How does an alligator keep warm?

American Alligator. ©Teresa Shumaker

Saw this alligator while I was visiting the South Padre Island Birding Center the other morning. SPI has had an unusually cold winter and this morning the wind was blowing about 15 mph and the thermostat was hovering in the mid 40s.
Luckily, my time on the Mendocino Coast has hardened me toward cold weather (not extreme cold, though) and I won't let a cold windy day hold me back.

I was making my way through the boardwalk and as I came up to alligator alley, where this wild alligator hangs out. I noticed he (only a guess on gender) looked a bit odd.

I could only see his head, and with the clear water I should have seen the rest of his body.

Only a head? ©Teresa Shumaker

 Turns out, alligators will bury themselves in the mud to keep warm and that is what this gator had done.

On the left are bubbles from him moving his leg beneath the mud. ©Teresa Shumaker

©Teresa Shumaker

 At first, he didn''t mind my presence and I was able to stand on the boardwalk just above where his tail would be.
But, after a few moments, I noticed bubbles coming up as he was wriggling out of the mud. Knowing how cold it is and how nice it must be to be warm in the mud, I backed off and left him in peace.

Side story: I love alligators, or am terribly terrified of them... possibly both. Ever since I was little, I have had dreams at least once a week about alligators and crocodiles.
I can't accurately describe the dreams as nightmares, but they usually are not happy dreams, either.
Most of them revolve around me, wading in a body of water, realizing that there is an alligator (or many) in the water that is watching me.
The rest of my dream is a moderately frightened stare off, as I try to think of a way out of my predicament.
I imagine in real life I wouldn't be "moderately frightened."
Whether they are nightmares or not, those dreams have given me a lifelong fascination of these beautiful creatures. I'm thrilled I get to see them in the wild!

How to create the most common South Texas image

First you take a Northern Mockingbird. ©Teresa Shumaker

Then, add a Yucca. ©Teresa Shumaker

Viola. I see this almost more than I see stops signs or telephone poles, that's how common it is.
Nevertheless, it is a gorgeous sight.  ©Teresa Shumaker

When you fall in love... common sense takes a vacation

My baby. ©Teresa Shumaker

During the three years we lived in Northern California, Matt was constantly asking for us to get a dog.

But, we lived in a tiny apartment and both worked full time. I hated the idea of having to leave a dog cooped up all day. In addition, my 12 year old cat Sylvia is very particular, and I didn't want to introduce a new animal into "her space" and have her take off, or send a new pet to the hospital.

However, I had promised Matt that once we moved and got a new place, it would not be "Sylvia's space" and it would be a good time to introduce a new member of the family.

While we were in the process of moving, we stayed with his parents while we looked for a place. About the middle of our stay, we stopped by an animal shelter – just to take a look.

That is when we found this handsome fella, Sam. And after three years of lectures  and listing reasons to wait to adopt a dog, I couldn't leave the shelter without him.

Sam and Sylvia. ©Teresa Shumaker

We had to call his parents to make sure they were ok with it — which the were... they are rather amazing and just as crazy as us. We then had two weeks of chaos with five humans, four dogs and one cat all under the same roof. To make it even more interesting, the four of us slept in the guest room together at night, and Sylvia, completely unhappy about the whole prospect, would slink around me to check him out.

We had one terrible sleepless night where Sylvia decided the only safe spots on the bed was on top of our heads, and she would hop from one to the other as she explored the room. She had impeccable timing too, leaping onto our skulls just as we would doze off. And if we reacted too fast, our reward was claws in the face as she dashed off in a panic.

To my surprise, it took her less than a week to get used to him, and a few more weeks to get used to him and the new place. Now, every morning she has no problem screaming at me while standing over my head on the bed — waking everyone up — to inform me that she is hungry.

Boom chakalaca!

A chicken-like bird called the chachalaca. It's an arboreal bird that got its name from its call. ©Teresa Shumaker

"Boom shakalaca" is a sound made in basketball after someone has made a slam dunk. "Boom chakalaca" is the sound I got stuck in my head after seeing this unique bird from Mexico called the chachalaca (pronounced cha-cha-la-ka).
                                                                                                                             

Plain Chachalaca. ©Teresa Shumaker

 I first saw this bird last week while out touring the local hot spots with the president of the local Audubon Society.
It was great fun, and I am thrilled to know that anywhere I move from now on I have a way of quickly meeting people who enjoy the same activities as I.
We spent five hours driving around, looking at birds and other wildlife, and since he is a photographer too, he knew how to stop the car just right so I could get some great photos.

Although it is plain, it sure is pretty. ©Teresa Shumaker

The only way to tell the males apart from the females is the males have a bright red throat. ©Teresa Shumaker

Looking very chicken-like from this angle. ©Teresa Shumaker

Vogue, strike a pose. ©Teresa Shumaker

P.S. I just discovered that the Cornell Institute has a great app called Merlin that helps ID birds based on a simple series of questions.

It only has about 300 of the 995 species seen in North America, but it has most of the common ones.

I have found it very useful, and recommend it for anyone interested in learning about birds.

Townsend's warbler

These photos were taken in Mendocino a few months ago, and fell in the "forget pile."

"Hiya!" - Townsend's Warbler. ©Teresa Shumaker

He looks so judgemental here. ©Teresa Shumaker

 Townsend's Warbler. ©Teresa Shumaker