The weather improves daily here in south Texas. Today, the best so far, is sunny but cool with manageable humidity and a brilliant blue sky dotted with small puffy clouds. It explains the increasing numbers of what the locals refer to as “Winter Texans” - northerners migrating south to enjoy a temperate winter here on the gulf coast.
We continue to work 3 days/week at the Laguna Atascosa FWR and Sunday mornings at the Texas World Birding Center on South Padre Island. In addition to the wonderful variety of birds and wildlife, I have been introduced to butterflies in infinite variety as they also migrate south. If you think birders are a specialized lot, you must meet butterfly enthusiasts!
Today I’ll add photos of whistling ducks, butterflies, and an armadillo.
The Black-bellied Whistling- Duck is a subtropical species slowly spreading northward. Unlike most ducks, they mate for life and males are actively involved in egg incubation and chick rearing. The male here stood vigil as his family napped then gathered the sleepy-eyed chicks and their mom for a swim and relocation to more distant quarters. They are also unusual (like wood ducks) for roosting in trees, webbed feet not withstanding.
Butterflies include the slightly iridescent White Peacock, the Queen (a bit similar in appearance to the Monarch) who demonstrates some of the perils of long migration, and the American Snout whose schnoz explains the name! I’m beginning to admire these beautiful, interesting creatures more and more as I follow them with my lense.
The armadillo is a fascinating mammal with thick leathery plate armor and great digging ability which it uses to forage for grubs and other edibles and for digging burrows for home base or escape. Poor vision; great sense of smell. How wonderfully odd that we share the world with such a creature!