Armadillo, and Texas

 

A Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) crosses a rural East Texas lane. These curious armored tank-like mammals are primarily nocturnal, but we found this one rooting about in a grassy verge during the day. It took about 20 minutes before the animal finally showed itself, allowing us some nice unobstructed images.

Shauna and I have been in the Houston area since last Friday and have had a great time photographing birds and other wildlife. Lots of action and I have scores of interesting images, and some of that should make its way onto this blog eventually.

I was invited to speak at the River Oaks Garden Club's annual Sadie Gwin Blackburn Environmental Seminar (this was the 35th one), held at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. That took place this morning and we had a nice turnout. River Oaks Garden Club is a high productivity group, and this was one of the best organized events that I've been to. My topic was Growing Caterpillars: A Tangled Tale of Birds, Plants, and Conservation.

We return home tomorrow but came down last Friday to have about five days to explore and photograph. Most of our time was spent along the Gulf Coast, but we ranged as far west as Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, and as far east as Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. Two photographic highlights were Long-billed Curlew and Snowy Plover, but there was so much more, including some very cool plants. More to follow!