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Rancho Vista Ranch/Wildlife Education Program


Rancho Vista Wildlife/Ranch Education Program at Camp Rio Vista


The Rancho Vista Education Program at Camp Rio Vista started in 1996 with a collection of rare birds, and a wide variety of reptiles, small mammals, and livestock, including a Water Buffalo and a Bison. In ensuing years we have had Llamas, more Bison, a Bennett's Wallaby, a Red Kangaroo, a Mountain Coatimundi, a Grant's Zebra, a Kinkajou, a Capybara, a Patagonian Cavy, and a huge variety of reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates and birds.

The kids in the program have done the bulk of the work with the Texas Slider nest rescue effort since 1996 (begun in 1989), tracking nests, collecting and incubating eggs and tagging and releasing adults (now totalling nearly 6500 individuals).

Chris McIntosh was involved with the research project from 1989 to 1999 as a kid, and taught in the program in 2001. His cousin Matthew Mueller was part of the effort from 1989 to 1998.

2002
The animal collection for the 2002 season at Rancho Vista: Chilean Rose-haired Tarantula, San Gabriel Mountains Rosy Boa, Baird's Rat Snake, Everglades Rat Snake, Desert Massassauga, Red-striped Ribbon Snake, Black-necked Garter Snake, Rough Green Snake, Diamond-backed Water Snake, Blotched Water Snake, Western  Coachwhip, Russian Tortoise, Three-toed Box Turtle, Texas Slider, Cagle's Map Turtle, Guadalupe Softshell Turtle, Common Snapping Turtle, African Spur-thighed Tortoise, Stinkpot, Great Plains Skink, Texas Alligator Lizard, Spotted Whiptail, Blue Iguana, Six-lined Racerunner, Texas Spiny Lizard, Northern Fence Lizard, Mali Uromastyx, Cliff Chirping Frog, Gulf Coast Toad, Blanchard's Cricket Frog, Ringed Turtle Dove, Rock Dove (Birmingham Rollers, Kings), Ring-necked Pheasant, Iranian Black-necked Pheasant, Erckel's Francolin, Black Francolin, Blue Eared-Pheasant, Elliott's Pheasant, Chukar, Philby's Partridge, Blue Peafowl, Helmeted Guineafowl, Chicken (Red Silky, Rhode Island Bantam,Self Blue Olde English Game Bantam, Red Pyle Olde English Game Bantam, Blue Splash Olde English Game Bantam, Criolle Olde English Game Bantam, Black Pyle Olde English Game Bantam, Black-crested Black Polish [Crevecouer], Aracauna X Barred Rock Cross, Black Sumatra, Mille Fleur Bantam, Sicilian Buttercup), Mallard (Khaki Campbell, Crested Rouen), Siberian Jackdaw, Canyon Towhee, Eastern White-winged Dove, Chimney Swift, Mandarin, Wood Duck, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, White-faced Whistling-Duck, Green Parakeet, Cuban Parakeet, Blue Masked Lovebird, African Rose-ringed Parakeet, Black Lory, Port Lincoln Twenty-eight Parrot, Goldie's Lorikeet, Salmon-crested Cockatoo, Military Macaw, Budgerigar, Congo African Gray Parrot, Orange Weaver, Graylag Geese (Emden), Coturnix, Rats, Mice, Painted Desert Sheep, Barbados Sheep, Four-horned Sheep, Persian Sheep, African Pygmy Goat, Miniature Sicilian Donkey, Quarterhorse, Miniature Horse, Caspian Horse, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, European (Hare) Rabbit (Black California, Angora Lop, Mini-Lop, Chocolate Point Mini-Dutch, White California, X), American Bison.

2003
The animal collection for the 2003 season at Rancho Vista: Chilean Rose-haired Tarantula, Crayfish spp., Edwards Plateau Striped Scorpion, Balcones Black Scorpion, Hammerhead Worm, Walnut Sphinx Moth, Green Praying Mantis, Red-spotted Purple, Bordered Patch, Two-tailed Swallowtail, American Rubyspot, Smoky Rubyspot, Variable Dancer, Mosquitofish, Red-breasted Sunfish, Bluegill, Green Sunfish, Blacktail Shiner, Guadalupe Bass, Largemouth Bass, Greenthroat Darter, Blanchard's Cricket Frog, Cliff Chirping Frog, Gulf Coast Toad, Colombian Red-tailed Boa, San Gabriel Mountains Rosy Boa, Desert Massassauga, Rough Green Snake, Texas Rat Snake, Dekay's Snake, Black-necked Garter Snake, Texas Blind Snake, Russian Tortoise, Three-toed Box Turtle, Texas Slider, Red-eared Slider, Cagle's Map Turtle, Stinkpot, Mali Uromastyx, Edwards Plateau Alligator Lizard, Great Plains Skink, Six-lined Racerunner, Eastern Tree Lizard, Northern Fence Lizard, Mediterranean Gecko, Ringed Turtle Dove, Rock Dove (White Kings, Monks), hybrid dove, Ring-necked Pheasant, Golden Pheasant, Coturnix (A&M White), Hungarian Partridge, Philby's Partridge, Blue Peafowl, Helmeted Guineafowl, Mallard (Khaki Campbell), Mandarin Duck, Siberian Jackdaw, Canyon Towhee, Trumpeter Hornbill, Green Parakeet, Cuban Parakeet, Yellow-backed Chattering Lory, Black Lory, Port Lincoln Twenty-eight Parrot, Budgerigar, Congo African Gray Parrot, Solomon Islands Eclectus Parrot, Cockatiel, Bare-eyed Cockatoo, Indian Ring-necked Parakeet (Blue), Nigerian Black-knobbed (Swan) Goose, Angolan Cordon Bleu, Black-hooded Nun, Spice Finch, White-hooded Nun, Magpie Mannikin, Golden Weaver, Canary (Variegated, Crested Lizard, Red Factor), Purple Martin, Bewick's Wren, Virginia Opossum, Raccoon, Chinchilla, Capybara, Calico Angora Guinea Pig, Miniature Sicilian Donkey, Quarterhorse, Miniature Horse, Grant's (Boehm's) Zebra, European (Hare) Rabbit (Black California, Angora Lop, Mini-Lop, Chocolate Point Mini-Dutch, White California, X), Llama, Llama X Alpaca, African Pygmy Goat, Boer Goat, Axis Deer, Iranian Red Sheep, American Bison, Kinkajou.

2004
The animal collection for the 2004 season at Rancho Vista: Texas Brown Tarantula, Comal River Headwaters Spring Snail, Bridges' Apple Snail, Three-ridge Ramshorn, Coned Ramshorn, Pond Snail, Minnestoa Pond Snail, Malaysian Trumpet Snail, Kerr/Comal Spring Snail, Livermore Threeband Snail, Yukon Floater, Asian Clam, Qhahog, Eastern Oyster, Brown Mussel, Banded Praticolella, Texas Mitre Snail, Decollated Snail, Ragsdale's Cactus Snail, White Cactus Snail, Alternate Banded Cactus Snail, White Globe Snail, Alternate Angle-Snail, Roemer's Mitre-Snail, Rosy Shiner,  Mosquitofish, Oscar, Siamese Betta,  Greenthroat Darter,  San Gabriel Mountains Rosy Boa, Texas Blind Snake, Desert Massassauga, Russian Tortoise,  Three-toed Box Turtle, Red-eared Slider, Texas Slider, Stinkpot, Bantam Chicken (Sultan, Porcelain D'Uccle), Golden-laced Wyandotte, Ring-necked Pheasant, Golden Pheasant, Bobwhite (Tennessee Red), Coturnix (A&M White), Ringed Turtle-Dove, Hungarian Partridge, Philby's Partridge, Blue Peafowl, Mallard (Khaki Campbell), Trumpeter Hornbill,  Strawberry Avadavat, Pin-tailed Whydah, Masked Lovebird, Fischer's Lovebird, Peach-faced Lovebird, Orange-fronted Parakeet, Budgerigar, Congo African Gray Parrot, Solomon Islands Eclectus Parrot, Miniature Sicilian Donkey, Quarterhorse, Miniature Horse, European (Hare) Rabbit (California), Axis Deer, White-tailed Deer, Raccoon, Kinkajou, Mountain Coatimundi, Red Kangaroo.




               

Cousins Matthew Mueller and Chris McIntosh have been helping me raise and release hatchling Texas Sliders in the breeding project since 1989.
Left they are pictured with new hatchlings in 1993, and again right in 1998. Chris is now  at TCU, and  Matthew is at Texas A&M.