Visions by Chery

09/05/2026

Front Pond Activity | Sept. 3, 2026 | Rio Hondo, Texas
Cactus Creek Ranch
CCR Nature Lesson 27

I spent a wonderful morning at the front pond on Cactus Creek Ranch, enjoying the many birds coming in for breakfast. The drought has shrunk the pond, drawing herons, egrets, stilts, and all kinds of birds to its edge. Fish gather in the warm, shallow water, making an easy meal for the waiting birds. With so many nearby ponds dried up, this pond is a popular spot. I even spotted a big alligator cruising around for his own breakfast. Watch till the end of the video as he gets out of the water and disappears into the trees. Even though the pond is smaller these days, it’s still a lively oasis. Cactus Creek Ranch welcomes all sorts of wildlife.

I saw alligator, turtles, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Great Kiskadee, Gulls, Black-necked Stilts, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Eastern Meadowlark, Roseate Spoonbills, Osprey, Terns, American Avocet, Lesser Yellowlegs, Tricolored Heron, Green Heron, Long-billed Dowitcher, Horned Lark, Northern Mockingbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Couch’s Kingbird, Dickcissel, Common Pauraque, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Mourning Dove, Barn Swallow, and so much more.

08/30/2026

Migration | 2025 | South Padre Island, Texas. * Help Wanted *
The Valley Land Fund lots on West Sheepshead Street

Here are some photos I took last year at the Lots during migration that I never got around to sharing. With fall migration already underway, it’s important to prepare the lots for our feathered visitors. If you enjoy birding here, please consider helping on Monday mornings at 7:00 am to help tidy up the habitat for our little birds as they stop over on their way south. Huge thanks to Evelyn Alpert, Jeff Bryant, and Alicia Cavazos for all your hard work so far!

08/30/2026

08/29/2026

Northern Bobwhite | Aug. 28th, 2026 | Rio Hondo, Texas
Cactus Creek Ranch
CCR Nature Lesson 26

Every time I’m out with my camera at Cactus Creek Ranch, bobwhites are everywhere—no matter where I wander, I can always hear their calls all around me. I’ve been wishing to spot some bobwhite chicks one day, and today my wish finally came true. I saw three different families, but this one was just too adorable not to share first. At Cactus Creek Ranch, the temp. was 98%, with humidity around 68%. They took the weather conditions and drought situation into account and put out water for the wildlife, since most ponds are dried up now. These little chicks were adorable to watch. They ran around eating ants, sometimes falling face-first into the dirt, which was hilarious. When they jumped into the pan of water to drink and cool off, it was so adorable I had to take a video. Hope you enjoy it!

The female lays 12–15 eggs, one per day. Both parents share incubation and brood care, guiding the chicks until they’re independent.

Bobwhite chicks are ready for adventure from the very start. Unlike many birds, they are precocial, meaning they hatch covered in down, with their eyes open, and can walk and leave the nest almost immediately. Just hours after hatching, they’re following their parents out of the nest, searching for food together across open ground and in low plants. Because their nests are simple, shallow spots on the ground, moving quickly helps keep them safe.

Depending on the season and their age, northern bobwhites eat different foods. Most of their diet comes from plants like grass seeds, green leaves, berries, and grains. During summer, chicks rely on protein-rich insects such as beetles and grasshoppers. In winter, they rely on annual weeds and leftover grains found in the fields.

08/29/2026

Northern Aplomado Falcon (Falco femoralis septentrionalis) | Aug. 2026 | Rio Hondo, Texas Cactus Creek Ranch
CCR Nature Lesson 25

Listed as federally endangered due to historical loss of open grassland and coastal prairie habitats and pesticide use.

It thrills me to see the rare Aplomado Falcons, so I feel fortunate that I get to see them when I’m at Cactus Creek Ranch. Most of the time, I only catch glimpses of them way off in the distance during the hottest part of the day, but today I saw a pair close enough for my long lens to get decent images. I look forward to many more sightings or possibly seeing a family someday.

Listed as endangered in the U.S. in 1986, the species has benefited from reintroduction programs, particularly in South Texas, led by The Peregrine Fund. On Cactus Creek Ranch, The Peregrine Fund has placed two “barred boxes” on the property to offer more hunting and nesting grounds for them. They like grasslands, savannas, marshes, coastal prairie, and areas with scattered shrubs.

These nesting boxes give them more protection from predators like owls and raccoons that kept raiding natural nests. Biologists built artificial nest boxes with bars across the front. The bars are spaced wide enough for the falcons to slip through, but too narrow for bigger predators to get in. Most pairs now prefer nesting in these boxes rather than in trees, yuccas, or cacti.

08/24/2026

Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) | Aug. 2026 | Rio Hondo, Texas
Cactus Creek Ranch
CCR Learning Lesson 24
The wood stork remains protected as a State Threatened Species; although federal Endangered Species Act protections were removed on March 12, 2026, Texas state regulations continue to safeguard the bird.

More activity at the Cactus Creek Ranch ponds. At sunrise, I spotted wood storks flying into the pond. It was fun to watch them up close as they scanned the pond for food.

The drought here in South Texas has been tough on local wildlife. Cactus Creek Ranch and places like it are even more important than ever. It is critical for so many animals to get through these dry times.

Wood Storks often feed together in groups, moving in lines as they search for food in open wetlands. Using a unique feeding method called "tacto-location”. It walks through shallow water with its bill slightly open, snapping it shut instantly when it touches prey like fish. This adaptation is especially useful because it lets the stork hunt effectively in muddy, murky water where visual hunting wouldn’t work well.

This species is protected, and its population depends on healthy wetlands and natural water cycles. Mainly found in the southeastern United States, like Florida and Georgia, and into the American tropics, Wood Storks do travel as far as Texas after breeding.

08/22/2026

Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) | Aug. 2026 | Rio Hondo, Texas
CCR Nature Lesson 23

With the ongoing drought and heat wave, Cactus Creek Ranch has become a vital wildlife refuge. The ranch has nine ponds, though some have dried up from the lack of rain. As the remaining water recedes, the ponds fill with activity. Fish are plentiful and easier for animals to catch, attracting a wide variety of wildlife.

This morning, a flock of black skimmers stopped by for a brief visit. They circled the ponds, gracefully skimming the water for fish and enjoying plenty of success. Occasionally, one would drop its catch, but that didn’t slow them down, they dipped back in and tried again. What a treat!

The skimmer flies with steady beats of its long wings. They usually feed in large flocks, flying low over the water surface with the lower mandible skimming the water, snapping the bill shut when it contacts a fish. This feeding technique is called tactile feeding. It hunts by feel, not sight, which allows the black skimmer to hunt in complete darkness.

The black skimmer is listed as a threatened species in Texas

08/22/2026

Agile Ground Mantis (Litaneutria minor) | Aug. 2026 | Rio Hondo, Texas Cactus Creek Ranch
CCR Nature Lesson 22

I’m amazed at what I can encounter here at Cactus Creek Ranch. Something different and new to discover every time I visit. I saw this little guy on the ground at a mesquite tree. I thought it was a young mantis, but after researching it, I realized it was an adult. Cute little predator, but the males seem doomed.

The Agile ground mantis, also known as the minor ground mantid, is native to the dry regions of North America, ranging from the Midwest United States down through Texas and into Mexico. Males and females reach a length of about 1.2 in. in the wild.

It’s a solitary praying mantis that only meets others to mate. Mating timing depends on the weather and how much food is available. Females are usually ready to mate about two weeks after their last molt.
Males find females by following a scent that mature females release. Once a male finds a female, he approaches carefully so she knows he’s a mate and not food. However, females are very aggressive and sometimes attack and eat the male by mistake. It’s common for mantis females to eat their mates during or after mating. Nearly all observed Agile Ground Mantis mating pairs involve the female eating the male’s head while mating occurs.

08/14/2026

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) | Summer 2026 | Rio Hondo, Texas
Cactus Creek Ranch
CCR Nature Lesson 21

For 30 years, Cactus Creek Ranch has had killdeer nest in the same spot every year. While individual birds don’t live that long, it’s likely their descendants could be coming to that spot. I witnessed the parents during a “tradeoff” (my word) as they switched places attending to the eggs. Although I missed the chicks hatching, I did spot a parent and a chick near a puddle looking for food. The parent was on a hill, constantly calling out to the chick, as it scurried around looking for food.

Killdeer nests are shallow dirt or gravel scrapes with colored stones, shells, or bits of debris surrounding them. Parents share duties caring for their eggs and young, taking turns sitting on the nest. The eggs are cream and covered in dark brown and black spots for camouflage.

Killdeer mostly eat bugs and worms, but they aren’t picky! They’ll follow tractors for easy snacks, eat seeds left in fields, and even catch frogs or munch on dead minnows if they find them.

Chicks are fluffy, can walk right after hatching, and quickly start finding their own food. They leave the nest within a day, following their parents to safe, grassy spots where they can hide from danger.

08/10/2026

Annual Seepweed (genus Suaeda) and Western Pygmy-Blue (Brephidium exilis)| July 2026 | Rio Hondo, Texas
Cactus Creek Ranch
CCR Nature Lesson 20

Another native plant on Cactus Creek Ranch that is vital for the wildlife here in South Texas. When I spotted it, I was fascinated by all the activity on it. I watched a Horned Lark hunting, Western Pygmy-Blues mating, and damselflies catching insects. There was so much activity, I hardly knew what to photograph first.

Annual Seepweed is a host plant (a plant the female lays eggs on) for the Western Pygmy-Blue, North America’s smallest butterfly. During mating (copulation), the male clasps the female’s abdomen to transfer a s***matophore (a packet filled with s***m) into her reproductive tract. Mating can last just a few minutes to several hours, and sometimes the pair remains attached while one partner flies, carrying the other along.

The plants grow well in saline and harsh environments, such as salt marshes and desert salt pans, and grow as herbs or small shrubs, with leaves that help them survive salty conditions. Their greenish flowers rely on the wind for pollination, and these plants can be found worldwide in saline habitats, both coastal and inland.