Richard Moore Outdoor Report: Marvelous Morning

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Dawn is just beginning to bathe in tranquil waters and distant mesquite in morning light when coyote chorus erupts with spirited yips, barks, and mournful howls, all marvelously mixed with that enthralling, sinister joy only singing dogs of the chaparral voice. 

As coyote songsters fall silent, a family of whistling ducks paddles across a golden pond with nine ducklings stretched out in a single file. 

Nearby, a pair of pied-billed grebes floats languidly as a diminutive least grebe motors by. Grebes don’t stay topside long and soon dive for their dinner, although they might become dinner on this oasis.  

As this pair approaches the resident alligator disguised as a log, the gator stealthily submerges, perhaps to snatch an unwary grebe. Peering below, the grebe spots danger and splashes away. 

Across the pond, a herd of waterbuck soaks in the morning sun. These exotic animals from Africa are becoming increasingly common in ranch country north of Raymondville, and next to nilgai are perhaps the most numerous exotics in South Texas wildlands.

Like nilgai, only males have horns, and the waterbuck’s lengthy, lethal spirals are quite impressive.

Both males and females have distinctive white rings encircling their hindquarters resembling a bull's-eye. There is some conjecture as to why this unique marking exists, but it is thought that the target is useful for youngsters to follow through dense brush and to stay together during flight.

Meanwhile, a parade of wildlife continues, and this waterbuck towers over a passing turkey and wild hog. 

As morning brightens, gobblers pause for a drink, and those wary grebes make sure to stay beyond the reach of that gator log.  

The whistler duck family sticks close to the bank under the watchful eye of their parents, and a black-necked stilt chirps its signature scolding-bark while foraging.

And true to their name, those waterbucks sure like taking a wade in the water.