This chimango caracara sat on a cock spur coral tree occupied by chalk-browed mockingbirds. An unpleasant visitor for the mockingbirds. They tried hard to drive it away but failed. So they left the tree. As the owner of the place the chimango stayed motionless for a while, took off and disappeared from sight.

Lapping up at tree tobacco Nicotiana glauca

This pair of monarchs (male on the right and female on the left) is mating on a Lantana (Lantana camara). This is the condition sine qua non to initiate the life cycle of a new generation of monarchs. Male and female back to back put into contact the tips of the their abdomens, where the copulatory organs are. They function like a key-lock system and must match perfectly. Otherwise, the process of recognition, where pheromones and sounds have already proved effective, is interrupted. They remain attached in this position for a very long time till the sperm transference is finished. If they are bothered they move somewhere else without uncoupling.

Monarchs like all butterflies and many other insects are holometabolic. That is, to become a butterfly they undergo four phases: egg, caterpillar, pupa or chrysalis and finally adult or imago, the butterfly. 

Something white moved through the vegetation of the Viamonte Canal. Only when I saw its head did I associate it to an opossum. The Thick-tailed Opossum is not uncommon since it is a resident, but an albino individual in fact it is since they are not frequent in the wild. We could not see it in great detail so I might be confusing it with the white ferret, which is not at the reserve but it is presently being sold as a pet. So I consulted Marcelo Canevari, a specialist in mammals and author of several books, and Lucas Damer, a naturalist working at the reserve, to clear up the doubt. Both were of the opinion that it seemed an albino thick-tailed opossum.