Thinking they were seagulls, I once paid them little mind. Then a whitish gray “gull”, like a fluttering, suspended marionette, hovered for minutes, legs a-dangle,
Tag: Creatures Among Us
![](https://rgvctmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Black-skimmer-Bahia-october-29-800x600.jpg)
A slowly curving line, like the groove of an ice skate, invisibly traced the nighttime resaca. A glance upwards revealed the artist—a strange night bird,
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The striking bird—its white chest seemingly splattered with crimson paint—hopped about with his female companion in the grass at the South Padre Island Convention Center
![](https://rgvctmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Male-fidder-crab.jpg)
Fiddler crabs are small, their carapaces, or shells, rarely over two inches in diameter. Only the male fiddler bears an oversized cheleped, or claw-bearing limb, which it waves to attract mates and defend turf.
![](https://rgvctmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Portuguese-man-of-war2-453x600.jpg)
A Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia physalis), also dubbed “bluebottle,” is not a jellyfish. Rather, it is a siphonophore, a colony of same-sexed organisms, called polyps or zooids, working cooperatively as one.
![](https://rgvctmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Rio-Grande-ground-squirrel-1-800x600.jpg)
The ever-vigilant Rio Grande ground squirrel, like a rabbit or mouse, faces the daily trial of feeding itself but not becoming dinner. A coyote or hawk is no more frightening than I.