Wow! We had a wonderful visit to the Southern Coast of Texas and the Laguna Atascosa NWR. It was the perfect mix of great people, lots of interesting work, terrific wildlife to see, cool plants and birds, fishing, weather, and a very nice Thanksgiving potluck with the volunteers and staff.
This is the Laguna Atascosa ("muddy lagoon"), for which the refuge is named. It is a
5,000-acre impoundment that is especially important for redhead ducks when they
first arrive to their winter home on the Lower Laguna Madre.
We were incredibly fortunate that during our visit the ocelot recovery team actually caught an ocelot. Traps are set around the refuge so that these endangered cats can be tracked and monitored.
This is Mitch (zone biologist for the complex) opening the cage door. It took only a few seconds for this ocelot to realize he was free and he was out and gone in a flash. Because this ocelot had recently been caught, it did not need to be weighed, measured and tested. We were all stationed a distance from the cage so that we did not disturb the situation. Thank goodness for zoom lenses!
In the United States,
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge is where you are most likely to see an
ocelot, one of six cat species found in North America. Ocelots used to live in the range from
South Texas up into Arkansas and Louisiana but today there are an estimated 50
ocelots that remain in the United States, including a breeding population found here at Laguna Atascosa.
The above group is the lucky few who were able to observe the Ocelot being released.
This great group is the Ocelot Recovery team from the South Texas Refuge Complex. They work their tails off (ocelot trails, of course!) and are also a lot of fun. We really enjoyed our time with them all.
Another success story for Laguna Atascosa is the Aplomado Falcon. Oliver and I saw this guy sitting on the fence on the access road as we were heading into town one weekend day. Oliver took these photos and we sat enthralled at his majesty and beauty.
The aplomado falcon was almost once extinct. Here is some info from the refuge website on this raptor's history: "Once widespread throughout the American Southwest, two remaining pairs of aplomado falcons were known to exist in the 1940s and 50s – one pair near Brownsville, Texas, in 1946 and a pair in Deming, New Mexico, in 1952...Today, the aplomado falcon has made a comeback in South Texas due to an aggressive recovery program involving captive breeding and re-introduction efforts. In 1993, releases began on the refuge in partnership with The Peregrine Fund. In 1995, the first known United States nest of an aplomado falcon since 1952 was documented near Old Port Isabel Road and Loma Alta, a few miles southwest of the refuge’s Bahia Grande Unit. As of 2004, more than 900 falcons have been released in the Valley, with 25 nesting pairs documented in 2006. Since then established territories and nesting have been annually documented on the refuge."
We saw our very first ever Kiskadees in the backyard of our refuge housing. We never lost the thrill of seeing (and hearing) them, though they are a common site in this part of the country.
A gold headed woodpecker.
Another common neighbor in the South Texas area, and all around Laguna Atascosa is the Green Jay. This critter looks like a cross between a parrot and a bird, and is hard to miss due to its bright colors.
Can you see the head of this alligator? He likes to sit in this pool of water that is on the walk between the office and the visitor's center! Apparently, he doesn't mind the traffic of onlookers.
The refuge is a landscape of coastal prairie, thorn
forest, sand and clay dunes, and tidal flats set within thousands of acres of
wetlands bordering the lower Laguna Madre, one of five hypersaline lagoons in
the world. The
refuge’s topography is typical of the Texas Coastal Plain, a flat landscape
that gradually slopes down to the salty water’s edge of the lower Laguna Madre. We enjoyed a tour of the refuge drive loop on a misty Saturday with the Friends Group. Learn more about this incredibly part of South Texas at their website: http://www.fws.gov/refuge/laguna_atascosa.
This is the crested caracara - another treasure seen from the refuge drive loop.
The area around the refuge visitor's center is so nicely landscaped and includes informative trails that are easy and fun to walk.
We were so comfortable in our refuge home. It was a 2 minute walk to the refuge office.
This is the office where we worked throughout our visit.
Our work space in the file room! We got a lot done during our visit and really enjoyed learning about the refuge and the surrounding area.
This is Oliver with Leo, the assistant manager at LANWR. He was so great to visit with and always took the time to check in with us. As a fellow fisherman, he provided some tips on the best places in the area to drop our lines.
We were at Laguna Atascosa over Thanksgiving and these guys did not realize that! We thought it was funny that they made themselves so obvious and so close to the office before the big day.
This is the Thanksgiving day potluck that we were invited to. This is the crew of volunteers at the refuge along with a few of the staffers. We had a great time eating and visiting with everyone.
Here some images from our fishing experiences out of Port Isabel, TX. The Laguna Madre is great place to fish and we enjoyed our time there.
The bridge and lighthouse at Port Isabel, TX.
Oliver caught a gafftopsail catfish.
Here I am with a whiting, which we both caught throughout the afternoon.
Someone on the boat caught and released a pufferfish.
The proud fishermen!
Another terrific trail at Laguna Atascosa. It was fun exploring different areas of the refuge.
Ok, so I came face-to-face with this bobcat while on a hike. He was really quite indifferent and not at all intimidated by me.....I wish I could say the same. He allowed me the time to take a few photos, then he became bored by the encounter and walked off into the brush.
Another crested caracara (above) and some blooming Texas Silver Sage (below).
We visited Sea Turtle Inc, a sea turtle rehab and education center on South Padre Island. They take in seat turtles that are found injured and nurse them back to health so they can be release (when and if ready) to the wild. This guy is named Jerry and he is a long-time resident who has made appearances around the country on behalf of sea turtle preservation.
More wildlife sightings back on the refuge.
A meadowlark singing away.
A loggerhead shrike.
All of these final photos were taken from our back patio! We were sad to say good-bye to Laguna Atascosa and all of the good people there.
Loving the Laguna Madre! Loving Laguna Atascosa!
