Category: Blogs
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Welcome, Hooded Warbler!
by M. Kathy Raines Fall migration is in full swing, and the charming little hooded warbler is resting and filling up on Valley insects as it journeys from the eastern U.S. to the tropics. A black hood, like Batman’s cowl, encircles the lemon-yellow face of the male, making it one of our most easily identifiable…
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Groove-Billed Ani
by M. Kathy Raines I mistook the black bird swaying atop the hackberry for a great-tailed grackle. I didn’t recognize its chirruping “TEE-ho”, but then grackles do possess a broad repertoire of whistles, clacks and shrieks. But, trying out a new camera that morning, I opted to take one final shot before escaping the sweltering…
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Great Kiskadees—Voices of the Rio Grande Valley
by M. Kathy Raines “Kis-ka DEE! Kis-ka-DEE!” The great kiskadee, a feisty, strikingly-colored flycatcher, shrieked its name as it swooped through the foliage fringing a boardwalk at Sabal Palm Sanctuary in Brownsville. Though chirps and calls often baffle me as I seek out flitting songsters, I never fail to recognize the brash call of this…
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Anita’s Blog — Along the Road
The first day of March brought a fun surprise — a new bird! I was so excited, my squeal of delight knocked the bird clear out of the tree, even though I was still in the kitchen, viewing the tiny wonder through the glass. I grabbed my camera anyway and waited, leaning my elbows on…
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The Black-bellied Whistling Duck: Our Perpetual Neighbors
by M. Kathy Raines We’re surrounded. These perky, red-billed, red-footed black-bellied whistling ducks— like cats—think they belong everywhere, it seems. They perch with their buddies on rooftops, fences and telephone poles, and, in the summer, they shepherd their fuzzy black-and-white striped children down irrigation canals. They even paddle in our swimming pools. Then, near…
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Diamondback Water Snake
by M. Kathy Raines Relax, it’s not a cottonmouth. Those venomous water snakes, you’ll be pleased to know, live no further south than Corpus Christi. No, that long, thick, brownish snake swimming in or basking along a Rio Grande Valley resaca is likely one of our benign and quite plentiful diamondback water snakes (Nerodia…