Favoritos de mikaelb

I was mowing part of my yard at about 11 AM this morning. There were 10-20 Red Saddlebags and a few Wandering Gliders following my lawn tractor around taking advantage of any small critters I flushed up with the tractor. I then noticed two Hyacinth Gliders with the other dragons. They are considerably smaller so they caught my eye pretty quickly. I got off the tractor and went into the house to get a net and succeeded in netting one of the Hyacinth Gliders. They don't often perch during the middle of the day while they are actively foraging, and I figured my best chance at getting a shot of one was to catch it. My wife held it (a female) while I took a few shots. First record for my yard and apparently only the 2nd record for Hays Co. on OC, the other being one of the old "Dot Map" records on OdonataCentral where I will also post it. There are other Hays Co. records on iNat, however. The Hyacinth Glider was then released.

Dripping Springs,
Hays Co., Texas
3 July 2017

"Toto, I don't think we're [on Salton Drive] anymore!"
MK and I took a break from the cold (?) Texas winter with a 12-day getaway in Guatemala on a birding trip. This digi-scoped male Quetzal seems like an appropriate subject to start my uploads. I'll have a few more birds, a handful of moths and insects, and a ton of plants to upload in coming days and weeks.
Scope views of the present bird courtesy of one of our premier guides, Josue de León L.
Edit (2/2/2022): I've added a 2nd image which was taken with my little point-and-hope Canon PowerShot camera, zoomed out to about 20X. It produced a very respectable image (after a little brightening with software)!

I went back to look at the junipers in the remnant Chalk Prairie at Granger Lake. I don't know if I found the exact same individual as another (documented 6-1/2 yrs ago) that we were discussing:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1535031
but it can't be too far removed. Within a radius of about 200 yards (26 acres) centered on the present tree, there are only about 6 other junipers.
I spent time (and a lot of digits) documenting every aspect of the present tree and am comfortable labeling it Ashe Juniper. Growth form, bark, needle details, berries, presence of Robergea fungus, etc., all point to this species.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101497108
The present tree is middle-aged. I'd make an educated guess that it is on the order of 30 to 50 years old, which basically dates back to the establishment of Granger Lake and the wildlife management areas around the lake. I can guess that the berries of Ashe Juniper were transported here via robins or waxwings. I don't know where the nearest large stand of Ashe Juniper to this location might be, but it is probably much closer to I-35 in Georgetown, Round Rock, Pflugerville, or Austin.
@connlindajo @pintobeans @lanechaffin

I'm uploading this as a "placeholder" for the large number of uploads I'll have later from a mini-bioblitz at Maddin Prairie in Mitchell County, Texas. This was the first moth I photographed during out blacklighting effort and it appears to be something special. We IDed it on site as one of the Macalla's, then I thought it was going to be a closely related species of Cacozelia. Third time's a charm...

Field sketch of Pacific Loon at Hornsby Bend from CWS field journal, May 23, 1998. I don't find any images on eBird for this occurrence but there are at least 3 eBird checklists mentioning the record, including a detailed description by Bill Reiner Jr.:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S52507486

This image for the bottom damsel. The top one will be reported separately.

I love this image because it shows a Smoky Rubyspot male at the top and an Ebony Jewelwing male at the bottom. Great illustration of wing shape differences. I see many reports of one reported as the other and try to explain the wing shape differences to folks...this shot is a great illustration.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Streptopelia decaocto
Dalhart, Dallam Co., Texas
17 January 2011
Approx. 1000 Eur. Collared-Doves
were in the immediate area, many
on top of a huge pile of corn kernals

I see lots of shots of animal tracks posted on iNat, but save for a raccoon or a few other simple ones, I claim no knowledge or expertise in tracks in the snow, mud, etc. But I thought tracks of Emperor Penguin in soft snow might add a different critter to the tracks repertoire! Image 3 shows the culprits making the tracks! We watched this daily for 8 or 10 days on that trip to the Ross Sea in 2001. The track in image 1 is made by a single individual. When there are multiple birds in a line (and they often travel 2 to 25 or more in single file in the same rut), those marks on the side of the rut where their flippers propel them along get very obscure from multiple flippers.

When on rocks and gravel or a thin snow cover, Emperors walk upright. But when in loose snow, or they want to speed up, they flop down on their bellies and "take off" propelling themselves along with their rear feet as well as their flippers. Under many circumstances they can move a good bit faster than a person is able to. Emperors are 3 feet tall and large ones can weigh 70+ pounds.

Emperor Penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri
Cape Washington,
Ross Sea
Antarctica
4 December 2001

these images scanned from 35mm slides

Location: Cape Washington, Ross Sea, ... (Google, OSM)
Places: AQ, AQ, Antarctica More...
Lat -74.5248, Lon 165.1697
Accuracy: 1000m

I thought this was a Mexican Spadefoot but have been told the only way to differentiate the S. multiplicata (Mexican spadefoot) from S. bombifrons (Plains Spadefoot) is to palpate their head to check for a cranial boss between the eyes. This is not in my field guide, but to be safe I will ID this as Spea sp.

Ladies and gentlemen: this is where your rare and desirable dragonflies go. To feed another generation of 'fly catchers'.

From the 'about' section on iNaturalist:

"Their breeding habitat is deciduous or mixed forests across eastern North America. They nest in a cavity in a tree. Usually a snake skin is included in the lining of the nest, but sometimes a plastic wrapper is substituted."

I would say many snake skins. The about section also describes the adult birds habitat as in the tops of trees and rarely being seen on the ground. Hunting in the canopy is probably where they find prey.

I would also add, the cavity they use - which I did not see until it hit the ground - was in an old woodpecker cavity. I'm sure they don't make their own.

Gruesome photo.
Voracious spider captured hummingbird in web at sugar feeder. I did not think about location of web, other than it was uncomfortable to avoid when going through garden gate, when I rehung the feeder. A few hours later, she had trapped and scalped and wrapped the hummingbird.

Images 1-3 are of the same specimen

Image 4 is of a separate specimen

Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata)

27 July 2015: Observed several older male Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) flying and perching on the edge of the north lake at South Lakes Park in Denton, Texas. The City of Denton, Texas administers South Lakes Park.

Black Saddlebags is strictly a North American dragonfly because its extensive range is found in Canada, United States and Mexico.

In Canada, according to NatureServe’s entry for this dragonfly species, two provinces host it including British Columbia and Ontario (excellent range maps are found at this site).

In the continental United States all but four states including Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota in the West and Maine in the East do not host this dragonfly. In other words, Black Saddlebags is widely dispersed throughout the United States and with but minor exceptions it is found throughout the nation. Alaska much farther to the northwest does not host it either and neither does Hawaii presumably.

In Texas, John C. Abbott’s, Dragonflies of Texas, has this dragonfly occurring across the state and it is common where it does occur which is fairly much everywhere. This is on reflection a very resilient dragonfly and quite adaptable to all sorts of environments.

In Mexico, Dennis R. Paulson and Enrique González Soriano make clear in their “Mexican Odonata” distribution list that’s available online that Black Saddlebags is found in 11 of Mexico’s 31 states including (in alphabetical order) Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Yucatán.

Because of its occurrence in North America Black Saddlebags is among those dragonflies that is the most widely distributed throughout the northern latitudes of the hemisphere. Therefore it stands to say that Black Saddlebags is an iconic and quintessential resident of the Western Hemisphere.

Sources: “Mexican Odonata,” Dennis R. Paulson and Enrique González Soriano, Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington (http://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/slater-museum/biodiversity-resources/dragonflies/mexican-odonata/); NatureServe entry of Tramea lacerata (http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Tramea+lacerata); John C. Abbott, Dragonflies of Texas: A Field Guide (University of Texas Press, 2015); Idaho Museum of Natural History, Idaho State University, entry for Black Saddlebags (http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/bio/insects/drgnfly/libefam/trla/trlafr.htm)