Author: Justin Case
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Flamingos on the Refuge
As per an eBird report, flamingos were being seen in Corpus Christi, Texas due to displacement by a hurricane. Then an anonymous birder reported seeing a flamingo around October 15 at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, however, many of us never saw that report for some reason. On Sunday, October 22, two more eBird…
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Rewards of Volunteering
Working with South Texas Border Chapter (STBC) Texas Master Naturalist (TMN) members on our chapter project at the Vannie Cook Children’s Cancer Center in McAllen has been a rewarding experience for me over the many years since we first began the project. I’ve expressed in presentations how it brought chapter members together for a common…
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Pond Lookout is a Winner
South Texas Border Chapter Texas Master Naturalist Robert “Zeke” Schmidt was awarded first place in the Student Photography Contest (high school division) at the 30th annual Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival held November 8-12, 2023 in Harlingen.
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SPI Fall Bird Migration
While we do see some early migratory songbirds in July, it doesn’t quite feel like things are moving much until early August with the arrival of large numbers of Yellow Warblers. Their little chip notes fill the air of change. By mid-August a few more species started to show up at the SPI Birding Nature…
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Texas Tortoise
Like an actor parting the curtains, a Texas tortoise took the stage from behind foliage near the visitors’ center at Palo Alto Battlefield one steaming August day, its curvy forelegs pigeon-toed, its back ones, elephantine.
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Wood Thrush
This wide-eyed thrush—pot-belled, brown-spotted and robin-like in posture—traipsed among eager photographers at the South Padre Island Convention Center one October. It, like other migrants resting and refueling during their southward journey, looked weary.