The week before Autumn Begins

Last week, I visited some of my favorite habitats in the lower Rio Grande area of Texas to search for wildlife photography opportunities. I hope you like the variety of subjects and life stages depicted.

Blue Spiny Lizards on mesquite bark, s. Texas.

Dr. Beto Gutierrez spotted these guys on a huge mesquite as we traversed his ranch in Starr Co.

Beto and I spent about a half hour beside Dorothy’s Pond on the Santa Clara Photo Ranch that day. The birds weren’t there so we captured a few dragonfly images before heading out. That’s a Thornbush Dasher hovering a Roseate Skimmer.

Screech Owls in nest box at the Gutierrez property.
Lark Sparrow landing at Santa Clara Photo Ranch in late summer.
Ground Squirrel inspecting a dead and bloated mouse.
Big white-tail buck headed to the woods at sunrise.

A week ago, many whitetail bucks were still wearing velvet-covered antlers while some had begun to shed the bloody, furlike skin.

White-tail buck shedding strands of velvet from antlers in late summer.
Big bucks enjoying the early morning sun. * Note the reddish appearance of the hardened antlers on two of these bucks that had just shed their velvet.
White-winged Dove flushing from a water hole.

Autumn starts today and I’m at home working on this report and trying to capture a few hummingbird and flower photos around the house. Let’s save those for next week.

Stay well,

Larry