Ah yes, another grasshopper mouse...

Night flooding and other events

     Among us techs general harmony has been restored, now that the huge herpetology group has departed and we're able to space out again. Today's been particularly nice: the grids we're trapping are light and for the moment we're finished flagging new grids. That gives us the afternoon mostly off, asides from some data entry and proofing (rechecking data). We pass the time with some ridiculous conversation, horseshoes, reading, or video games according to whim. Also it seems that the ranch investors are dropping by for a visit: the proof is in the flurry of activity and the sight-seeing helicopters being trucked in.
     The rains that have been good for the flowers are inevitably a bit problematic. A few days back, just as we were settling in to sleep, one of our number noticed a miniature tsunami flowing downhill towards the bunkhouse. In a matter of seconds the water started flowing over the porch. With hastily thrown on raingear and bare feet, we started digging a trench with bare hands and broken traps, building up a levy around the porch. Not exactly in the job description, but we managed to divert the runoff, therefore avoiding flooding in the house itself. It was such an absurd situation we had to laugh at it (there were some Monty Python and the Holy Grail references being thrown about).

Dennis, there's some lovely filth down here!

     Besides getting totally drenched a few times though, its been pretty fair weather, with highs in the 80s with good breezes. Was able to make a trip to Laredo a couple days ago, which did not produce the desired object (new flip flops to replace those destroyed during the mud dam competition) but did give me a rare steak dinner and time to wander around an actual mall. Pretty scenic drive with all the wildflowers, and also a glimpse of some people I suspect were illegal immigrants. The hint was that they were walking in the middle of nowhere and hid as I drove past. Not exactly rare around here: the ranch we work on definitely has its share of foot traffic. Anyway, curiousities abound.
     Hopefully we'll get to read our birding protocol soon, and actually figure out what we'll be doing for April through June. In the mean time, I can play horseshoes.

New species: Texas toad (Anaxyrus speciosus), hooded oriole (Icterus cucullatus), lesser goldfinch (Carduelis psaltria), American badger (Taxidea taxus), least shrew (Cryptotis parva)
Undocumented immigrant count: 6

Field work in the rain...

Back to San Antonio Viejo

    It's been about a week since our intrepid party of four returned to the main ranch. Mostly good weather so far, but things are bound to change. Compared to El Sauz, these past three grids have been pretty light on captures. Two of those grids were a bit labyrinthine to navigate, having us constantly checking our compasses and desperate to find the flags. It was a bit late in the game to put up flags between points, so I ended up drawing arrows in the dirt with my heels.

A hispid pocket mouse (Chaetodipus hispidus) at a more open grid

     But spring seems to have come to Texas. All this rain has set up the plants to put on a good show, and the scrubs and grasslands are alive with flowers. Even the prickly acacias and mesquites turn out fluffy yellow and white blooms. Probably my favorites would be the winecups and purple sage, they produce such a different color than you would think you would see out here.

Purple sage, aka cenizo. Zane Grey anyone?

 

     We definitely have a full house here at the headquarters. Our eight have condensed ourselves into the kitchen bunkhouse to make way for other visitors from Texas A&M University. We have a grad student working with grassland bird predators and an entire herpetology class plus their professor and grad students. The herpetology class is a bit on the rowdy side, but have yet to live up to their reputation for inebriated shenanigans. From what I gather, the group neither has to wake early or work late, and mostly tours the ranch searching for snakes and the like. This makes it a bit easier for them to party late, which we with our hours cannot really sustain. There are definitely some interesting stories from their trip out here last year, I believe involving a run-in with Africanized bees during one of the days and some burying of boots and keys during one of the nights.

     As for me, I'm back on my days off. Yesterday I actually managed to have a nice-ish day, so I drove down to go birding at Falcon State Park and then swung around Rio Grande City to get groceries. I didn't exactly get up at thte crack of dawn for the birding, but I still managed to see a lot of cool birds and got a easy hike in. It's actually a little weird now for me to go hiking and have a wide, well-kept trail already made, kind of nice. On the way to Rio Grande I joined the nearly-had-a-ticket club, got pulled over for going 71 in a 65mph zone. I guess I should be more careful; around the border is crawling with local deputies, highway patrol, and border patrol. The officer was courteous enough, and I just got a warning. I suspect that the minor speeding was just a good excuse to pull me over, make sure that I wasn't some kind of smuggler (although what kind of smuggler drives around in a Volkswagen Beetle I don't know).

 Somewhat blurry shots of a cactus wren, desert cottontail, and pyrrhuloxia using my camera binoculars (need to keep tweaking my technique)

 

 Other things that have been going on:

 

-New species: scissor-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus), great kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus), desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)

-Got a package from home!

-Saw a good-sized indigo snake at El Sauz

-Was able to visit a bookstore in McAllen

-Avoided a small stampede of cattle by shouting at them



Flowers of S. Texas (part II)

Purple sage (Leucophyllum frutescens)

Texas lantana (Lantana urticoides)

Possibly western bitterweed (Hymenoxys odorata)

Unknown (?)

Acacia (Acacia spp.)

They do exist!

 

Here's my proof:

A feisty cotton rat

A less feisty woodrat

El Sauz continues



     Do not be fooled by the pictures, the weather out here in Port Mansfield has on the whole been rather bleak (for south Texas at least). Though I lose track of time out here, it seems that for the past week it has been on and off cold, rainy, and windy. Not great for the mammals, including us. The weather affects the work, but certainly does not lessen it. For the few wet/cold days when we don't trap, we catch up on flagging grids and entering data. Depending on the day, me and the crew have been working 10 to 12 hour days, though on Thursday an owl call-back survey was added to the load, stretching the day from about 7am to 10pm with an hour break for lunch. We've had few afternoons off, mostly because the grids we've been trapping are bursting with small mammals. On top of that, I've been up to rookie mistakes of getting lost on a grid and getting a little too enthusiastic with the machete. As you might imagine, it's been a bit rough.

     However, there's always some good news. As of mid February, I am officially an employee of Texas A&M University. This past Friday was my first paycheck, and though it was only for a couple weeks, it was definitely welcome. I do wish they back-paid: I've yet to be paid for my work January 19 through "hiring" in February. We'll be getting paid for that time of course, but it means putting in hours after we've finished working here. The hoops we've had to jump through have been significant, but at least we're now on the payroll. And even with the iffy weather I've seen lots of cool sights:

 

-New species: Great-horned Owls (Bubo virginianus), Vermillion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus), and Bobcat (Lynx rufus)

-A Cheshire cat smile moon grouped with Venus and Mars

-A giant rattlesnake with a body thicker than my arm

-Very young Texas tortoise that fits in the palm of your hand

-"The Rig", mysterious abandoned oil equipment that's now an El Sauz landmark

-Tons of nilgai, turkeys, javelinas, coyotes

 

 Oak woodland on the north side of the ranch

 Young Texas tortoise

 "The Rig"

 White-footed mouse at El Sauz

Rattlesnake at a grid we're flagging 

Driving through marsh