A crested caracara falcon (top right) and a turkey vulture perch together in a white oak tree in South Texas, while waiting to move in on a dead turkey carcass. (Photo by Jon Donley)

South Central Texas and parts of the Hill Country are home to one of the most striking raptors in the country – the northern crested caracara falcon (caracara cheriway).  This beautiful bird is spotted frequently in rural areas around San Antonio, where it is often overlooked as a buzzard, because it is similar in flight and size, and often mixes in amidst vultures at a carcass.  

Up close, though, they are beautiful birds,  with a large orange beak, dark brown or black  wing and back feathers, a white head and face, and a dark “beret” or crest on their heads.  The underside of the dark tail is white, and their are brown flecks across its creamy chest.  It can be differentiated from buzzards in flight by a sharp white stripe near the end of its dark wings.

Colloquially, many South Texas residents call the bird a “Mexican Eagle,” although the true bird depicted on official Mexican currency and the flag is a golden eagle.

Like vultures, the caracara eats mainly carrion, although it also eats insects and hunts for small animals.

The Alamo Chapter of Austin Boxer Rescue is hosting the first annual Cinco De Mayo 5k/2mile Run for the Rescues as a fundraiser to benefit homeless Boxers. Register for the race and get a free tec t-shirt. Register on line athttp://www.abr-rescuesrun.com/. Austin Boxer Rescue is a non-profit organization. Our mission: To balance the health, safety, and welfare needs of canines in the Central Texas area by providing nourishment and a safe environment for unwanted, stray, abused, and impounded Boxers. Once placed in new homes they become more than just pets, they become family. www.austinboxerrescue.com

Pets had green fun for St. Patrick’s Day at Becker Pet Resort’s Doggie Daycare:

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Imagine you are a singer, and you constantly accompany yourself on the piano while the dog watches. Got the picture? Now imagine you are away from home for a few hours and the dog is left alone. Here’s what happens while you are away . . .

The clinic, held in the parking lot of the Walmart Super Center at SE Military and Roosevelt, attracted scores of owners and their pets, who started lining up before the team arrived.  One hundred pets were registered for the event – the first in a series of community service events in support of San Antonio’s goal of creating a zero-kill animal control system.

On this Saturday, the first 100 pets received free rabies and distemper vaccinations, with other vaccinations at reduced prices.

“This is a great turnout, especially considering the weather,” BAH owner and director Dr. Michael Becker said. “We’re glad to help people’s pets, and love the opportunity of providing this service.”

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A turkey buzzard fluffs his feathers to cool and dry himself along side a rural San Antonio-area farm road. (Photo by Jon Donley)

While the turkey buzzard – or more properly turkey vulture –  can be seen across the country, especially during the summer, this large scavenger makes its home in Texas year-round.  Together with its sidekick, the black vulture, these birds can be spotted circling high up looking for food almost any time.   

The turkey buzzard is known for its extremely keen sense of smell, which can detect faint odors of decaying flesh from high in the sky.  It makes a good partner for the black vulture, which possesses extremely good eyesight.

The turkey buzzard’s sense of smell is so acute that gas line repair crews searching for leaks can inject a faint scent of decay, and then wait for the vultures to begin circling overhead at the leak location.  

Like many animals, these vultures have a number of special names for groups, other than the generic “flock.”  Perhaps most descriptive is the term “vortex of vultures,” which evokes the image of the swirling cluster of birds whirling high over a potential corpse.  Another is “wake of vultures,” so named because of the funeral aspects of their hunt.

The Girl Scouts volunteered to make blankets and painted ping pong   balls for our Feline Suite Guest.  Then they asked what our dogs needed, and volunteered to help cut our Becker Animal Hospital’s Valentine bandannas.  BAH supplied templates for three bandana sizes, as well as 15 yards of different Valentine material.   

 Thank You to Girl Scout Troop 2121 for their good deed for our four-legged friends! 

Herbie – a  Trenton Terrier – was abandoned and landed in a shelter at three weeks old. At the time, she was emaciated, covered in fleas, and so hungry that she got into something toxic at the shelter, leaving her with seizures.  Fortunately the veterinarian who worked to save her  eventually  took her home as a rescue pup.  Because she was so loving, a child named her  ” Herbie the Love Bug.”

There’s nothing quite like a whippoorwill’s call at dusk to let you know the night is coming. It’s a lonely echo in the woods that has captured the imagination of song-writers, poets and authors – a metaphor for rural America.  

Artists and writers such as Jim Croce (“I’ve got a Name), Washington Irving (“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”), Randy Travis (“Deeper than the Holler”) and many others.

But few people have actually seen a whippoorwill, because of its camouflage that mimics bark and dried leaves, as well as its nocturnal habits. It looks something like a dwarf owl, with tiny feet and a flattened head. With its coloring and spiky tufts of feather, some think it looks a bit like a Texas horned toad.

Another interesting fact about whippoorwills is their Latin family name: Caprimulgus. It literally means “goatsucker.” That’s because the Europeans who named this order of birds thought that they sucked milk from goats.

Interestingly this is the same name as the folk legend creature Chupacabra, which also means “goatsucker” in Spanish. But in this case, the chupacabra is a vampire that sucks blood from goats.