Tag: photo

The CBC for the Seneca count circle took place on 14 December. Overnight left a frosting of snow, followed by dropping temperatures and wind. I lost two counters due to illness, a third to the weather, and a fourth to travel. Nevertheless, my team in sector 14 turned up 47 species (pending returns from one more feeder watcher). Lake Fairfax was nearly completely iced over, with nothing but Canada Geese loafing in the open water and a lonely Ring-necked Duck foraging. Our special birds were (pending review) Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii), Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus), and Orange-crowned Warbler (Leiothlypis celata).

I started an iNaturalist project to keep tabs on possible sightings on future counts. So I was at least able to add a Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) to the project.

I’ve been to this bit of the C&O Canal at least once before back when I was starting to learn plants, probably more. Wednesday it was very quiet: I think we’re far enough upriver to be out of the flight paths for DCA. Sassafras showing fall reds and yellows, some lingering asters like Symphyotrichum cordifolium. I found an ichneumonid wasp, tentatively Coleocentrus rufus, and an oil beetle, Meloe sp. J. D. Pinto in BugGuide says, “It is difficult to distinguish females of Meloe americanus from M. impressus without examining pygidial structure (americanus females have a narrow apical flange).” (link added)

A quick report from the meadow unit of Elklick Woodlands Natural Area Preserve, accompanied by Darko Veljkovic and other Fairfax County Park Authority Staff. No trail, just bushwhacking through this property that’s been under restoration, with prescribed burns last year and the year before. Still lots of non-natives to be winkled out, but the Bidens aristosa are having a great time. We also found Sweet Everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium), a relative of pussytoes.

Another hot, muggy morning, another walk in the power line easement of Wakefield Park. I’ve explored this stretch several times, this time again with the Grass Bunch.

The only new species that I recorded an observation for is Delicate Cycnia Moth (Cycnia tenera), A/K/A Dogbane Tiger Moth, conveniently posed on a bit of dogbane. Aw, snap! I saw this species at a bioblitz two summers ago. But! Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) is a new species for my observations.

Hello Kitty observations don’t count in iNaturalist.

I participated in another bioblitz organized by the Clifton Institute, this time at Sunnyside Farm & Conservancy in Rappahannock County. I visited the farm last year for a dragonfly count for the Institute. With several insect experts in the group, I was able to file 57 observations, including

• a Giant Bark Aphid (Longistigma caryae) resting on Dr. Hardtacks’ back bumper;
• a Twice-stabbed Stink Bug (Cosmopepla lintneriana), always a popular common name;
• a pair of conjoined Azure Bluets (Enallagma aspersum), a new damselfly for me;
• a passable recording of Prairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor) against the background noise of breezes and naturalist chatter; I used my tablet and the Merlin app, rather than my dedicated audio recorder, trading off a better directional mic for on-the-fly ID suggestions;
• a non-native cress that I didn’t know, Land Cress (Barbarea verna);
• a very lucky shot of Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) on the wing.

Early in the afternoon, we took a break from chasing plants to observe technicians working with an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), one of the study subjects in the Institute’s long-running research project into this species’ ecology on farmland and restored prairie.

It’s high time to wrap up the New Mexico trip reports.

Two trips to Randall Davey Audubon Center, just outside Santa Fe, turned up flocks of Common Ravens loudly kettling in the updrafts from the ridge, often in pairs. At times the birds swooped so low that I could hear wingbeats. Pretty cool.

I followed the loop trail just to where the ponderosa pines started to come in, at about 7425 feet. So I only got one observation, from a distance, and only good enough to ID to subsection. (I still remember the strawberry-scented pinebark from a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park a couple decades ago.)

Nice photos of Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) and Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea). More Rubber Rabbitbrush; I can understand why there was an effort to tap the plant for rubber—it’s all over the place.

Persistence pays: on my second visit I located Juniper Titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi) (honoring Robert Ridgway), another lifer for the trip.

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Dripping Springs Natural Area, in the mountains east of Las Cruces, is a BLM property. When the birds don’t cooperate, take pictures of the landscape, eh? This is a view of the Organ Mountains from La Cueva picnic area.

I spotted a second butterfly species for the trip (it was February, so I was impressed): a trio of Sleepy Oranges (Abaeis nicippe) on Woolly Locoweed (Astragalus mollissimus). And a few snaps of Fishhook Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wislizeni).

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Thank you to all the local iNat folks concurring with and correcting my IDs! I ratcheted my lifetime ratio of species to observations back up to 1:2. (Just in time for EDRR season.)

Seven new birds for my list, bringing my ABA Area total to 440. Plus one for next time: at White Sands, a Sagebrush Sparrow (Artemisiospiza nevadensis) with photographs good enough for an observation, but I can’t say that I saw the bird well enough to count it for my list. My list, my hike, my rules.

Continuing to bounce around the state, let’s go to White Sands National Park next.

I did the short walk on the Playa Trail, and then across the road I did the longer Dune Life Nature Trail (pic). I spotted a Southern Checkered White (Pontia protodice) (I was so surprised to find a butterfly in February that my first thought was that it must be a moth) and what turned out to be Sagebrush Sparrow (Artemisiospiza nevadensis). The sparrow would have been a lifer, but I can’t really say that I saw enough of it to make my own identification. So we’ll get it next time.

Much sand in my boots (sorry, cleaning staff!).

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Also in the central-to-south part of the state is Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

I was too late in the season to find the cranes. The loop road is generously wide, a good thing with cars stopping at random to look at critters. 70 degrees and sun, but some cooling breezes off the impoundments. I found my first ever real live for-sure Coyote (Canis latrans). The birding highlight was seeing a small group of geese out of the water, drifting into the grass. Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) AND Ross’s Goose (Chen rossii) side by side! C. rossii is REALLY much smaller.

About a hour and a half east of Santa Fe is Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area (look sharp for the tiny sign for County Road 016-Loma Parda County Road, which leads to the parking area). The Juniper Trail is easy to follow across the grassland, marked by cairns; the cairns are a bit of a challenge to find when the trail follows the rocky cliff edge overlooking the Mora River.

I found twittery groups of Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus), a better observation of Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma woodhouseii), and Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides). And a first (for me) observation identified by scat only: Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana).