Category: Blogs
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The Spinybacked Orbweaver — a Backyard Jewel
A spiky, ornate gem sat amid an expansive web projecting from the fence, arresting me in my tracks. I feel privileged whenever this decorative creature, the spinybacked orbweaver, sets up camp to ensnare tiny insects in my backyard.
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A Striking Red Bird—the Summer Tanager
During April, the peak of spring migration in South Texas, one often spots a summer, scarlet, or, occasionally, a western tanager resting on one of our low branches—to the delight of photographers unable to convince fluttery warblers to strike a pose. We are indeed fortunate hosts. In much of their nesting and wintering grounds, tanagers…
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Black-necked Stilts
A cartoon animal springs to mind when I watch this round-headed, needle-billed, tuxedoed bird that, walking on pink stilts, rises above its fellow shorebirds probing the mud for edible treats.
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Winter Ducks
As the lakes and ponds up north begin to freeze over the birds that make their living in the water need to find open, ice-free water. Naturally, this sends them south looking for warm breezes and tropical water where they can spend a comfortable winter; a sort of Margaritaville for ducks.
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Spotlight on a Volunteer Opportunity
“Who knows what this is?” asks Eileen Mattei, Rio Grande Valley Chapter, Texas Master Naturalist, as she displays a raptor’s leg and talons to a group of grade school students at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco, on the last cold day (hopefully) of winter.
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The Perils of Peter the Pelican
We are fortunate to know some caring people in the birdwatcher world. As I told them, I have a canoe and kayak, but like the dog that chases squirrels, I wouldn’t know what to do once I got there.