Trochet, J.A. 1992 Journal 27 Amating Ranch, 2 mile E. of Amaring, Kenedy Co. Texas. Elevation 20 feet. May 6-11 The bottoms of several of these basins supported a pretty, low-growing (Croft) purple plant of some sort. Also near the crest, active dunes became common, and are especially common to the north of the crested portion of the property. I asked Mr. Amating about wildlife on the ranch. He said that excepting deer & the introduced ST. Asian antelope, the Nigai, there is no effort made to manipulate numbers. He keeps a close eye on the range and manages cattle numbers to keep the range in good condition. And indeed it is. The cattle did us little satisfaction themselves, so that all were working their chule by early to mid-morning. Of the native birds, Mr. Amating was with well informed regarding these species of ranges in this US restricted to S. Texas. He took pleasure in telling me that his ranch had "hundreds" of "ferrugineous owls," as he called them, and he recognized only 1-2 species - small regular, unknown Kiskadee, Belted Kingfishers, Audubon's Orioles, Green Jays, Green Jays, Caracaras, and even Olive Sparrows. He did not recognize either by song (which I printed out to him) or by picture Tropical Parakeet. With regard to mammals, I didn't question him in great lengths, but he volunteered that many native species were "common": coyotes, armadillos, badgers, racoons, skunks, coyotes, gray foxes, coyotes, bobcats, cottontails & jackrabbits, plus assorted "rodents." I asked about other cats. He reported that he sees cougars a few times each year, has seen jaguarundi twice in 40 years, and has never seen a mountain lion on the ranch, nor a jaguar. It seemed like a good day to do something other than pursue Lesser Goldfinches. May 7 dawned solidly cloudy & winchy, early winds SE ~5 mph. These increased to 10-20 mph by mid-morning & intermittent light-mid rain.