Tag: Creatures Among Us

  • Eastern Meadowlark — Beauties of the Fields

    Eastern Meadowlark — Beauties of the Fields

    by M. Kathy Raines From the honey-colored fields of the bike trail, I first hear its piping, plaintive call, rather like a kitten’s persistent mewing. Then I see it — the eastern meadowlark, with its lemon-colored chest painted with a stark black V, its feet clutching a twig, camouflaged by the profuse yellow blossoms of…

  • The nine-banded armadillo

    The nine-banded armadillo

    —Texas’ official state small mammal by M. Kathy Raines             Mirroring traits of the quintessential Texan, the nine-banded armadillo is “a hardy, pioneering creature,” one possessing “deep respect and need for the land, the ability to change and adapt, and a fierce, undying love for freedom,” according to 1995’s Texas legislature. Armadillos’ migration to Texas…

  • The Painted Bunting—a Joy to Birders

    The Painted Bunting—a Joy to Birders

    by M. Kathy Raines Painted buntings don’t know about the coronavirus.   Oblivious to our fears and “shelter in place” orders, they, along with other exhausted, migrating birds, are stopping in South Texas in April and early May to rest and feed before flying northward, where they will merrily mate and nest. Though confined to…

  • Anhinga—the snakebird

    Anhinga—the snakebird

    by M. Kathy Raines What a large, peculiar-looking cormorant! I thought, spotting an anhinga on a branch overhanging a resaca at the Gladys Porter Zoo last November. A youth or female, its long, creamy neck formed an ‘S’, with its chest an abrupt buff color above its black posterior, its wings flecked with silver. The…

  • The Scrawled Cowfish—a Charming Gulf Resident

    The Scrawled Cowfish—a Charming Gulf Resident

    Story and photo by M. Kathy Raines, Texas Master Naturalist             The sloping forehead of this multi-dimensional fish ends in a tiny, puckered “o” of perpetual awe or surprise.             This is silly, of course. All fish wear fixed facial “expressions”, so to speak. Still, given our propensity to personify our fellow creatures, scrawled cowfish…

  • The Loggerhead Shrike AKA “Butcherbird”

    The Loggerhead Shrike AKA “Butcherbird”

    by M. Kathy Raines The Loggerhead Shrike AKA “Butcherbird” The masked white songbird perched on a twig, watching and waiting.  Then, hawk-like, this loggerhead shrike swooped down upon a sparrow, and, with powerful, hooked bill, battered it, piercing its neck. After a few nibbles, it flew off with the limp, dangling corpse, then slid it…