Posted on 02/16/2014 10:44:36 AM PST by patriot08
Texas Treasures 2: The magnificent Whooping Crane
Reaching a height of 5 feet with a wingspread of 7 1/2 feet, it is one of the most majestic, magnificant and rare creatures on earth.
Fantastic video:
Texas Country Reporter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2C81bXu29I
Sadly, primarily through hunting and loss of habitat, the population of the magnificent whooping crane has gone from an estimated 10,000+ birds before the settling of Europeans on the continent to 1,300-1,400 birds by 1870- and down to to 15 adults by 1938.
However; thanks to conservation efforts of the Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Aransas National Wildlife Refuse (Tx) and a few others throughout the U.S, there are now an estimated 437 birds in the wild and more than 165 in captivity.
The tallest bird in North America, the whooping crane breeds in the wetlands of Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Canada. Here the cranes perform elaborate running, leaping, wing-flapping dances where mates are chosen for life. Both male and female share nesting duties. One of them is always on the nest. Frequently only one chick survives. Although the chick can leave the nest while still quite young, it is always protected and fed by its parents. Chicks are rust-colored when they hatch. At about four months, chick's feathers begin turning white. By the end of their first migration, they are brown and white, and as they enter their first spring, their plumage is white with black wing tips.
When summer ends, these migratory birds set out for the Gulf Coast of Texas, where they winter in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
Although whooping cranes mate for life, they will accept a new mate if one dies.
These birds are very long-lived. They can live up to 24 years in the wild.
The cranes live in family groups made up of the parents and 1 or 2 offspring.
Their diet consists of blue crabs, clams, frogs, minnows, rodents, and berries.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/whooper
Get involved. Help these magnificent birds survive:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_nature_trackers/whooper-watch/
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/whooper/
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Texas' very own 'lil fantom ketteh:
Ocelot kittens
This beautiful little cat once ranged as far east as Arkansas and Louisiana, throughout Texas and in Mexico. Today ocelots are currently found only in extreme southern Texas and northeastern Mexico.
The remnant U.S. ocelot population in south Texas has declined from 80-120 individuals in 1995 to less than 50 in recent years, with about half of ocelot deaths resulting from being hit by automobiles. Most surviving Texas ocelots are in the shrub lands remaining at or near the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge near Brownsville, where only 30-35 animals remain.
The ocelot is similar in appearance to a domestic cat although somewhat larger.
The ocelot ranges from 27 to 39 inches in length, plus 10 to 18 inches in tail length, and typically weighs 18 to 40 pounds.
Its fur resembles that of a clouded leopard or jaguar and was once regarded as very valuable. As a result, hundreds of thousands of ocelots were once killed for their fur. Hunting and loss of habitat have reduced these beautiful little cat's numbers to near extinction in North America. The Ocelot also usually gives birth to only one kitten although litters of two or three kittens also occur, but are not common. The small litter size and relative infrequency of breeding make the ocelot particularly vulnerable to extreme reduction in population.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0013_ocelot.pdf.
http://wn.com/ocelot_survival__texas_parks_and_wildlife_[official]
What's being done to save the 'lil Texas ketteh:
http://vetmed.tamu.edu/research/highlights/janecka%E2%80%99s-efforts-to-save-the-ocelot-population-in-texas#.UwA5c_ldWSo
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_rare_species/listed_species/mammals.phtml
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Texas Tortoise
Texas Box Turtle
Most of us Texans used to catch and play with these docile little creatures when we were kids, but when was the last time you saw a Texas box turtle or a Texas tortoise? They used to be found everywhere it seems-backyards, ranches, along roadways but now they are now getting hard to find. Sadly, they are rapidly going the way of our beloved horned lizard- headed eventually for extinction unless we help them.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife request reports of any sightings:
http://www.gctts.org/BTPT/wild-sighting.html.
These animals are a unique tie to a period of Earth's history all but lost in the living world. Turtles are some of the oldest reptilian species on the earth, virtually unchanged in in 200 million years or more. These slow moving, toothless, egg-laying creatures date back to the dinosaurs, and still retain traits they used to survive then.
Their low reproductive rate, exploitation by pet suppliers, loss of habitation and overuse of pesticides and other things have lead to a severe drop in population of these creatures. They have been put on a threatened list, affording them protection from being taken, possessed, transported, exported, sold, or offered for sale.
Please do what you can to help save our Texas treasures.
http://www.texasturtles.org/Turtles.pdf
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The quail got wiped out by fire ants too.
Saw a gaggle of “Prairie chickens”? last summer
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The pink birds were Roseate Spoonbills.. There's a lot of them around here:
The bird that was after your dog was probably some kind of bird of prey like a huge hawk. Glad your dog's ok. Scary
Cool..seen those efforts to teach them to migrate.
:o])
But the more I watched them they were too long and their wings too long and narrow to be geese. Plus, they didn't sound like geese either.
So as soon as I got home, I checked the internet and sure enough they were cranes. I don't know which cranes they were tho......
Thanks for the input. Interesting.
Evidently there's a large sanctuary over by Jackson where cranes congregate......
My first thought was a small NBA point guard....LOL!
And they do spit blood from their eyes. I picked one up once and it scared me to death.
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Tx horned lizards are different from Arizona horned lizards.
There’s a good discussion about that (and some very funny stuff and pics) on my first ‘Texas Treasures’ post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3118606/posts
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The quail got wiped out by fire ants too.
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Wish they could eradicate those &*%#@ ants.
Are they all over Texas now?
Thanks, y’all.
That’s a beautiful little cat. I like that little tortoise, too.
Ah! That’s the bird! I really need to get educated about Texas wild-life!
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“And they do spit blood from their eyes. I picked one up once and it scared me to death”
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Yeah, they really do. I’ve seen it aimed at one of our dogs.
They only use this defense to confuse and frighten a predator as a last resort.
The blood is harmless but it’s mixed with some kind of chemical to taste very bad to anything that tries to eat it.
My mother always told us if they spit blood in your eyes that you’d go blind. (shades of A Christmas Story and the BB gun- LOL) She just told us that ‘cause she didn’t want us messing with them.
We’d pick them up and hold them away from us for a bit to let it relax.
They’re really quite docile. If you turn them over in your hand and rub their tummy, they’ll go to sleep. They get used to you quite rapidly.
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They’re both cuties.
“That’s a beautiful little cat. I like that little tortoise, too.”
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Aren’t they beautiful? Salvadore Dali had one as a pet. (Ocelot)
Ah! That’s the bird! I really need to get educated about Texas wild-life!
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They’re beautiful birds. ..especially in a group flying over. How pink they are depends on what they eat. :)
I read a book written by some exotic hunter that hunted with his pet cheetah and ocelot. I wish I could figure out the title or author. He also hunted with a blowgun in Africa. Cool stories.
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