A funny thing happened...

15 June 2013

...on the afternoon I returned home from 3 months of fieldwork that took me away from our region.
This happened:

Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher (Myiodynastes luteiventris)

That afternoon, Heidi texted me about a likely Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher (SBFL) down at Carolyn Ohl-Johnson's Christmas Mountains Oasis in south Brewster County.

By the time Heidi returned home, we were both dead-tired for a variety of reasons.  However, there were several hours of daylight remaining.  We meant to get down there first thing tomorrow.  However, tomorrow is never promised, nor is the bird.

We hopped in the truck and, fatigue-enduring, drove the distance down to Carolyn's.

No more than 10 minutes on-site brought us this:

WOW. A beautiful SBFL, entirely active in foraging, fly-catching right in front of us on the trail.  Heidi spotted it first.  I have found it very beneficial to have a birder-spouse who is a foot shorter than I.

While this individual seems to be the 21st record in Texas, it is ONLY the 2nd trans-Pecos Regional record. It is certainly still a Texas Bird Records Committee (TBRC) review species. Rest assured, field notes were taken along with these photos.

We enjoyed beautifully entertaining views, off and on, during a 45 minutes observation of this individual.
We were fortunate that we did tear our carcasses off the couch in Marathon and headed down to south county.
Divine inspiration, perhaps.

Because the following day, this bird was not relocated. It is HIGHLY likely that it has moved on.

You just never know when it comes to birding the Big Bend area of far-West Texas. Thanks so much for Carolyn Ohl-Johnson and her years of dedication to create and maintain an excellent habitat in south Brewster County. Check out her 'blog at cmoasis.blogspot.com. It is worth it to follow and subscribe to her posts.

Find your way down there, and I guarantee it is worth the price of a non-obligatory donation.
She and her oasis are icons of Texas and Big Bend birding.
What rarity will be next? It doesn't entirely matter, as even her expected resident birds are excellent and sought after.

Whew. Welcome home me, I guess. And thanks to Carolyn.

**photos taken mostly by Heidi Trudell. My only interference with them is some of the cropping for framing in a blog.

West Texas Trip via Sue Heath

Reposted with permission from Sue:

West Texas Trip

Jun 9

TexBirders,

Tom Morris, Tad Finnell and myself just returned from a quick West Texas trip where we had a fantastic time and got most of our target species. We started on Friday afternoon at Carolyn Ohl-Johnson's fantastic Christmas Mountains Oasis where we were treated to several Lucifer Hummingbirds, Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Blue Grosbeaks, House Finches, Painted Buntings and a male Varied Bunting coming to the feeders. It was a rainbow of western bird color! After a few hours there we moved onto Big Bend National Park. We stopped at the picnic area along TX 118 near Elephant Mountain and enjoyed a family of Vermilion Flycatchers, singing Bell's Vireos, and a Cassin's Kingbird (our target for the stop). In Study Butte we stopped at the gas station and had the biggest, cheapest ice cream cones any of us can remember. Excellent on a hot day! In the park we went straight to Panther Junction and then up to The Basin. We only had time to walk around a little bit but we found Scott's Orioles, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Mexican Jays, Cactus Wrens, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Say's Phoebe, and of course Canyon Towhees. A pair of Say's Phoebes have a nest on top of one of the light fixtures that you can see from the lodge restaurant with three chicks. It was very fun watching them while we were eating.

The next morning we started at 5:00 and headed up the Pinnacles Trail. Around 5:40 we heard our first Mexican Whip-poor-will and 10 minutes later, as predicted by Greg Lavaty who we ran into at Carolyn's, several were singing around us at the large pine tree laying along the side of the trail. We hiked on and soon the Black-headed Grosbeaks started singing and then the Mexican Jays moved in clearly looking for a hand out. We did not indulge them. I made that mistake once before and they followed us for miles. Once we got to the switchbacks we started seeing the mountain species. Canyon Wrens singing from the cliff faces, White-throated Swifts and Violet-green Swallows chittering and soaring overhead, Acorn Woodpeckers making their raucous calls. It was great! A Band-tailed Pigeon winged by and a Spotted Towhee zoomed by clearly not happy we were invading his territory. The Cordilleran Flycatchers got going and we found our first Colima Warbler. Somewhere in there we were passed by two hikers, I jokingly said they could find the tanager and have it staked out for us as they passed. We reached the Emory Peak trail about 8:20 and were glad for the level trail onward to Boot Springs. As the boot came into view a Zone-tailed Hawk soared by. More Violet-green Swallows and some Common Ravens. We arrived at The Spot about 9:10 and the hikers were there and indeed had the bird all staked out. Within 10 minutes we had seen the Flame-colored Tanager and a couple young Painted Redstarts. We hung around and saw an adult Painted Redstart and several Blue-throated Hummingbirds, Hutton's Vireo and White-breasted Nuthatches. We also saw the female Western Tanager with the Flame-colored Tanager in tow. Fantastic!

We headed back down about 10:30 and got Black-tailed Gnatcatcher and Bushtits on our way down. It was a really great trip and I thank everyone who gave us advice and also the hikers for hanging around until us slow folks could get there to see the birds.

Sue

Susan A. Heath, PhD
Gulf Coast Bird Observatory
103 Hwy 332 West
Lake Jackson, TX 77566
979-480-0999
www.gcbo.org

New place; familiar faces

And, just as it is when you see your elementary school teachers outside of the classroom, you simply can't figure out how they got to where you are. They live in their habitat - the school. Awkward.

Well, I do recognize these faces. I even remember a few of their names, or parts of their names, or their nicknames. Some of them. This morning I did try to jog the brain on their IDs. But mostly, I spent the early morning taking their photos, gawking, taking more photos, gawking, and taking more photos. Then I locked myself (and the dogs) out of the house, with no phone. At 6 am. Guess I didn't actually need to eat breakfast anyway.

My neighbors are saints. Truly. The old house was easy enough to break into; the new one is a veritable fortress. So by 7 am I was back inside, thanks to neighbors across town with a spare key.

First and second nights of 'hit the switch and go to bed' blacklighting were last night and the night before. First 'stay up and wait' blacklighting attempt with guests and whatnot was early last month. I got a Kissing Bug / Triatoma bite as a souvenir from that one. Remember, kids: DO. NOT. SCRATCH. Do not rub, do not pat, do not wipe... embrace the burn and rinse thoroughly with rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. The throbbing stops after about an hour. You'll survive. Unless you get a lump at the site of the bite about 24 hrs later... in that case you Google "early treatment" and "Chagas disease" and cross your fingers.

Anyway, back to those familiar faces:

 Walnut Sphinx (Amorpha juglandis) 5 June 2013

Walnut Sphinx was a newcomer late in our time at the DBR; I recall only two individuals that showed up on one occasion. Striking creatures, quite memorable in spite of diminutive size (compared to our 'regular' White-lined and Western Poplar Sphinxes!)

 Policocnemis ungulatus 5 June 2013

Fun fact: all five images of Policocnemis ungulatus on Bugguide.net are from either the Double Bacon Ranch (our former yard) or our new yard.

Datana spp.

Datana 'spuh' - these are lovely dead leaves. Or maybe broken bits of branches. Whatever it is they look like, they're not ideal for the dyslexic: Datana, Nadata, and Natada are all anagrams for each other and they're all moth genera named by one particular Francis Walker. (bugguide, wiki)
...thankfully we've only had Datana to contend with thus far, and they're tricky enough!

And now for a smattering of Tripudia luxuriosa:








Tripudia luxuriosa... what's in a name? A luxurious tri-pointed moth?

Poorly cropped and badly lit or not, they are wonderful little tic-tac sized moths whose depth of coloration and intricacy of pattern are really quite marvelous when examined closely. Rarely does one ever show up appearing worn, tattered, or otherwise less than pristine.

Their patterning seems to vary a good bit, and Tripudias in general can get confusing, but as a group they are quite fun to pick through. There are not so many as to be entirely overwhelming but just enough to be engaging.






....and we still haven't even made it to the brightly colored bugs! Perhaps Pygarctia will need their own post, once again, due to such an amazing showing on the morning of the 6th. At least one P. neomexicana was among several P. flavidorsalis with at least one P. rosicapitis.

Oh, and a new face at the lights:

Southern Purple Mint Moth  (Pyrausta laticlavia) 5 June 2013

Small photo to attempt to mask the horrible focus - the first Southern Purple Mint Moth (One-eyed, one-antennad Flying Purple Mint-plant-eater?) that I've been consciously aware of...


Good morning, Marathon.

Pre-dawn in Marathon, 5 June 2013

BBNP and Flame-colored post

Flame-colored Tanager update and Big Bend National Park trip summary on Cameron Carver's blog post over at The Painted Bunny. We owe him a Hooded Oriole for such a great post!

(all tags here reflect the content of his post)

Matt's write-up from a few days later is here.

Relocated Pronghorn Antelope

A few photos of Pronghorn Antelope from Charmaine Ganson, taken east of Marathon along Hwy 90 on 24 April 2013. At least two of the group are radio collared as part of a Borderlands Research Institute / Sul Ross State University project. Details pending!