Laguna Madre are the built up parts of S. Padre Island:
Texas sage, or cenizo (Leucophyllum frutescens). When we lived back in Mesa, AZ, we had these plants growing along our driveway. It was neat to see them growing in their native habitat.
Laguna Madre boardwalk marsh and mangroves back on S. Padre Island:
Huge flock of Black Skimmers at boardwalk:
Roseate Spoonbill:
Roseate Spoonbill and Reddish Egret:
Reddish Egret:
American Oystercatchers:
Caspian Tern:
Tricolored Heron:
Great Egret:
Dunlin:
Snowy Egret (and Red-breasted Merganser in 2nd photo):
Red-breasted Mergansers:
Mixed flock (Little Blue Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Snowy Egret, American Wigeon, and Redheads):
Laughing Gulls (and Northern Pintails in 2nd photo):
Ring-billed Gull:
Great Blue Heron:
Brown Pelican:
Common Moorhen:
Monarch butteflies:
Great Southern White butterfly:
Less common on the island, we found a Tropical Kingbird (first 2 photos) and a Long-billed Thrasher (subsequent photo) in the habitat by the convention center on the island. The kingbird was vocalizing, which allowed us to tell it apart from the more common and similar-looking Couch's Kingbirds.
Some photos from Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park near Mission, TX:
Plain Chachalaca (a large game bird whose northern distribution is south TX):
Green Jays:
Altamira Oriole:
Green Kingfisher at the county park in Junction (off I-10 in west-central TX). Junction is an interesting place in regards to birds, since it is an overlap zone between the western, eastern, or northern distributions of some species (e.g. Carolina and Rock Wrens, Carolina Chickadee, Eastern Bluebird, White-eyed Vireo, Green and Ringed Kingfishers, Black Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Rufous-crowned and Field Sparrows, etc.). The county and city parks, south of the interstate along the river, are a nice spot to stop off while making the LONG drive across I-10 through Texas.
Exotic, introduced deer along the Llano River in Junction. Both the adults and the juveniles had white spots all over their bodies:
Young white-tailed deer. The white-tail population is so high here that roadkill bodies are everywhere along the interstate:
Llano River:
Slow ride!:
Back in Arizona, we stopped briefly at Jones Water Campground north of Globe to stretch our legs. Eva was ecstatic to see snow again:
Home sweet home:
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