This is not an April Fool's Joke

Spring has finally arrived for real at the refuge and the reptiles are abundant.
Saturday's tour ended with this healthy specimen on Lakeside Drive.

 I counted 11 rattles and a button on him. Amazing how they can crawl and remain perfectly straight, do the rattles remain upright for a reason?

Monday we found this Diamond-backed Water Snake near Laguna Larga on the Bahia Grande Unit. Wonder what he had for breakfast.

An endangered species, the Texas Horned Lizard - Horny Toads when we were young -
was almost invisible in the caliche road bed.














We also found a coachwhip or racer, no camera...
and a collared lizard, again no photo, right in the Volunteer Village.


Butterflies have increased in number, too. This fresh Red Admiral was found at the Convention Center on SPI.

Empress Leilia, I first thought just a Hackberry Emperor,  from Bentsen Rio Grande World Birding Center.

American Lady, also from Bentsen Rio Grande










I also observed Texan Crescent and Tiny Checkerspot around the VC this week.

I remember tent camping in the State Park before the World Birding Center concept  evolved. Great memories and wonderful birds. So much different from all those years ago. Today the birds were mostly grackles and blackbirds and Chachalacas.

 Tuesday, March 25, we birded Convention Center on SPI. The lure of the abundant Texbirds posts drew us away from our normal "day of rest" after 3 straight days of tours.

First bird of the day was a stunning Kentucky
Warbler, followed by Hooded Warbler...

punctuated by too many Northern Parula to accurately count.

Black-and-White Warbler managed to elude my camera.

Spectacular Bottle Brush hosted swarms of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, also extremely camera shy. Maybe, my trigger finger is just too slow to keep up with the frenzy.

Also observed but undocumented were Nashville and Palm Warbler and hoards of "Butter Butts".

Shorebirds were an after-thought, and I just made a mental note of the numerous peeps, gulls, terns, herons, and egrets. The warbler world was too enticing to desert the tiny feathered jewels. We did record Clapper Rail and Sora by sound from the boardwalk.

 Two different days netted two different Roadrunner taking advantage of the warm South Texas sun to bask with back feathers raised in order to absorb all that Vitamin D. On Saturday, this one perched high in a mesquite, much to the amazement of our visitors. Just before the picture was snapped, the brilliant orange and blue "eye shadow" effect produced oohs and ahhs from us all.

A more traditional pose on Monday  still elicited many oohs and aahs.















 A great to end our 2014 season was a return visit from Ralph, Dan, and Deb from Portland ME.  Ralph is 95, Dan (71) and Deb are his son and daughter. They spend some time every winter in the Valley and we enjoy having them on our tours.  Ralph is truly an inspiration. Can only hope I could age so well and remain so healthy and happy.

Another plus, seems as though we have a following. Several visitors called to make reservations for tours specifically requesting us by name. We must be doing something right. Our 3 months here have passed so quickly, we are looking forward to returning to Laguna Atascosa next January for another season of birding tours. Still a few adventures left on the bucket list for deep south Texas.