Richard Moore Outdoor Report: Native Munchies

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — First come myriad white blooms as if the tree is dusted with snow, and tucked amidst delicate flowers peers a curious red-crowned parrot.

Red-crowns will have to wait several weeks before flowers fade and fruit appears in towering anacuas, but when prolific golden berries ripen parrots quickly avail themselves of the sweet treats.

Fortunately, native anacuas stagger their blooms and berries during summer so there are months of berries to snack on.

There are more than a thousand native plants in deep South Texas, and they provide a bountiful variety of browse, blooms and berries for wildlife throughout the year.

One of the first to flower in early spring is yucca, and the creamy white petals are a favorite snack for chachalacas.

Another native early to fruit is elbow bush or desert olive. Compact dark drupes provide much needed sustenance for spring migrants, and as this oriole plucks a berry juices squirt from the fleshy orb.

The visiting catbird is particularly fond of the luscious berries, quickly snatching and devouring three and unlike the oriole swallows them whole.

If there are any tasty elbow bush berries left after the catbird raids, then local golden fronted woodpeckers and kiskadees grab remainders.

Devils head or horse crippler is another early bloomer, and after flowers fade and fruit forms the bight red berries are rapidly consumed by a variety of birds and other wildlife.

By the time prickly pear cactus fruits are ripe migrants have departed, and native wildlife has the tasty tunas all to themselves. The special summertime treats are enjoyed by ground squirrels and Texas tortoises, whose countenances glisten with rich purple juice.

Tasajillo or Christmas cactus offers wintertime edibles savored by cardinals and pyrrhuloxia, that is when a feisty mockingbird is not guarding the stash and unwilling to share.

Mother nature continuously provides a variety of fruiting plants throughout the year, and every season there is sustenance for wildlife in the South Texas wildlands.