In Big Bend, you’ll find wildlife crossing the land, birds and bats flying high above, constellation critters dotting the night sky, and fossil creatures buried deep below! In this seemingly barren landscape, signs of critter life may be hard to spot at first, but animals are surprisingly abundant. Here are some of Big Bend’s unique critters! An evening spent quietly taking in the sunset offers a great opportunity to see critters on the move. Spring, summer, and fall are flush with feathery song makers, adding a symphonic accompaniment to sunset’s falling skies. Over 400 species of bird have been documented in the region. Take special care to note unique colors, sizes, and songs, because there is quite a variety. The gradual hush of birdsong sets with dusk, morphing into the desert’s second musical act: insect chirping. Bands of quonker katydids, endemic to the Big Bend region; and flightless lubber grasshoppers, gear up for an evening of merrymaking. A short clip of the unique Big Bend Quonker in action can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkOCAwko1uI During the summer monsoon season, slumbering frogs and toads spring to life, so don’t be surprised if you hear their distinctive bawling after a rain shower. In warm months, the occasional Mexican freetail bat will bounce and loop on sonar frequencies, taking advantage of dusk’s insect happy hour. Big Bend’s larger animals also get moving around dusk, including the collared peccary, or javelina. This scruffy little fellow is sometimes mistaken for a pig, but the javelina is much smaller than the wild hog and a little nicer! Their long sharp canine teeth resemble tusks, and they have a pig-like snout, but rest assured, javelinas are their own thing; and they might be downright offended by the mere suggestion of a pig- or rat-like resemblance, although they have been likened to both. Javis, as they are affectionately called, move with delicate steps, picking across the scrubland with deliberate movements. They mostly eat desert veggies, including prickly pear pads, yucca roots, tubers, and mesquite beans, but have been known to eat lizards or forage carrion. Their narrow faces and mohawk haircuts give these little fellas a tough posture, but they are not an aggressive species. However, common sense must be practiced when observing all wildlife: leave a wide berth; give animals the space they need to do their thing; never approach wild animals; and of course, never feed them. Check out the short clip, below, of a javi looking for grub! (Scroll down!!)   We’ve all heard the saying, “Everything’s bigger in Texas.” Well, if that’s true, everything bigger is even BIGGER in Far West Texas and the Big Bend — at least when it comes to some of the wildlife, that is! Take the deer, for example. West Texas boasts some of the state’s largest deer – called mule deer. Mule deer are typically bigger on an age-class-to-age-class basis than white-tail deer. West Texas mule deer have distinctively large ears, which help the animals cool off through a process called vasodilation, through which blood vessels release heat. Other Big Bend mammals have desert-adapted large ears, too, like jackrabbits and foxes, so be sure to watch for sightings.