Brown Thrasher, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Los Fresnos, Texas March 2019

The Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) fits in the Mimidae family with Mockingbirds and Catbirds quite well. While they are known to have a repertoire of 1000 sounds, this one was intent on quietly gobbling seeds. Toxostoma comes from ancient Greek and means arch mouth, referencing the curved bill.

While waiting for the sun to rise on South Padre Island I discovered this skate egg case (aka mermaid’s purse) in the wrack line. Often mistaken for seaweed, the small pouch made of collagen protects the skate embryo as it develops.

While skates are related to both sharks and rays, they most closely resemble rays. There are roughly a dozen skate species found in the Gulf of Mexico and sadly, I was not able to pinpoint the exact species this egg case belongs to. Still fun to find, though.

I admit to being stymied by the scat I found near Port Isabel, Texas. The large size and quantity reminded me of elk but they aren’t commonly found in that part of the state. My poop mystery was cleared up by an interpretive sign at the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park that discussed invasive species.

Nilgai, large Asian antelope, were imported to south Texas for game hunting by the King Ranch in the 1930s. Of course, as so often happens with introduced species, without natural predators, the nilgai reproduced rapidly and have expanded beyond the ranch. There are now an estimated 15,000 of them wandering south Texas.

Green Jay, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Los Fresnos, Texas March 2019

The Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas) is a stunner! Though the common name references the overall body color of this species, the first part of its binomial translates as dark blue raven (which is the predominate feature of the members of this genus). As with others in the crow family, these birds are highly intelligent. They are known tool users, employing sticks to remove insects from tree bark.

Admittedly, this Goatweed Leafwing (Anaea andria) is visually stunning in its vivid red winter coloration. As the name implies, a favored host plant for their caterpillars is goatweed and, when closed, their wings resemble leaves. The adults’ tastes are less high brow, preferring bird and animal scat as well as rotting fruit. Ah well, we can’t all be nectar sippers.