§ Test Your Vision....

I'll begin this blog with a cute critter seen at West Guth Park recently. I haven't seen many of them here of late, and I thought maybe the city eradicated them. But, while watching the Monk Parakeets in the neighboring palm trees, I spotted one peering out of its burrow!! They're cute. Probably destroying the landscaping of the park grounds, but still, they are entertaining to say the least. They are the Mexican Ground Squirrel, a native to Old Mexico, and only seen in the state of Texas in the United States...

Keeping in line of critters...


Can you see the Angry Bunny in this upside down cat photo?*
*image courtesy of email

§ By the Sea Shore...In the Parks

South Texas is full of odd critters and cute critters, and mysterious critters. Here is a collection from my photo albums of days gone by...all critters of Texas; here in the Coastal Bend:

Sometimes, they're what I see along the many walking trails, water channels, along the beaches, and parks within a 30 mile radius from home....



Javelinas [pronounced Ha vah LEE nahs]



Mexican Ground Squirrel


Starfish and Sand Dollar


Fox Squirrel


Turtle...a Turtle MOUND.  lol


Blue Crab

The other day, when walking along the Naval Air Station highway, along the shoreline of both sides of the bay, I spotted a really FLAT shell, with some very gawdy-looking slime!  I hafta be honest, I was curious...the shell was black.  But the 'meat inside the shell' looked like the kind of artificial crab meat you can purchase at the grocery store, but slimy!!  I went "yuk" and kept on walking.  After i was finished with my walk, and back in the car heading home, I got to thinking "I bet that was a mussel!!  Ewww...and people eat that"?  When I got home, I got on Google, and sure 'nough it was a mussel.  Dang.  I didn't take a photo of it.  Now I wish I had.  Has anyone eaten mussels?

Does it taste like Chicken?

§ Good Day.... Sunshine!!

It's gonna be a busy week, so I will try and sum up a lot of stuff here in one post.

Monday, August 16, 2015
Weather Forecast: A mix of clouds and sunshine. Winds 15-20 MPH [southeast]
High expected: 93 degrees - Low expected: 77 degrees

Driving to Calallen, Texas to check out the thermals for hawk migration, we stopped at Hazel Bazemore Park that holds its annual Hawk Watch from August to November each year. There was quite a crowd of hawkers there already! The platform was a bit packed like sardines. Bud and I stayed just a short while. In the interim, we saw only through the binoculars a kettle of Mississippi Kites and two Red Tailed Hawks near the horizon. How do we know they were kites and red-tails? MANY had high powered scopes. Too distant for my camera to get any photos. While there our few minutes, we saw cardinals, inca doves, white tipped doves, one green jay, sparrows, white winged doves, mockingbirds, ruby throated hummingbirds, grackles, egrets, and one caracara. And the mama deer we spotted the week before, showed up for all the people to ooooooh and ahhhh over her good looks! Neither Bud nor I enjoy being in large crowds, so we left. Besides it was getting hot and I wanted a quick stop-over at another large city park. Each time we go there [which isn't but maybe twice a year] there always seems to be a lot of long billed curlews. And those birds didn't disappoint. Dozens. Everywhere we walked. I took several photos of the curlews, and we then walked around the duck pond. Ducks and geese. My other curlew images will be shared on my bird photo blog sometime in the future. With the hot sun beating down on us by mid-morning, I stopped under the shade of a live oak tree and let the soft breeze cool me down a bit. Bud took a photo...this is for Phil in the UK, he tells me in my comments that I always have photos of Bud and not me...here I am in all my glory. [lol]

It was amazing to see all the beautiful, rolling hills with pathways intersecting the paved roads to picnic areas, ponds, swimming pool, and frisbee golf course, with the grass so dry and parched. Just think, in May of this year, flooding and too much rain. Now, and since May, NO RAIN! When it comes to weather in Texas, there just isn't a happy medium.

Anyway, after a bit of walking we headed back to the car. A cute little critter entertained the viewfinder!! Did I say ... cute?

It too needed to find shade...

...it spotted me! Up on its haunches...sniffing...watching my every move. Looking this way, checking me out square on...looking that way!!

...then, Elvis [or Elvira] has left the premises. Off, scurrying down to its den in the ground. And for us...back in the air conditioned car and a swipe of the sweat towel. We too, for now, have left the building!! [Mexican Ground Squirrel]


For good measure, I'm adding this barren tree...and fencing for Ms. T's Good Fences.

§ Inns and Outs...

outside our hotel room window...the reflections of the sky
in the window by the mermaid fountain
and a
landscaped resaca for ambiance
linking to:  Weekly Top Shot - Skywatch Friday - Weekend Reflections

Along the banks of the Rio Grande River, in Cameron County, Texas, there are resacas. Resacas, the term, could be derived from the Spanish rio seco meaning 'dry river' or resacar meaning to 'retake'. Either way, in reality, they are similar; being that the river itself, when flooded, formed many areas that held the flood waters eventually drying in areas, then forming from the silt channels of water that turned marshy; swamps. At Santa Ana, when we walked several of the mile long trails, we came upon a quiet, peaceful, area that is a resaca. The vegetation was 'to die for' pretty. The stillness, except for bird calls, was pure enjoyment. The variegated verdant shades, the richness of silver, dried wood and moss...all beautiful to the eye. The shadows and reflections - the dense woods - the Spanish Moss draping off the branches, swaying in the trickle of the slight morning breeze, the many sections of boardwalks crossing the mossy green water, bright contrasting red and yellow and indigo blue feathered birds flitting from branch to fallen stumps or dancing just ahead of us through knee high grasses....it was just short of paradise. Actually, I was so busy drinking in the surroundings, I never did take any photos of birds. It was all about the resacas that day...

...read more on resacas in Texas

- - -***- - -

Walking along some other areas, birding of course, we came upon a new species we've never seen before...a squirrel!! Neither of us knew what it was until we were able to get home and have time to research with our photos at hand. It is a Mexican Ground Squirrel. And cute; ever so cute!!



...tho a rodent from Northern Mexico, a Mexican Ground Squirrel can be found in the southern, and west-central part of Texas. It's habitat is sandy, dry, grassy areas. Sizing it up, they can grow to 15 inches in length, their distinctive marks are NINE rows of white dots along its backside, a white eye ring, and very small, rounded ears. It is omnivorous...meaning it eats fruits, vegetation and also consumes flesh....often seen eating carrion along the a stretch of highway from roadkill.


...read more on Mexican Ground Squirrel

linking to: Camera Critters - Saturday Critters