Genius Birds...

We've been hearing about the linguistic skills of African Gray Parrots for years, and how a budgie had a vocabulary of 800 or so words.     Now comes news about some experiments with ravens  that pertain to memory and to ability to associate different things and make connections with them.   http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/raven-intelligence-memory-1.4204396

Humans are looking less unique all the time.

Wildlife Versus Trump Wall

Texas is fortunate to have a string of wildlife refuges along the border that are vastly popular for bird and wildlife observation. Among these is the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, nearly 2100 acres along the meanders of the Rio Grande, where the river habitat adjoins other distinct habitats, including desert, coastal plain, and wetlands. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/santa_ana/ 

The richest birding is along the river, and presumably ocelot and jagurundi are free to move across the river and thus across the border. 

This will be changing, as the first segment of the Trump Wall is due to be constructed in the wildlife refuge, bringing a road parallel to the wall, nighttime lights, and noise as well as the 18 foot wall. https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-...fuge-breaking/ 

It remains to be seen how state parks and refuges along the river will be impacted by the border wall. http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wildl...ife-trails/ltc 

Many of us had assumed that Big Bend National Park would be spared a border wall, but I'm not so sure now.