Nature's Neighbors~Summer Hiatus

Thanks to all of you who have been sharing fun facts about the natural world around us.  We will be taking a break for the summer, and will be back with new and interesting neighbors in September!  
See you then!

Nature's Neighbors ~ Ringtail

A Ringtail is a carnivore resembling a small fox with a long flattened tail that is banded with 14 to 16 alternating black and white rings and a black tip.  They have five toes on each foot that are armed with sharp, curved, non-retractable claws.  They are nocturnal, very timid, and rarely seen, and as adults these mammals lead solitary lives, generally coming together only to mate.

Commonly, but incorrectly called Ring-tailed Cat and Miner’s Cat , they are not felines at all, but are members of the Procyonidae family along with raccoons and coatimundis.  They are distributed statewide, but are uncommon in the upper panhandle, the lower Rio Grande Valley and Coastal Plains of southern Texas.  They weigh from 1-2 pounds and are two feet in length (including the tail) and in the wild they will live around 6-9 years.

Ringtail mate in the spring. The gestation period is 45–50 days, during which the male will provide food for the female. There will be on average, 2-4 cubs in a litter, and by the age of four months they are hunting for themselves and are indistinguishable from adults except for their smaller size.  Being omnivorous, they will eat just about anything if it’s the right size. Depending on season, their food choices are fruit, insects, arachnids, lizards, snakes, small mammals, as well as birds and bird eggs.  Ringtail predators include, but are not limited to, Great horned owls, bobcats, and coyotes.

Ringtail are excellent climbers capable of ascending vertical walls, trees, rocky cliffs and even cacti. They have excellent eyesight as well as hearing, both helpful adaptations for a nocturnal animal.  Ringtail live in a variety of habitats within their range, but they have a decided preference for rocky areas such as stone walls and piles, canyon walls, and talus slopes. They can rotate their hind feet 180 degrees, giving them a good grip for descending those same structures.  They occur less commonly in woodland areas where they live in hollow trees and logs, and they are also known to live in buildings. Being such good  climbers, they have little difficulty in searching out and denning in well-protected crevices, crannies, and hollows.  The Ringtail prefers to live in habitats associated with water.

Proving itself an effective mouser, miners and early settlers once kept Ringtail as pets to keep their cabins free of vermin; hence, the incorrect common names mentioned above.  Often a small box with a hole was provided and placed near a heat source as a dark, warm place for the animal to sleep during the day, not to come out until after dark to rid the cabin of mice.

Nature's Neighbors ~ Spotted Gar

 The Spotted gar or Lepisosteus oculatus, is one of three gar species native to Texas. These are fresh water fish that are long and cylindrical with elongated mouths and can grow to a length of up to 3 feet and weigh up to 8 pounds.  Their long, snout-like mouth is lined with strong, sharp teeth, and their body is covered with thick, diamond-shaped scales. Spotted gar may be distinguished from other Texas gar species by the dark roundish spots on the top of the body, head and fins.   They have an extensive range and can be found from central Texas east into western Florida then north through the Mississippi River drainage into Illinois, the lower Ohio River, and the Lake Erie drainage.

Gar are often seen basking just below the surface of the water in calm, weedy areas.  They move casually but deliberately, and when hunting they are stalkers, slowly following behind prey until they rapidly strike from the side. Fry feed primarily on insect larvae and tiny crustaceans, but fish appear on the diet of young gar very early. Prey is swallowed headfirst. Spotted gar are eaten by larger fish, alligators, herons, cottonmouth snakes and occasionally, humans.

This fish requires clear vegetated water, but unfortunately habitats such as this are rapidly disappearing in its range.  Disturbance of and encroachment on waterways and lakes negatively impact this species.  They do have a specialized swim bladder which allows them to gulp air at the waters surface and live in the poorly oxygenated back waters of Texas' streams, swamps and lakes.  They also sometimes enter brackish (saltier) waters along the Gulf Coast, but do not live there.

The long-lived gar has a life span of up to 18 years. They spawn from April to May in shallow water with low flow and heavy vegetation. The roe (or egg mass) is highly toxic to humans, animals, and birds.  The number of eggs varies greatly, but upwards to 20,000 adhesive eggs are attached to aquatic plants. Fry hatch after 10 to 14 days and have specialized pads on their upper jaws that allow them to adhere to vegetation. They remain attached to plants until they are about ¾ of an inch long. The pad is lost when the last of the yolk sac is absorbed.

A large gar can eat a lot of fish, including catfish, causing them to compete with some anglers. Because of that competition and because many people incorrectly think gar are difficult to clean, they are sometimes called a "trash" fish.  This term is not warranted when you consider that spotted gar were here long before the fishermen, and like all native species, have an important role to play in their ecosystem and the food chain.

Nature's Neighbors ~ Rio Grande Leopard Frog

Native from central Texas, to New Mexico (where it is listed as vulnerable), south through Mexico to Vera Cruz, this frog of arid regions is highly aquatic and typically a stream dweller. However, it will utilize a variety of permanent water sources such as rivers, artificial ponds, cattle tanks, and agricultural irrigation ditches. Though seldom found away from water, they can survive short periods of dryness under rocks and by burrowing.

Adults can be 2-4 inches in length, and can be seen out during the day, but more likely at night. Active all year long except in periods of low temperature, Rio Grande Leopard Frogs shelter under rocks and in streamside vegetation. They are insectivorous, but like most frogs, will eat almost anything they can overpower and swallow.  Tadpoles feed on algae, inorganic particles, and diatoms and are strong and adapted to swimming in streams against a current.

The males make a rattling call which is loud enough to be heard a quarter mile or more away.   Mating occurs during the rainy periods of the spring and fall.  Egg masses are attached to submerged vegetation. Tadpoles have been observed over-wintering in warmer parts of their range.

Like all amphibians, they absorb much through their skin, making them extremely vulnerable to any toxin (such as herbicides and pesticides) introduced into the habitat in which they live, and are an indicator of problems with the environment.  Their greatest threats are all from humans, namely pollution, habitat destruction, and over-collection.

They are beneficial because they eat many of the insect pests that live among us and carry diseases, and in turn are preyed upon by larger animals in the food chain. We must not abuse these animals but allow them to live freely within their habitat, and appreciate the benefits they afford us.

Nature's Neighbors ~ Tarantula Hawk

This neighbor is neither a tarantula, nor a hawk, but is a very interesting insect. Both genera Hemipepsis and Pepsis are called "Tarantula Hawks".  They are indistinguishable in the field and have very similar life histories.  Four species of Hemipepsis and 15 of Pepsis are found in North America.  At least nine different species of the wasp inhabit the desert lands of the southwest. Pepsis formosa, and Pepsis thisbe, the most northern ranging, are probably the two most common.  

Tarantula Hawks occur wherever tarantulas are found and females give these wasps their common name.  Like all members of this genus, they require a spider to serve as food host for their larvae.  Male wasps engage in a behavior called "hill-topping," where they perch on taller vegetation or high points. They are strongly territorial at these sites because of the good view of the surrounding area and in particular, of females which may be receptive to mating.

Body length measures up to two inches, and are metallic blue-black with wings that are rust or mahogany, or occasionally black, in color.  This is another group of insects which have aposematic coloring – that is, conspicuous bright coloring – which warns potential predators that this is a meal that might be more painful than it is worth.  Only a few animals, Greater Roadrunners being one, eat tarantula hawks.

A female wasp finds a tarantula by running across the ground to locate a burrow to draw a spider out of, or she may also encounter a male tarantula in the open during his search for a mate.  Once stung, the tarantula is paralyzed (not killed) within seconds, and the condition will last for the remainder of its life.   If the wasp found her victim underground, she will drag it back into its own burrow and lay a single egg on the spider’s abdomen, then seal the chamber. If the wasp succeeds in stinging a male tarantula on a mating hunt, she will excavate a burrow, drag the paralyzed spider inside, lay her single egg, and seal the chamber.  After going through metamorphosis, the new adult wasp will emerge from the burrow the following season.

Tarantula hawks are most active in the summer during the day, although they avoid the highest temperatures.  The wasps consume nectar and other sugars, and they have been known to become "drunk" and unable to fly after consuming fermented fruit.  Their stings are considered to be the most painful of any North American insect, but they will ignore you and your pets, and may be observed at a very close range if they are left unmolested.  

Nature’s Neighbors ~ Western Scrub Jay/ Texas Scrub Jay

The Western Scrub Jay is a member of the Corvidae family to which various crows, ravens, and jays belong. Like its fellow corvids, they are extremely vocal, having more than 20 separate types of calls.  A year-round resident throughout West and Central Texas, this jay inhabits scrub oak and juniper woodlands as well as wooded suburban areas.  While many refer to scrub-jays as "blue jays", the Blue Jay is an entirely different species of bird not generally found in the scrub jay’s range.

Western Scrub Jays enjoy an extremely varied diet of insects, seeds, carrion, and fruit.  They also have a mischievous streak, and are skilled thieves. They’ve been seen stealing acorns from Acorn Woodpecker caches, and from others of their own species.  When these birds go to hide their own acorns, they check first that no other jays are watching.  Never one to pass up an easy meal, they will willingly come to the yard for unshelled peanuts, cracked corn and sunflower seeds.  They also enjoy birdbaths and water features.

Western Scrub-Jays are great to watch because they’re so animated.  Often found in flocks during winter, these birds are vocal and playful. During the breeding season they staunchly defend territories from other scrub-jays by flying at them, calling, and occasionally pecking or grappling. Pairs stay together throughout the year.

Recent research has suggested that Western Scrub-Jays, along with several other corvids, are among the most intelligent of animals. The brain-to-body mass ratio of adult Scrub Jays rivals that of chimpanzees and cetaceans, and is dwarfed only by that of humans. Scrub Jays are also the only non-primate shown to plan ahead for the future, which was previously thought of as a uniquely human trait.  Other studies have shown that they can remember locations of over 200 food caches, as well as the food item in each cache and its rate of decay.

Nature's Neighbors ~ Western Cottonmouth

Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma  is the subspecies of Cottonmouth found in the south central United States. It is the smallest of the three subspecies and tends to be darker in color.  It ranges from southern Alabama along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, including many offshore islands, to southeastern and central Texas and north to Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.  This species most well known name is Water Moccasin, but it best to not use it to avoid confusion, as there are also terrestrial moccasin species, such as the Copperhead.

Although they are found into West Texas, Western Cottonmouths are more numerous in the eastern third of the state, preferring lowland swamps, lakes, rivers, sloughs, irrigation ditches, rice fields and salt marshes, but they are not confined to living in moist habitats. Frogs, fish, smaller snakes (including other cottonmouths), small water birds, small mammals, carrion, and sometimes fish on stringers make up the cottonmouth's diet. 

Despite its formidable appearance and nasty reputation, it often chooses to flee or freeze open mouthed in threat, rather than to coil and strike. The snake's threatening gesture of exposing the white tissue of the inside of its mouth has earned its popular name. When startled, they have been known to vibrate their tails against vegetation, making you aware of their presence, they can also secrete a foul smelling musk.  As with all snakes, they avoid contact with humans or any other possible predator. But like any animal, when threatened, cottonmouths will attack to protect themselves.  Only seven percent of all Texas snakebite cases involve cottonmouths. Throughout the United States, less than one percent of all deaths by snakebite have been caused by cottonmouths.  Almost all bites by cottonmouths involve snakes purposely touched or molested in some way.

They are generally active from March through December and have also been seen on warm days in January and February. They hibernate along hillsides and upland areas above streams, usually under large roots, in burrows, or in rock crevices. In spring and fall, snakes are most active during the warmer part of the day, whereas in summer they are most active at dusk or at night.