Happy New Year! All these photos are from 2014, but I hope you don’t mind too much. Today I’ll be writing about a place that is so well known for its party scene that its (incredible) wildlife is often overlooked, and one of the only places in the US where you can still find a certain species of tropical wildcat.
South Padre Island.
It’s generally known for its sandy beaches on bordering the Gulf of Mexico and its craziness during spring break. However, the bay side (bordering Laguna Madre) is quite a treasure trove of wildlife with its both fresh- and saltwater marshes. Alligators lurk among the reeds.
Pelicans fish in the bay.
Lizards called anoles scurry around the railing of the boardwalks.
Duck-like birds (which are not related to ducks) such as gallinules, coots, and grebes swim in small ponds and along the shores of bay.
Common gallinule. Note that its feet are not webbed, one characteristic that seperates it from ducks.
There are also true ducks, such as this mottled duck.
Looks a bit like a female mallard, but the bill color is different. Male mottled ducks have yellow bills, while female mallards have orange and brown bills.
My favorite part of South Padre Island’s bay side marshes is the rails, but those almost chicken-like birds are very hard to see, much less photograph. I only heard them during this particular trip. Perhaps my second favorite part is the marshes’ great variety of large wading birds. A total of 18 species of waders, including herons, bitterns, egrets, ibises, spoonbills, storks, and cranes have been seen on South Padre, diversity about equivalent to that of the Everglades. The only US native wading bird not found in this marsh is the whooping crane, a critically endangered bird that winters farther north along the Gulf Coast of Texas.
Great egret
White ibis
Reddish egret. This is the rarest member of the heron family in the US and is found almost exclusively in saltwater. Source.
Roseate spoonbills. While they look a bit like flamingos, their closest relatives in the US are ibises.
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, like South Padre, is along the Gulf Coast of the southern tip of Texas. Laguna Atascosa has many of the same critters as South Padres, plus a few more.
A Texas tortoise hiding from the cold. It is found only in South Texas and northern Mexico. Source.
Laguna Atascosa is also one of the only places in the US where aplomado falcons can still be seen. Extirpated from(i.e. locally extinct in) in the US in the 1930s, this falcon was reintroduced to South Texas at Laguna Atascosa. The US population is current listed as endangered, though other members of the the species are found throughout Central and South America, meaning the species as a whole is not threatened (Source).
A pair of aplomado falcons at a (distant) nest box.
Another species found at Laguna Atascosa which is endangered in the US but more common further south is a wildcat known as the ocelot. Ocelots are twice the size of house cats and have leopard-like fur. They were once found in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Arizona, but are now down to population of 50 individuals in Texas, with occasional sightings in Arizona. Their biggest threats are habitat loss and vehicle collisions. Source.
While some of the wildlife is barely holding on at Laguna Atascosa, the plants seemed to be doing well there in light of recent rains. The yuccas, which normally flower in February, were in full bloom during my visit.
Stay tuned for part two of my South Texas adventures, when I head inland to explore the near tropical environments of this part of the US.
An Iowan around North America 