Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge
Blog 315: White Tails and Early Blooms
Atascosa Boots
Ever wonder what the Spanish word Atascosa translates into English? It means sticky mud, the term given by the early Spanish explorers who came to this area. Here is a pic of my boots demonstrating its authenticity.
CBC
The CBC (Audubon Christmas Bird Count) is an annual event involving thousands of professionals and amateur birders that help to chronicle which birds and how many are where. I participated in my first CBC this year and it was quite an experience. On a crazy-cold morning, Steve and I rode with Michael, a 30-year birding pro of remarkable talent. For six hours we chronicled 68 avian species within our designated area. Here is a picture of a grove–billed ani and Michael.
For you hardcore birders, here are the 68 species we spotted and confirmed:
Snow goose
Blue-winged teal
Northern shoveler
Gadwall
American wigeon
Mottled duck
Northern pintail
Redhead
Lesser scaup
Bufflehead
Red-breasted merganser
Northern bobwhite
Mourning dove
Groove-billed ani
American coot
Sandhill crane
Black-necked stilt
Black-bellied plover
Semipalmated plover
Killdeer
Long-billed curlew
Marbled godwit
Ruddy turnstone
Dunlin
Short-billed dowitcher
Short-billed/long-billed dowitcher
Wilson's snipe
Greater yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser yellowlegs
Laughing gull
Ring-billed gull
Gull-billed tern
Caspian tern
Royal tern
Double-crested cormorant
American white pelican
Brown pelican
Great blue heron
Great egret
Snowy egret
Little blue heron
Tricolored heron
Reddish egret
White ibis
Turkey vulture
Osprey
White-tailed kite
Northern harrier
Harris's hawk
White-tailed hawk
Red-tailed hawk
Golden-fronted woodpecker
Crested caracara
American kestrel
Merlin
Aplomado falcon
Great kiskadee
Loggerhead shrike
Rough-winged swallow
Cactus wren
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Long-billed thrasher
Northern mockingbird
Savannah sparrow
Eastern meadowlark
Red-winged blackbird
Great-tailed grackle
If interested, learn more at https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count.
Some Pics from the Refuge
Here is the curve-billed thrasher.
Check out this caterpillar.
Normally, yuccas in this area don’t bloom until February. We have been seeing some blooms since mid-December.
Here is Jack out frolicking.
Here is a blast-off of many types of birds.
Check out this good-looking reddish egret (and, yes, it is really a reddish egret, just a white morph).
Lots of tarantulas around here! Here is one we helped across the street.
Rafts of Ducks
Here is a shot of several thousand coots hanging out on our big lake.
Here is a white-tailed hawk and a white-tailed kit.
Old Trucks
Meet Elizabeth
Meet Amanda
Check out www.onceuponatruck.com. Sign up for my What the Truck! blog and get a sweet gal in your in-basket once a week.
See you next time.
Ever wonder what the Spanish word Atascosa translates into English? It means sticky mud, the term given by the early Spanish explorers who came to this area. Here is a pic of my boots demonstrating its authenticity.
CBC
The CBC (Audubon Christmas Bird Count) is an annual event involving thousands of professionals and amateur birders that help to chronicle which birds and how many are where. I participated in my first CBC this year and it was quite an experience. On a crazy-cold morning, Steve and I rode with Michael, a 30-year birding pro of remarkable talent. For six hours we chronicled 68 avian species within our designated area. Here is a picture of a grove–billed ani and Michael.
For you hardcore birders, here are the 68 species we spotted and confirmed:
Snow goose
Blue-winged teal
Northern shoveler
Gadwall
American wigeon
Mottled duck
Northern pintail
Redhead
Lesser scaup
Bufflehead
Red-breasted merganser
Northern bobwhite
Mourning dove
Groove-billed ani
American coot
Sandhill crane
Black-necked stilt
Black-bellied plover
Semipalmated plover
Killdeer
Long-billed curlew
Marbled godwit
Ruddy turnstone
Dunlin
Short-billed dowitcher
Short-billed/long-billed dowitcher
Wilson's snipe
Greater yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser yellowlegs
Laughing gull
Ring-billed gull
Gull-billed tern
Caspian tern
Royal tern
Double-crested cormorant
American white pelican
Brown pelican
Great blue heron
Great egret
Snowy egret
Little blue heron
Tricolored heron
Reddish egret
White ibis
Turkey vulture
Osprey
White-tailed kite
Northern harrier
Harris's hawk
White-tailed hawk
Red-tailed hawk
Golden-fronted woodpecker
Crested caracara
American kestrel
Merlin
Aplomado falcon
Great kiskadee
Loggerhead shrike
Rough-winged swallow
Cactus wren
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Long-billed thrasher
Northern mockingbird
Savannah sparrow
Eastern meadowlark
Red-winged blackbird
Great-tailed grackle
If interested, learn more at https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count.
Some Pics from the Refuge
Here is the curve-billed thrasher.
Check out this caterpillar.
Normally, yuccas in this area don’t bloom until February. We have been seeing some blooms since mid-December.
Here is Jack out frolicking.
Here is a blast-off of many types of birds.
Check out this good-looking reddish egret (and, yes, it is really a reddish egret, just a white morph).
Lots of tarantulas around here! Here is one we helped across the street.
Rafts of Ducks
Here is a shot of several thousand coots hanging out on our big lake.
Here is a white-tailed hawk and a white-tailed kit.
Old Trucks
Meet Elizabeth
Meet Amanda
Check out www.onceuponatruck.com. Sign up for my What the Truck! blog and get a sweet gal in your in-basket once a week.
See you next time.