pictures

beautiful clouds in the morning

yucca flower and a small yucca moth

showdown- prairie chicken hen and jack rabbit

one of my favorite birds: red-wing blackbird

black tailed jack rabbit

When we were out fixing a predator fence this morning we found this sneaky rat snake inside the fence along with the nesting female prairie chicken. Luckily the hen was unharmed. We quickly caught and relocated this 5ft rat snake across the river.

texas rat snake

young White-tailed hawk chicks.
(notice the snake on the right side of the nest)
I used my zoom lens to capture this picture-the mother hawk saw me coming and was soaring right above her nest.

I have a short week this week. I am leaving work early on Thursday to go to a rehearsal dinner in Austin after Katherine's going-away lunch. Katherine has been a volunteer here at the refuge since September of last year. She has helped with bird tracking, fence building and other small projects around the prairie. She will be missed. I will be in Austin this weekend for Joe's and Raquel's wedding where I will be Joe's best man and one of the couple's unofficial photographer. I have been looking forward to this and I know it'll be great. Look forward to more pictures of the prairie (and maybe some of the wedding) in the coming week!