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¡Snek!


Patricio Swayze

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Did a hike on the Trinity Forest AT&T Trail.  It's paved, which is a bummer, but it's really nice down there.  All Dallasites need to check it out.

Saw this feller.

IMG-20200927-114651045.jpg

Don't @ me bro.

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He did not move a muscle for something like 5 minutes while I observed him/her from various angles.

The trail isn't highly trafficked and he wasn't that hard to see so I didn't feel compelled to move him off the trail, as I might have on an MTB trail.  Of course, 100 yards around the bend I came across a group with a kid in a stroller and a doggo and had to warn them off.

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On 9/26/2020 at 4:01 PM, NorthLoop said:

So I didn't really know where to put this and I didn't wanna start a new thread but I need some bird identification help. I wasn't able to get pics cuz they were too far away but I got a good look at them with binoculars. 

There were three buzzard/vulture sized birds circling like buzzards. They had white chests and heads with a bright red patch under their beaks. Feet and beaks were bright yellow and the beak was big like a parrots. After they landed they spent the afternoon just walking around in the grass and hanging out under some trees. Anyone seen these before? Maybe just some type of Turkey vulture with fat beaks?

 

Crested Caracara?

70583361-1280px.jpg

 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/overview

 

Austin (I assume you are in austin?) is the extreme northern edge of its range, although its getting more common in central texas.

 

Its actually a falcon. You often see them in S. Texas eating road kill with vultures. They do walk around looking for snakes and lizards and such in the grass.

 

 

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I was about to leave the office today and I heard the cleaning lady scream and come running up to me. "Theres a rattlesnake in the my closet!"

Turns out it was actually just a medium sized bull snake. He did not want to leave his nice warm storage closet. I told the cleaning lady that he would keep the mice population down, but she wanted him out, so I had to drag his ass out of there with my snake grabber. I put him in a sack and let him go over the fence in my back yard. Dogs did not approve.

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16 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Crested Caracara?

70583361-1280px.jpg

 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/overview

 

Austin (I assume you are in austin?) is the extreme northern edge of its range, although its getting more common in central texas.

 

Its actually a falcon. You often see them in S. Texas eating road kill with vultures. They do walk around looking for snakes and lizards and such in the grass.

 

 

I live in New Braunfels, so not quite as far north. That's definitely what it was though (three of them actually). They were walking through the grass clearly using their claws to hunt for land critters. Very pretty birds. 

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2 hours ago, NorthLoop said:

I live in New Braunfels, so not quite as far north. That's definitely what it was though (three of them actually). They were walking through the grass clearly using their claws to hunt for land critters. Very pretty birds. 

I saw one in Northern McLennan county last year. I don't think they're normally here though.

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On 10/1/2020 at 4:31 PM, NorthLoop said:

I live in New Braunfels, so not quite as far north. That's definitely what it was though (three of them actually). They were walking through the grass clearly using their claws to hunt for land critters. Very pretty birds. 

They are not a uncommon north of San Marcos. I once watched a caracara fly between the sun and I. The dark feathers went blood red, and the white stripe on its wings went black. Very neat.

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On 9/30/2020 at 11:54 PM, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Crested Caracara?

70583361-1280px.jpg

 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/overview

 

Austin (I assume you are in austin?) is the extreme northern edge of its range, although its getting more common in central texas.

 

Its actually a falcon. You often see them in S. Texas eating road kill with vultures. They do walk around looking for snakes and lizards and such in the grass.

 

 

I saw one of these in the middle of Highway 36 the other day just outside of Rosenberg on the Fort Bend-Austin County line. Would have had no idea what it was had I not seen this thread first. 

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On 10/1/2020 at 6:58 PM, SimonBolivar said:

I saw one in Northern McLennan county last year. I don't think they're normally here though.

 

They are creeping farther and farther north. They also migrate back south when (or if) it gets cold. Similar to what vultures do in areas that see colder winters than central Texas.

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Quote


It’s official. An invasive Burmese python captured in the Everglades over the weekend has broken the state record measuring 18.9 feet long. The previous record was 18.8 feet long.

Ryan Ausburn, a contracted python hunter with the South Florida Water Management District, and Kevin “Snakeaholic” Pavlidis, a contracted python hunter with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, captured the monster-sized python Oct. 2 along the L-28 Tieback Canal about 35 miles west of Miami.

On social media, Pavlidis wrote, “On Friday night, we pulled this BEAST of a snake out of waist-deep water in the middle of the night, deep in the Everglades. I have never seen a snake anywhere near this size and my hands were shaking as I approached her. Every python we catch can be potentially dangerous, but one this size? Lethal. One mistake, and I am for sure going to the hospital. But more importantly, this is a once in a lifetime snake. I could go out every single night for the rest of my life and never see one this big again.”

Jumping in that swamp water chasing those beasts would be a hard nope for me. 

python_2.jpg

 

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