Substation Visitors

The flooding has brought some new visitors to our substations. Since many had warned of an increase in snakes, it wasn't too surprising to see this water moccasin sunning himself.



A bit more surprising was a flock of Muscovy ducks, which are as big as geese.



These beauties were close to Substation 73, which is near Wolf River Blvd. The Muscovey range has been associated with South America but has moved into South Texas and Florida. There are some domesticated ones that people keep, but these appeared wild. Birds get displaced by storms and unusual weather - and we've certainly had plenty of that recently.

Since a major benefit associated with having these ducks in urban areas is that they help keep insect populations down, such as mosquitoes, roaches, termites, flies, spiders (including poisonous ones) and even ants, we kind of hope that they stick around! Muscovies will basically eat any bug they can find, including maggots and mosquito larva in the water, thus making a huge difference when it comes to insect control.

Have you seen any unusual visitors near your house?