The roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus, a member of the cucoo family of birds, is an interesting member of South Texas and Mexican fauna. They have captivated people with their antics and a mystique surrounds them. They are often called the chaparal bird in Texas and paisano (compatriot) or corre camino (runs the road) in Mexico. While they feed primarily on lizards and insects, they are famous for their reputation of attacking and killing rattlesnakes. In reality they are limited on the size of rattlesnake that they could dispose of; however a small dead rattlesnake never grows to be a big agressive rattlesnake!

This true centipede, Scolopendra subpinipes, is an extremely dangerous creature whose bite is very painful. They have a pair of legs on each body segment and always have an odd number of pairs of legs, either 21 or 23 pairs. This particular specimine that I photographed near Del Rio, Texas was between 11 and 12 inches long and the reference book that I reviewed indicated that the "maximum" length was about 9 inches....perhaps we had a potential "Boone & Crockett" centipede in our sights and let it go..!