Non Bird Wildlife of Texas

   

We went to Texas to see wildlife not just birds. It is no secret that Laurie and I like looking for herps. We were hoping to see Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes. We wanted to see any and all new mammals too. 

   To my surprise we actually saw very few species. When it came to herps, many days were just too cold. Most of the days peaked at seventy degrees but had cold mornings (40-50 degrees). Even on the couple of eighty degree days we didn't see any herps at all. We were very lucky to see the four that we did see.

As for mammals we got a couple of good ones however, we saw far fewer species than I thought we would. We didn't see any Jack Rabbits. We looked all along the highway for feral pigs but never saw one. We did have a great experience with Javelinas. I got a photo of every species we saw. The coolest were the first species of photos (the Javelinas) and the last two on the bottom

We actually saw Javelinas multiple times. We saw them at Estero Lllano and Bentson. state parks. We saw them at dusk at Estero. We stayed late hoping to see some and were excited to see them. We had one in the parking lot at Bentson crossing the road and sitting in a ditch.

    However, the best day was our second time at Bentson. We rented bikes and went to all of the feeders. When we came to a blind near a secluded feeder, there were two Javelinas feeding. One of them smelled and heard us and walked out of sight. The other one didn't care and continued eating. The first eventually came back and got a drink. It folds its legs up to bow down to the water. It was adorable. We watched for twenty minutes before leaving before them to finish their breakfast. Multiple photos below.

   Despite their look, Javelinas (also called Collared Peccary) are not related to pigs. They are a hooved animal and would be closer related to deer.

We saw this drum (alive) in the shallows of our Whooping Crane tour

We also saw a small pod of teenage sized Bottle Nosed Dolphins that we watched feed and play for fifteen minutes while on the tour

The only rabbit we saw was this one which I think is an Eastern Cottontail. The same species we have.

We saw one Armadillo at Estero. It was in the brush and this was the only photo I could get

Eastern Fox Squirrel is the only squirrel species we saw. They were at most places including downtown 

San Antonio

On one of the warm days Texas Cooter (turtles) were sunning on the logs at Estero

South Texas does have alligators. We saw them at Estero Llano every time we were there. Most of the time the water was warmer than the air so I only saw three sunning themselves

I am not sure, but I think this is a Mullet. South Padre Island

Brown Anole

Okay, the other really cool species... This is a Nilgai Antelope. They are originally from Asia. Hunters imported them to a ranch in the 1930's to hunt. Some escaped and they thrived. There are now thirty six thousand wild Nilgai in South Texas. They are considered invasive because they compete with deer for food. It seems as though they really aren't welcome by anyone but hunters...and us. We saw a small herd at the Palo Alto Battlefield. The brown one below was the closest and the rest were far away along some bushes. The black one is a male. They are described as deer on steroids. This is true because you could see every muscle in it's body when it moved. It looked like a body building antelope.