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Forgoing the traditional New Years Eve festivities we set a
course for the warm temperatures and exotic wildlife of the lower Rio Grande Valley.
Upon leaving we managed to load everything including: gear, three adults, and two full-size retrievers into and onto my small
Toyota Rav 4. Needless to say it was an uncomfortably tight fit; which the dogs promptly let us know with their first
fight only half of a block away from home. After removing the rawhide chews that seemed to be causing all the commotion
things settled down a bit and we were moving once again. We drove through the first night, and then thru the next day,
finally late in the afternoon we reached San Antonio.
We figured we had made it far enough south now that it would be worth keeping an eye open for artificial cover in the form
of dilapidated billboards and roadside trash dumps. We of coarse had great expectations of finding a significant number
of the herpetofauna species that south Texas offered. Well,
Ryan and I did anyhow. Brian Scheidt, the third party in our group (and all around good sport) is a geologist and could
take or leave the herps either way, but he does appreciate a good road trip and enjoys exploring new areas. Anyhow,
as it turns out, fate had other plans for us. The first piece of cover that Ryan and I flipped, a nicely situated sheet
of plywood that used to belong to a billboard revealed nothing but bone dry, cracked earth. Neither of us wanted to
admit it then but we were both thinking it, this was a definite omen for the rest of the trip. Even back home when it
gets too dry the herps simply disappear, lay low, and conserve moisture until the rain returns. We tried a couple more
spots with similar results before we headed for Choke Canyon State
Park where we planned on camping that evening.
The first campground we arrived
at didn’t look too bad other than it basked in the glow of a monstrosity of some sort of terrible looking factory that
towered above it. Looking for a more natural experience we decided to keep going and check out another campground that
lied about eight miles further up the road. This campground was in a much nicer area but as luck would have it the gate
was locked. The sign read “gate closes at ten p.m.”,
our watches read ten fifteen p.m. By this time we
had all been in the car for far too long and wanted nothing more than a good night's sleep. Back at the radio active
campground we found the gate closed but unlocked so we invited ourselves in.
The next thing I knew I was
waking up to a sunny south Texas morning in much better
spirits than the night before. It was much easer to ignore the factory now that the sun was up and the factory lights
were off. Although we still couldn’t ignore it enough to fill up our water bottles from the campground spigot.
Sitting at a picnic table covered in maps and papers, I discovered that we unknowingly camped just a few miles away from one
of the first spots we planned on herping so after a bit of birding around the campground we packed up and headed out.
It
wasn’t long before we were out of the car and flipping various pieces of artificial cover around a few old buildings.
Right away we notice a flock of large birds flying high over head and recognize them as Sandhill Cranes by their calls, a
species we had all hoped for and were happy to see. As I’m watching the Sandhills disappear through binoculars,
I hear Ryan shout out “indigo shed” and he held up a super sized shed skin from one of our most sought after species
of the trip. This certainly got our blood flowing but regardless of looking through some great habitat we just couldn’t
turn up the original owner of that giant skin.
I
was off looking through some boards lying atop an old concrete foundation when I turned up the first of many little scorpions
that we would find on this trip. It just so happens that we were already familiar with this species, Centruroides vittatus,
from the miniature Ozark deserts we call glades in Missouri.
A little Mediterranean Gecko was also taking cover in these
boards. This was a life species for all of us and I was looking forward to photographing it until I regrettably broke
off its tail. Ryan found the next lizard, a very good looking Rose-bellied Lizard. Again this was a lifer for
us all and again we would have loved to photograph it but unfortunately I screwed this one up as well. I’m still
not sure how it happened; the lizard was in my hand on second and gone into some hidden hole the next. I did get a chance
to redeem myself though; after everyone else had given up on the spot I headed for an abandoned trailer that we had been avoiding
in case of bees. There turned out to be a lot of good cover surrounding the trailer where I found a nice adult Southwestern
Rat Snake, a new sub-species for us. After a few well placed “I told you so’s” directed at my companions
we took to making some photos of the snake.
During our rat snake photo session we were lucky enough to
spot another life bird; a Harris Hawk that was flying along the shore line of a large lake situated across the road from us.
This was especially good for me as I had spent a lot of time looking unsuccessfully for this bird on a previous trip to Arizona years
before. At the time I didn’t realize that this would be one of the most commonly seen raptors on our trip.
After releasing the rat snake back
at the trailer I was lifting the last few remaining pieces of cover when I found this Great Plains Narrow-mouthed Toad.
At this spot, in the morning, and in the shade just a little bit of moisture could be found under cover but unfortunately
it would be the last we would find.
The rest of the day was spent making our way south from herping
spot to herping spot, finding nothing but scorpions, tarantulas and dry earth.
By night fall we made it to Falcon Lake State
Park where we were greeted by a very friendly and helpful ranger that seemed to set the tone
for our whole stay at the park. After setting up camp, while waiting my turn for a much needed shower, I took a walk
around the shower house scanning the walls with my headlamp for geckos. Sure enough, just as I had suspected there were
at least two geckos per wall scurrying around hunting insects. This time I was a bit more careful while handling them.
No moon, clear skies, and a big wide open view that night made
for one of the most spectacular displays of stars I’ve ever had the pleasure of sleeping under. When morning came
we awoke to enough bird activity just around our camp site to considerably impede the taking down and packing up procedures.
One bird of interest for me and a life bird for Ryan spotted that morning was the striking Vermilion Flycatcher.
The only thing about Falcon Lake
State Park that park that wasn’t pleasant was their “Watch Out for Snakes” signs that seemed to mock us
as we were leaving.
Granted
we should have learned by now that artificial cover was just next to useless for finding herps under these conditions but
we spent the first part of the day flipping it anyhow. We did find another Indigo shed, a Patch-nosed Snake shed, and
a couple of others that were too decomposed to identify. We also came across this brush fire; apparently these were
burning in many other areas of Texas due to the drought.
Being thoroughly satisfied now that we were not going to find
anything by flipping cover, we headed east. We planned on staying at Bentsen Rio
Grande State Park, a
national landmark for bird watchers. When we arrived we learned that we either had to ride the tram or walk into the
park. Having lots of gear plus the dogs, we decided to skip it. We moved on down the road to check out Santa Ana National
Wildlife Refuge.
Arriving
at Santa Ana we learned we could only hang around the
front of the Sanctuary with the dogs and it was too hot to leave them in the car. We knew this was a possibility and
so we were prepared for the disappointment. It turned out that hanging around the front of the sanctuary was enough
to get us a couple south Texas specialty life birds,
Rio Grande Leopard Frogs, and another Southwestern Rat Snake. Our first bird was the large Ringed Kingfisher that sounds
like a machine gun going off when it calls. Then we got many good looks at a south Texas icon,
the flashy Great Kiskadees. While walking along a concrete irrigation ditch trying to get a solid ID on the frogs that
were quickly diving in at the slightest disturbance, we spotted something moving oddly on the opposite side of the ditch .
A look through binoculars revealed it to be a South Western Rat Snake but it just wasn’t acting right. We moved
closer and discovered it was tangled in some sort of vegetation and was quite exhausted. Ryan made his way back the
way we came where he could cross the ditch and come back up on the opposite side. He pulled the snake free and noticed
a few wounds on it from who knows what. We left the snake on the bank of the ditch hoping it would be ok and continued
on our way. Walking the ditch also produced another indigo shed and a large ribbon snake shed.
We
left Santa Ana and headed for Brownsville where
we would camp and start the next day fresh at my original destination, the Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary. Finding a campground
turned out to be a huge pain. All the campgrounds on the map were turning out to be RV only. We spent a good deal
of time driving around dead tired looking for one of the campgrounds that allowed primitive camping before finally stopping
in one of the RV places to ask directions. A lady there told us that we could stay there in the RV park if we wanted
and pitch our tents in a grassy area behind some trailers. But, she also gave us what we thought were clear directions
to the campground we were looking for. We went looking for the campground and wasted another hour that should have been
spent sleeping before we gave up and went back to the RV place. This time we asked how much it was going to cost to
pitch our tents in that grassy spot and were told twenty five dollars. Now this doesn’t seem like much money but
we were traveling on a shoestring and the whole point of camping was that it was cheaper than a motel, and for ten more bucks
we could have gotten a cheap room. By now everyone was pissed and just wanted out of the car, so we stayed. We
may have just as well camped in a pond as wet as the grass was, in addition my tent and sleeping bag were still soaked
from packing up before the dew burnt off the previous morning. For a desert in the midst of a huge drought there was
an ironically large amount of dew in the mornings. You would think this would be enough to make for a poor evening but
it only gets worse. The dogs are as tired of being cooped up in the car as we are so we let them out to have a romp
and stretch their legs. As I’m unpacking I notice that its way too quiet and that can only mean one thing that
the dogs are into something they shouldn’t be into. Sure enough I walk around the car and they’re chowing
down on the rankest, nastiest pile of feces I’ve ever had the pleasure of smelling, like it’s the best thing they’ve
ever eaten. This stuff was so bad there was no way of even telling what it came from. So I take my stinking dog,
Quinn, and tie him up then alert Brian to the situation with his dog. I finish setting up my wet camp, take Quinn and
head for the shower. Arriving at the shower I can now see the extent of the damage, Quinn not only had to eat the feces
but he had to roll around in it as well. The shower is the size of a small closet, the shower head doesn’t move
and it is aimed no where near my dog while he’s on the floor of the shower. To say getting Quinn clean was difficult
would be a severe understatement. I may have forgotten to mention how cold it is by now and not long after we get into
our wet tent, Quinn, soaking wet, starts to shake. Regardless of how big of a pain in the ass he’s been all evening
I still care dearly for him and don’t want to see him freeze all night or even worse get sick so I stuff my wet dog
into my (girlfriend's) wet sleeping bag the best I can and we suffer through the night in our wet tent.
Waking
up was a chore the next morning, even considering our uncomfortable accommodations. Regardless, it didn’t take
me too long to come around considering that the Sabal Palm Grove offered the best, and not too far from the only, chance to
encounter the exotic Speckled Racer in North America. We made it to
the palm grove early but again dogs were not allowed so Brian generously offered to spend the day sitting the dogs at
the beach allowing Ryan and I a full day in the palm forest. So we made a detour for Boca Chica State
Park and the beach. Along the way we were lucky enough to get views of White-tailed Kites,
White-tailed Hawks, and a Peregrine Flacon perched relatively close to the road. Arriving at Boca Chica we were surprised
to find the place empty of people with miles of beach to freely roam. We took a short drive down the deserted beach
and set up camp for that night. This allowed for things to dry out from the previous night and would provide Brian and
the dogs some much needed shade later that day when things heated up. Ryan and I bid farewell to our companions and
feeling a bit guilty about abandoning them in a desert completely void of shade other than a tent; we left for the forest.
When
we returned to the forest the birding was fantastic right off the bat; hoards of Green Jays, Plain Chachalacas, Black-crested
Chickadees, and White-tipped Doves were surrounding the feeders at the visitor center. Unfortunately the herping did
not follow this same theme. We looked long and hard for the Speckled Racer in every imaginable way but ended up empty handed.
Still though, the Palm forest was a super cool place providing a look into a very unique subtropical habitat that, like the
Speckled Racer, is found no where else in North America. Some killer bird watching was had here as well, other
than the species at the headquarters feeders, we also got a few more south Texas specialties: a Green Kingfisher that was
smaller than I ever imagined a kingfisher could be, a Groove-billed Ani that I though was a grackle at first, a Golden-fronted
Woodpecker, Mottled Ducks, Least Grebes, and a Couch’s kingbird. We did manage to find one life herp here though;
this Four-lined Skink was rolled under a palm tree log.
I walked away from the palm forest that day with two minor injuries.
The first one came while crossing a barbed wire fence. As I was throwing a leg over the fence and shifting my weight
to that side I managed to stab a very long thorn a full inch into my calve. When I reached down and pulled it out it
just seemed to keep coming with no end in sight. This resulted in much more pain over the next couple of days than I
ever expected. My entire calve was swollen and so sore that I bitched and moaned about it until my friends started bitching
and moaning about it.
The next injury was pretty minor compared to the thorn episode but a bit scarier. Before leaving for south Texas everyone
warned me about killer bees; well I don’t know if the bees I encountered were of the killer variety or not but they
did chase me a good ways. Ryan and I were turning a couple big chunks of concrete tubing and I guess we uncovered a
hive. I noticed something buzzing around on my leg and without thinking I swatted at it and it stung me on the leg.
Then I suddenly remembered KILLER BEES! I guess Ryan came to this realization the same moment because we both took off
running at the same time. Or maybe I hollered “oh shit bees!” I really don’t remember. I made
it about sixty yards and hadn’t noticed any buzzing black cloud behind me so I stopped. Immediately a couple of
them were on me again so I again bolted as fast as I could before stopping another forty yards away due to a lack of oxygen.
This time the bees were gone and I had a chance to reach down and pull out the throbbing stinger. This experience wasn’t
exactly life threatening but it made me wonder if I would be able to outrun a large angry mob of these things; especially
in the thick scrub habitat that is so common down here.
The drive back to Boca
Chica that evening got us a pair of the coolest Raptors of the trip, a set of colorful Aplomapo Falcons. These guys
were extirpated from the southwest in the recent past but captive breeding efforts and reintroductions have helped them make
a comeback. Aside from the falcons, there seemed to be an Osprey roosted on every telephone pole and the poles that
didn’t have Ospreys on them had Harris Hawks or Great Horned Owls.
Back at the beach that evening, Brian
was sunburned and the dogs were covered in sand but everyone was happy and healthy. That night, we sat around our campfire
enjoying the ocean breeze with a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label.
The next
morning these little crabs were scurrying around our campsite. Anybody have a name for these?
I wanted to give the palm forest one more shot that morning.
We decided it would be ok to leave the dogs in the car as long as it was cool, then when it warmed up we would head north
for Laguna Atasoca National Wildlife Refuge. Things were pretty uneventful that morning other than Ryan getting buzzed
by a border patrol chopper. As Brian and I were hanging out at the feeders trying to get shots of Green Jays a helicopter
kept circling around and dropping low over the sanctuary over and over again, scaring away all the birds. At the time
we thought it may have something to do with Ryan who was still in the field looking for herps. Later that day Ryan admitted
it was tough fighting off the natural flight mechanism from overtaking him.
It wasn’t a far drive to Laguna Atacosa where Ryan finally got to see his first American Alligator.
Unfortunately it was a bit unclimatic though. We simply walked out on a small boardwalk and looked down into a small
drying pool where a rather pathetic looking little alligator was sitting and waiting for rain; not what you’d expect
your first alligator encounter to be.
The rest of the day was spent hiking around in dried up indigo habitat.
This is one of those times I wish I would have stopped looking for snakes and spent some time photographing birds. The
photo blind at Lugana offered many opportunities for getting great shots of Green Jays. I admittedly have a problem
here but at least hiking around in that dried up habitat did net me a Long-billed Thrasher.
At
this point Brian and Ryan were ready to head north for Aransas National Wildlife Refuge but I pouted and whined until they
agreed to one more morning back at Santa Ana looking for herps. We stayed at a border hotel that night
where they don’t even ask for a name much less an ID and it only cost us thirty three bucks. I wish they were
all like that.
We arrived at Santa Ana early
the next morning while it was still much too cold for any herp activity. This allowed us to leave the dogs in the car
and get some hiking in just for the sake of hiking. About a mile down the trail I decided I should have brought a jacket
along and turned back while Brian and Ryan went on ahead. Not long after I turned back I was greeted by a group of Collared
Peccary crossing the trail. This was a treat and the first time I’d ever gotten to see these little pigs in the
wild. When I got back to the visitor center I was just in time to see my first, unbelievably bright, Altamira Orioles.
They had come down out of the tree tops to feed on the many halves of oranges and grape fruits the refuge personnel put out
in the mornings. I spent the rest of the cool part of the morning birding and managed to find myself another life bird,
an Olive Sparrow.
It
was quite a bit later when I met up with my companions again. The morning had warmed up considerably so we headed back
into the refuge to check out some Indigo Snake spots that a refuge personnel had turned me onto. As usual, no snakes
were found but we all got a look at just how much illegal alien traffic is crossing the Rio
Grande. We were bushwhacking along the river when it occurred to us that all the trails worn
into the bank combined with all the discarded clothes, the black trash bags, and the deflated inner tubes were from aliens.
The sheer amount of all this trash along with all the worn trails can only indicate that there is a very large amount of illegal
traffic coming through Santa Ana Refuge.
Our
next major destination was Aransas National Wildlife Refuge where we hoped to get a glimpse of the rare Whooping Cranes.
Along the way we made one more stop in the valley at the Valley Nature Center.
My cheapskate friends decided it wasn’t worth it and refrained from paying the three dollar entrance fee so they saved
three bucks and waited in the car with the dogs. I on the other hand paid my three bucks and enjoyed a great indoor
education center, a walk through a beautiful six acre native garden, and the satisfaction of netting three more life listers
at only one dollar a piece. The Red-Crowned Parrot has been showing up in increasing numbers in the valley for the past
fourteen years and lucky for me one of these birds was roosted at the nature center during my visit. My other life bird
was hard to miss while it was dive bombing me. A big Buff-bellied Hummingbird was pretty upset that I was walking around
its feeders and made sure I knew it. My third lifer was this Gulf Coast Toad that I found while discretely turning a
Rail Road Tie in the garden.
After a bit of gloating on my part towards my cheap friends,
we hit the road north for Aransas. Along the way I had to come to terms with leaving Indigo and Speckled Racer country
empty handed. I dealt with it the only way I knew how; I started planning my next trip.
That night we camped at Goose Island State
Park just south of Aransas. It seemed like a nice park but, in reality, we didn’t see much
of it. We arrived late and departed early but not before stopping to see an old tree named Big Tree. Big Tree
is very old and very significant but I’m not sure how old or how significant. When Brian gets off his butt and
sends it to me I’ll post a photo of us standing by it here.
(Big Tree Photo)
At the visitor
center we received some information on where to find the Whooping Cranes and what I hoped was a Burrowing Owl. We pretty
much made a b-line for the spot but upon arriving, our Burrowing Owl turned out to be a Barn Owl. I guess the lady at
the visitor center misunderstood me, they both start with a B and they are both owls. Oh well, this was a lifer for
Ryan and you’ll never here me complain too much about seeing a Barn Owl. Our Whooping Cranes were there as well
but were so far off they were little more than white dots on the horizon to the naked eye and not much more through binoculars.
We did get to see them though and were happy for it. After the cranes we took a drive around the auto tour loop which
didn’t present any wildlife to us at all. But, after we came full circle and were approaching the Whooping Crane
spot again we came to a van stopped in the middle of the road with a bunch of boy scouts surrounding an adult. This
could only have meant one thing, snake! Well, it could have meant something ells I guess but I knew it was a snake.
Sure enough the leader had a “kingsnake” that was really a Texas Rat Snake by the tail. He had picked up
crossing the road in front of the van. He was a nice guy and graciously let us take the snake for some photos.
After our photo session Ryan and I did some hiking while Brian
caught up on some sleep in the car. One of the trails we hiked started near a fresh water lagoon where this American
Alligator was hanging out.
Then, not too far down the trail we came across this little
Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake out on the crawl. I’m still kicking myself for not taking the time to get a better photo
of this snake, who knows when or if I’ll ever see another one.
At this point, it was all over for Ryan and me.
Brian had requested one whole day for his selfish interests; so we headed for Louisiana to tour hurricane damage. I guess
we just weren’t thinking but we had planned on camping at a coastal state park if we made it by ten p.m.; and if not, we’d look for a cheap room. Well we didn’t
make it by ten but it didn’t matter any how because the park was of coarse closed due to hurricane damage. Needless
to say, every motel within a hundred miles of the coast was full up to the hilt. We kept trying anyhow and eventually
found a motel where a little Cajun lady took pity on us because “it looked like we had been on the road a while”.
She said she had a room that someone had just checked out of and if we didn’t mind waiting she’d get it cleaned
up for us.
After
a good nights sleep we headed south. Along the way we stopped off to photograph this alligator basking along a road
side ditch. This was just one of many seen along our tour.
At first the damage didn’t seem all that bad; just a lot of downed limbs, a few downed trees, and the occasional patched
up roof but the further south we got the worse things got. I honestly wasn’t prepared for the amount of damage
we saw, and mind you, this was after almost five months of clean up. Basically everything was destroyed! Very few
houses still stood and those that did were gutted from the storm surge. There were boats on dry land, cars and homes
in the water, debris literally everywhere, oil slicks on the water from the refineries, destroyed gravesites, even decomposing
cattle. This went on a long ways down the coast. After our tour I was glad Brian had suggested it, I had never seen
the effects of a hurricane and found it very interesting if not shocking. In case your wondering, not having wide angle
lens deterred me from even trying to get damage photos, sorry.
That’s it. Nothing to do from here but drive home and go back to work. Maybe next winter south Texas will be a bit damper and
I can try again.
I owe a big thanks to a few
people who offered advice from their experiences in this region and helped me out a great deal on this trip:
Scott Wahlberg
Wayne Brekhus
Mike Rochford
Eitan Grunwald
Mike Pingleton
Thanks Guys
Total
Herp Species: 12 (10 Lifers)
American
Alligator
Red-eared
Slider
Mediterranean
Gecko
Blue
Spiny Lizard
Rose-bellied
Lizard
Four-lined
Skink
Southwestern
Rat Snake
Texas Rat Snake
Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake
Gulf Coast Toad
Great
Plains Narrow-mouthed Toad
Rio Grande Leopard Frog
Total
Bird Species: 101 (25 Lifers)
Greater
White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Gadwal
American Wigeon
Mallard
Mottled Duck (lifer)
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Plain Chachalaca (lifer)
Wild Turkey
Northern Bobwhite
Least Grebe (lifer)
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Harris’s Hawk (lifer)
Red-shouldered Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Aplomado Falcon (lifer)
Peregrine Falcon
Clapper Rail (lifer)
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Sandhill Crane (lifer)
Whooping Crane (lifer)
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher (lifer)
Common Snipe
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove (lifer)
Red-crowned Parrot (lifer)
Groove-billed Ani (lifer)
Barn Owl
Great Horned Owl
Buff-bellied Hummingbird (lifer)
Ringed Kingfisher (lifer)
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher (lifer)
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (lifer)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker (lifer)
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee (lifer)
Couch’s Kingbird (lifer)
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue-headed Vireo
Green Jay (lifer)
Chihuahuan Raven (lifer)
Tree Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse (lifer)
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Long-billed Thrasher (lifer)
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Olive Sparrow (lifer)
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Altamira Oriole (lifer)
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
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