Star Cacti, Starr County

So start to things off well, I’ve put up a photo gallery as a penitence for my absence. In March, 2007, I and several others accompanied a friend to Starr County, Texas, where he was conducting research on an endangered cactus, the Star Cactus1 (Astrophytum asterias).

The study involves marking as many cacti as we could find in a quadrat, and then revisiting the areas occasionally to monitor what’s eating the cacti. Other efforts included trapping for small mammals to get a picture of what’s in the area, and using cameras that are triggered by tripping an infrared beam to catch herbivores in the act…

While reaching out to place a flag near a cactus, I noticed an odd rock at arms length. Turns out it was a Common Poorwill sitting on the nest. I had to sprint back to the car to grab my camera, but the shots were pretty amazing.

I’ve put up a handful of pictures of this bird and some other neat highlights from this trip in the photo gallery.

I’ll put up other shots of other trips as time allows.