Bio-Spatial Services, Inc.

10/31/2025

We're wishing successful, safe and enjoyable hunts for all who will be afield this weekend for three Texas openers: white-tailed deer general, quail and goose.

When outdoors this season, be on the lookout for potential New World screwworm infestation on wildlife, livestock and pets. Vigilence and reporting are key to minimize the NWS threat should the flies return to Texas.

Texas Parks and Wildlife | Texas Animal Health Commission | Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association | East Foundation | Texas Health and Human Services Commission | U.S. Department of Agriculture

05/16/2023

Did you know???
This is pretty remarkable….

05/19/2021

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/05/17/fort-worth-zoo-save-endangered-species-houston-toad-in-vitro-fertilization/?fbclid=IwAR2JExRdCmol6pRpAXeWd01kTShXKn7CIVP1AZn5kGgO_wzMmE2lzRRa7JM #.YKSlmoEljmw.facebook

The world’s first Houston toads produced by in vitro fertilization using frozen s***m are at the Fort Worth Zoo.

03/22/2021

If you’ve ever visited the Trans-Pecos of Far West Texas, perhaps you have seen the bird known as the Phainopepla

While the females are a slaty grey, the males are silky and jet black with bright red eyes. Some have referred to them as looking like the Northern Cardinal’s evil avatar!

However, the cardinal is in the cardinal family while the Phainopepla is in the silky flycatcher family. Additionally, neither the cardinal nor the Phainopepla are evil

These photos were taken in March 2021 near Fort Davis, Texas

01/15/2021

Can this be? A dog in a tree?
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The grey fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is actually an excellent climber and is considered to be the only climbing canid in North America. In fact, it is one of the only true climbing canids in the world!
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The fox’s curved claws enable it to confidently scale steep tree trunks, often to evade predation or to hunt. In this case, the fox appeared to be taking shelter from the very chilly cold front that had begun to roll into the Hill Country at the end of December.
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This arboreal omnivore will eat eggs, insects, birds, rodents and other small mammals as well as fruit. They are fairly common throughout most of Texas and are approximately the size of a house cat.
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The fox’s scientific name roughly translates to “ashen-grey tailed-dog,” a suitable interpretation of this fine critter!

06/17/2020

During warm-month bird surveys, biologists often encounter many non-avian species.
The critters featured in this post are all referred to as "herps," which is short for "herpetofauana." The word herpetofauna refers to amphibians and reptiles. Here are several herps found during bird surveys conducted from March to June this year!

Checkered gartersnake (Thamnophis marcianus), NON-venomous
Western coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum), NON-venomous
Texas coral snake (Micrurus tener), venomous
Green anole (Anolis carolinensis)
Common box turtle (Terrapene carolina)
Gulf Coast toad (Incilius nebulifer)
Rough green snake (Opheodrys aestivus), NON-venomous
Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox), venomous

05/12/2020

Are you able to identify 3 plants in this photo that are known to be edible to humans?

Take a close look and you will see prickly pear cactus, dewberries, and greenbrier.

The prickly pear cactus has edible fruit and vegetable parts. The bright red "tuna" (not seen in this photo) are sweet and delicious fruits and can be eaten raw, mashed into in jams/jellies, or pressed and the juices mixed into drinks. The flat, green pads are actually the leaf of the plant. They are traditionally used in many Mexican dishes and are called "nopales."

Dewberries are the wild-growing Texas equivalent to blackberries. The dark purple ones are the best! But watch for the numerous sharp thorns on their vines.

Finally, the young, tender shoots of the greenbrier can be eaten raw or cooked in the same way one might cook asparagus.

Plant identification can be complicated and tricky. Never bother with a plant which you cannot positively identify! For help with learning edible/useful and harmful plants of Texas, consider referencing "Edible and Useful Plants of the Southwest" by Delena Tull

03/24/2020

Last month, BSI biologists traveled to Cameron County, Texas to meet with biologists from the Peregrine Fund. PF biologists discussed conservation efforts of the endangered Aplomado Falcon, a beautiful raptor, that, in Texas, is found only in the far southeastern portion of the state.

Pictured here are manmade nesting platforms and an adult falcon sporting a fancy leg band, which is used for identification and research purposes. For more information on work being done by the Peregrine Fund, visit: https://peregrinefund.org/projects/aplomado-falcon. For more information on Aplomado identification techniques, range, and and general ecology, visit: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Aplomado_Falcon/overview.

02/03/2020

Meet the pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana)
You may have heard them called the American antelope or speed goat. Why "speed goat?" The pronghorn is unequivocally the fastest land animal in North America and the second-fastest in the modern world. They can run at speeds of nearly 60 MPH for short distances and can coast at 30-40 MPH for several miles.
Generally speaking, land animals capable of great speed are fast for a specific reason: capturing prey (as with the African cheetah), or avoiding predation (as with horses).
However, North America is not home to predators that are capable of such speeds. But the hypothesis as to the origin of pronghorn speed is simple:
During the Pleistocene Epoch (approximately 2.5-million - 12-thousand years ago), a predator called the American cheetah roamed the continent. As with the modern African cheetah, the American cheetah is thought to have been extremely fast. The fossil record shows the cheetah and pronghorn ancestors to have shared a time and place. But as the cheetah eventually went extinct and the pronghorn did not, the pronghorn lost the speedy predator but not the speed. Pretty impressive!
Pronghorns are also unique in that both males and females have true horns, and the sheathes of those horns shed annually and grow back. They are also the sole remaining members of their family, Antilocapridae. Therefore, Antilocapridae is a monotypic family, a family containing just one single species.
These pronghorn were seen in Bewster County of far west Texas in December 2019. They can be found across large areas of North America, and although their populations decreased significantly in the past, they are considered now to be much healthier.
As they tend to occupy open areas with few obstructions, speed goats are not fans of jumping fences and prefer to go underneath. Many ranchers have modified sections of fences to accommodate this behavior.
Since pronghorn tend to migrate through the same route each year, only the frequently crossed areas of fence need to be modified. Game cameras can be put in place to monitor these routes and to determine the best areas for simple fence modification.

01/29/2020

https://thetexan.news/texas-parks-and-wildlife-commission-adds-45-species-to-the-states-threatened-list/?fbclid=IwAR1dTcfrx55YNfh4x5Lvp5fdSF3sVeoFZ_55UMrx1nnb299dAw93WbOVHX4