Tag: san antonio zoo

Monarchs from Montréal headed for our milkweed

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I am worried.

While we were visiting the Montréal Botanical Garden, we spent some time in the Insectarium. We found out staff only recently finished the tricky task of tagging and releasing monarch butterflies.

According to Global Montreal, the tags on the butterflies’ wings are 9 millimeters in diameter. That worried me at first, but only because I am mentally meter deficient. Nine is the equivalent of about 1/64 of an inch.

Even at that, the miniscule tag weighs almost 1/10 of a butterfly. Does that make it wobbly in flight? If someone removes 10 pounds from the stack of weights on the assisted pull-up machine at the gym (Without getting specific, let’s just say that is less than 10 percent of my body weight.), my arms notice. They cannot hoist my body skyward. Again, I guess I should not worry, because some of the monarchs monitored in past years have arrived safely at their Mexican destination.

On to my next worry. We, in San Antonio, are on the flight path. But, are we going to be ready?

I mean, I just made almost that same flight Saturday, and it made me really hungry. The mister and I bought a sandwich in the airport to split on the plane to Newark. But that first leg left us hungry still, so we bought two sandwiches to eat on the flight to Houston. Then we still had to refill a little in Houston. It took me a beet and feta salad and half a bottle of wine to be able to make it home.

So, we required considerable refueling to make that flight. And that was with complete pull-up assistance from the plane.

In case you are having difficulties following my illogic, after covering more than 1,700 miles, those fluttering monarchs are going to be plenty hungry on arrival.

This past spring, I watched the caterpillars along the Museum Reach of the River Walk, and they really pack it away. They decimated that milkweed patch. I walked upriver yesterday to inspect, and it has yet to fully recover.

So that’s why I’m worried. The monarchs are already on their way here, and the milkweed’s not ready. Hurry up and grow. You have a job to do.

Which all leads me back to the Insectarium. As with the rest of the garden, it took more time than we expected. We are even less “bug people” than “plant people.” But more than 160,000 specimens are housed there.

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That’s a lot of bugs, butterflies and moths. Obviously, we did not meet them all or we would be flying back way behind the monarchs.

The displays make bugs fascinating. Many insects are shockingly beautiful; many are shockingly horrifying, creatures created to star in nightmares. Why, get this, they have cucarachas even bigger than we grow them in San Antonio!

I’m just happy we were at the Insectarium on a September weekday and didn’t have to shove any kids aside to get our noses up near the glass.

Update Added on October 4: Not desiring additional recaps of last night’s presidential debate, I drowsily reached for the off button on the clock radio this morning when the story changed. NPR (TPR in my neck of the woods) ran a story on migrating monarchs captured in a new 3-D film for IMAX, Flight of the Butterflies, directed by Mike Slee.

The NPR story features some cuts, but the film is not migrating toward the Alamo IMAX very quickly. In the mean time, here is the trailer:

A San Antonio blogger obsessed with monarchs provides better informed posts on an ongoing basis at Texas Butterfly Ranch.

And, Monique Beaudin blogs about monarch adoption, birthing and releasing at home in Montreal.

Update Added on October 5: The San Antonio Botanical Garden has a seasonal list of bloomers you can plant to refuel migrating monarchs, and the San Antonio Zoo exhibition features 15 to 20 species of farm-raised butterflies fluttering freely in a walk-through enclosure from March through November each year.

Update Added on November 6: And then there was the monarch taking our migration shortcut by hopping aboard Southwest Airlines to the San Antonio Botanical Garden….

Update Added on January 18, 2013: The Native Plant Society of Texas is making it easier to plant more milkweed for monarchs to munch on during their long journey up and down North America:

Native Plant Society of Texas chapters, nature centers, schools, educational groups and others can receive small grants from the State Office to spend developing Monarch Waystations or Monarch demonstration gardens on public sites in their immediate areas.

The purpose of the program is to educate members and the public about Monarch conservation, to produce and distribute milkweeds that support reproduction by Monarch butterflies, and to restore Monarch habitats throughout the Texas migration flyway.

Grant sources are co-funded by Native Plant Society of Texas  and Monarch Watch. The total amount of monies to be budgeted for this program varies. Normally it is an amount that will provide for grants ranging from $50 to $400. Chapters and others are not required to spend their own funds to match the amount of the grant.

‘New York Times’ Making Amends?

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Austinites gloated, but San Antonians exploded over the blasphemous claim made by John Edge on March 9 in The New York Times:

When it comes to breakfast tacos, however, Austin trumps all other American cities.

What? 

I have tried to refrain from jumping on the anti-Edge bandwagon, but….

Theoretically, Edge comes with impeccable foodie credentials, such as the upcoming Truck Food Nation (I confess.  I love this website.) and the fact that he currently is a finalist for the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award from the James Beard Foundation. 

But Edge was way off base with that line.  Reminiscent of the old Pace Picante advertisement blasting Cookie for serving “foreign” hot sauce (“This stuff is made in New York City.”), the headline itself is a dead giveaway:  “Tacos in the Morning?”  That is not a question; it is an assumption for a huge percentage of San Antonians and has been for their entire lives. 

Personally, I am partial to Tito’s thick, freshly made-by-hand, white corn tortillas way-overstuffed with chilaquiles, but there are a multitude of choices in virtually every neighborhood.  Veronica Flores-Paniagua of the Express-News writes that the paper’s food editor, Karen Haram, received nominations for more than 200 different breakfast taco destinations as the “best” in the city this past year.  San Antonians probably were eating breakfast tacos before upstart Austin was founded.

Dan Saltzstein‘s article, “36 Hours in San Antonio” in today’s New York Times, makes the paper more palatable to pick up again.  Saltzstein wandered far and wide off the beaten track to spotlight both upscale and quirky spots in San Antonio (although no breakfast tacos are mentioned).   He recommends a platter of the “succulent, charred-on-the-outside brisket” at The Smokehouse on Roland Avenue and the Texas burger, a Texas Monthly cover girl, at our favorite car wash, The Cove.

He dined on shrimp enchiladas at Aldaco’s Stone Oak, and waited in line for wild mushroom lasagna at Andrew Weissman’s Il Sogno.  He hit the Green Lantern on Stone Oak Parkway and wandered into Casbeers for a bit of “church music that goes way beyond hymns.”  In this whirlwind trip, he squeezes in museums and shopping at The Twig Book Shop and Melissa Guerra’s at Pearl.

Phew!  How could anyone do all that in 36 hours?  Saltzstein must have been zipping around faster than a New York minute, a phrase Barry Popik claims actually originated in Texas.  But, more importantly, why would anyone spend only 36 hours in San Antonio?  Then I looked back; the vacation schedule, despite the headline (Who writes these headlines for the Times?), stretched out over a 48-hour period – actually even longer because it ended up precisely 48 hours later upon arrival at the San Antonio Zoo, which has way too many acres of animals to see in a New York nanosecond.

Hey, New York, thanks for extending us a Texas minute to explore some of our charms.  Next time, try the breakfast tacos.

Some recent great meals around San Antonio, from a non-New York perspective:

  • The Cool Cafe, 123 Auditorium Circle:  A crepe filled with spinach, mushrooms and liberal amounts of olive oil served with sweet and crisp roasted potatoes; huge chunks of salmon cooked shish-kabob-style and served over basmati rice; half-price wine on Sunday.  Better hurry, because the new owners of the Havana Hotel seem inclined to want the Mediterranean cafe out of the way.  Liz Lambert has completed work on the hotel to instill it with the same coolness factor as the San Jose in Austin, and I am happy to learn the great basement Bar will no longer be filled with dense clouds of cigar smoke.  If Lambert can make a former “motor court” hip, she certainly should be able to make a building with the architectural bones of the Havana inviting.  Did I mention the Cool Cafe knocks 50 percent off all wine on Sundays?  Call first to be sure it has not been evicted:  210.224.2665. 
  • Tre Trattoria, 4003 Broadway:  Considering I have not been blogging long, it might arouse suspicion for me to mention this meal again.  Sorry, but this is my vision of a perfect Saturday lunch for making a couple feel as though they are on vacation:  grilled radicchio with lemon vinagrette; a pizza topped with goat cheese, pistachios and balsamic cippolini; and a bottle of A Mano Primitivo.  One might think Jason and Crystal Dady were bribing me, but they would go broke if everyone who came in placed such a budget order.  Price for two, including the bottle of wine:  $41.30.
  • Azuca Nuevo Latino, 713 South Alamo:  For a while, the kitchen seemed to suffer from attention-deficit as management focused on a northside location, but everything appears back on track.  Few restaurants present food with more artistry.  Would highly recommend garlicky tostones, tender grilled squid and the tropical fruit garden for dessert, much more decadent than it sounds.  The caipirinha is a nice change from margaritas or mojitos.
  • The Filling Station Cafe, 701 South St. Mary’s Street:  The place to grab a sandwich, such as the turkey habanero on rolls made in the teeninsiest kitchen.  There might be all of three tables tucked inside, but there is additional seating outside.  Have used Jon’s services several times to provide sandwiches for meetings, and everyone always raves. 
  • Zinc Champagne, Wine & Spirits, 207 North Presa:  The name immediately lets you know the beverage side of the menu is well-stocked; yet the bartenders do not complain about making something off-menu – such as what I have christened a “tequito,” a mojito with tequila instead of rum.  Zinc is open during the week for lunch, but seems to be trying to keep that secret.  Pears, goat cheese and pecans perk up a small Zinc salad, and the portobello patty melt with spinach, nopalitos and cheese is hearty fare.  The sweet potato fries arriving on the same plate keep me from exploring the menu much farther, despite the high praise friends lavish on the Texas salmon salad with pearl couscous. 
  • Easter lunch was bountiful, but my sister-in-law asked me not to give out her address.
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Downtowners Dutifully Delve into Duck Doody*

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In “The Two Stories,” a video installation commissioned by artpace, Alenjandro Cesarco describes the state of a statue of a women who possibly succumbed to the same fate that awaits the heads of virtually all outdoor sculptures:

Perhaps it just stopped taking itself as seriously as it used to and now was just playing with the pigeons.

But in San Antonio, pigeons don’t restrict their discharge to statues, they endanger the fragile ecosystem of the San Antonio River.  River Walk Watershed Alliance, or RWWA (Should that be pronounced Rah-Wah?), to the rescue! 

Representatives of the Paseo del Rio Association, Downtown Alliance, Downtown Residents’ Association, Bexar County, City of San Antonio, San Antonio Water System and San Antonio River Authority have forged this powerful alliance to reduce bacteria levels in the River Walk area. 

It is true San Antonio still smarts from the 2006 sting reiterated by WOAI’s Randy Beamer: 

Who can forget this Mark Cuban line? “We can kick their butts all the way back to that muddy *%$ thing they call a River Walk.”

But this is no knee-jerk reaction to ongoing insults slung against our river by the owner of the Dallas Mavericks.  (Shh!  Don’t let Mark Cuban know that someone let their year-long lock on ifellintotheriver.com expire last month.)

Certainly Bob Buchanan, the Paseo del Rio Association’s representative for the alliance, has been crying “pigeon poop pollutes” for years.  Nothing used to set his blood pressure percolating faster than watching patrons at The Kangaroo Court crumble their complimentary Saltines into pigeon feed.  Pigeons would brazenly strut right into the restaurant as though waiting to be shown to their table.  And I don’t think anyone has ever computed the annual loss to River Walk restaurants caused by replacing drinks successfully targeted by flying pigeons or grackles, but it is probably a significant figure.

Rah-Wah is not targeting grackles at this time.  Although grackles are prodigious poopers, they dine elsewhere, in fields outside of the city.  Huge flocks gather on telephone wires west of the Express-News in the mornings, as though waiting for the morning edition or to find out what the Star says about Brad and Angelina before heading north on Broadway.  Years ago, Dick’s Last Resort had targets printed on graduation caps to protect patrons, but that was before Park Rangers fired blanks at dusk to encourage grackle relocation. 

We recently found the Plaza Mayor in Merida experiences a similar grackle problem every evening, but having police fire blanks in a park in Mexico would not be wise.  If we return to Merida, we were thinking of adapting Dick’s idea to market to plaza peddlers.  Only we would improve the coverage to protect the shoulder, back and chest areas by attaching gameboards to the top of the caps.  The whole thing could then be folded up for tidily carrying under one’s arm to be cleansed at home and recycled another evening. 

Someone really needs to come up with a campaign to convince grackles that they could shorten their commute by sleeping in trees closer to the fields where they eat.  That would probably prove simpler than convincing humans to end urban sprawl by living near where they work (Whoops, yet another digression). 

Although at one point, David Uhler of the Express-News mistakenly lay blame for the river’s pollution on the rhinoceros, the guilty hippopotami of the San Antonio Zoo no longer relieve themselves riverside.  The zoo’s Africa Live section includes a hippo house right next to a 24-hour filtration house servicing the hippos and the neighboring crocodiles. 

The zoo’s website also mentions the residency of the mighty dung beetle in its Africa Live exhibit.  According to A&M entomologists, one species of the appropriately-named beetle:

Onthophagus gazella Fabricius, was introduced by USDA scientists in the 1970s and is now common throughout the state.  In parts of Texas, they remove 80 percent of the cattle droppings.

Removing the hippos’ contribution to river pollution must be a major step forward.  But Rah-Wah now is targeting the birds – pigeons, ducks and (please not them) even herons – and the enablers, the families who joyfully feed them – via a major public relations campaign that is far from subtle:

The birds in the River Walk area are there because people feed them.  Unfortunately, too many birds mean too much bird poop in the river.  The River Walk Watershed Alliance (RWWA) asks you to please not feed the birds while you’re enjoying the River Walk.

The mallard population in the bend has exploded, and I know from experience what ducks do.  During my brief experimentation with trying to be a country girl, we had ducks.  And everywhere we walked, the ducks were sure to go.  They would follow us onto the front porch as we tried to enjoy a margarita and the sunset, and we had to hose the whole thing down five minutes later.  They were cute poopers, though, and I always have been haunted by the possibility their relocation to a tank on Curtis Gunn‘s ranch might have made them raccoon food.

Rah-Wah’s battle is uphill because the ducks and their continual production of more ducklings are so, so cute.  And the food is right there, readily available at every table – a basket of bread, a warmer full of flour tortillas and more tostadas than anyone could possible eat (Okay, except me.  I never leave a chip untouched unless they have shorted me on the hot sauce.). 

It is not just tourists.  Even away from the fish and duck food supplied by the restaurants, River Walk Watershed residents can be spotted toting their stale leftovers to feed the cute little ducks.  A favorite spot for King William families is the landing off of Guenther, right under the window of the River Authority’s jefe, Suzanne Scott, a Mud Queen actually charged with a message to deliver to her constituents.  The ducks waddle right up the ramp to get the goods.  Good luck stopping this tradition.

But I beg Rah-Wah:  You can pick on the pigeons and the cute ducks, but please let us keep the herons.  They make morning river walks amazing, as they crack open our river’s giant crawdads for breakfast.  And the herons politely sleep in their “apartment trees,” located just before the Blue Star spillway that aerates the water.   I have convinced myself the herons are only here because the water quality has improved. 

Captain Kangaroo, please take the herons out of the ads!

*Doody, the present favorite scatological term of Sarah Silverman, who instigated a spoof that goofed to get May Kadoody elected Mayor of her tv-land.

March 26 Update:  Your chance to affect the battle plans of the Rah-Wah’s Duck Doody Defenders is on Monday, March 29, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 5 to 7 p.m. at the Central Library.  Rah-Wah is seeking public  input on “education outreach campaign concepts” (Does this post count?) and draft BMPs (Bumps?), translated for non-bureaucrats as Best Management Practices, within the River Walk Watershed.

Note Added June 12:  San Antonians certainly have endured worse than hippo-sized pollution in the San Antonio River.  The San Antonio Public Library’s Texana Collection remembers this through a July 1937 news story:

Pollution of San Antonio’s drinking water through a faulty plumbing connection, which permitted waste water from the bear pit and monkey island in Brackenridge Zoo to flow into the mains, has been corrected.

Update Added on July 15:  Rah-Wah launches campaign.

Update Added on July 25:  Express-News editorial:  “Tossing food into the river attracts wildlife….”  Pretty tempting, particularly when baskets of bread and chips are on the table in front of you.  But editorial urges restraint to attain goal of a river safe for swimming.

Update Added on March 23, 2011: River’s getting cleaner. Swimming in the future?