neighborly beasts

It would seem that we've moved from the windscorpion side of town to the windscorpion and scorpion and spider and roach side of town. Mark recapture studies of HUGE wolf spiders in the bathroom gave way to smush and wait a few days until there's another and smush and repeat and WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM?!? studies. Only one baby windscorpion in the house so far, along with a Bordered Patch; more on that shortly. The house has external features such as exceptionally HUGE wolf spiders, scorpions under rocks, roaches in abundance, a pair of Texas Horned Lizards to keep the red ants in check, and now a Smith's/Southwestern Blackhead Snake, hopefully to snack additional insects. It was found in a neighbor's greenhouse, initially identified as a drowned, bloated earthworm... as that identification was incorrect, as was the second attempt, it came home in a coffee can for further ID and to be released in friendly territory. At last check, it was burrowing nicely under a potted plant at the site of release.

Smith's, or Southwestern Blachead Snake, Tantilla hobartsmithi

As for the Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia), I suspect that it hatched in our bathroom. Not sure how/why else a very fresh adult Bordered Patch would be found standing on the bathroom floor. A few items from our old porch at the Double Bacon are in that bathroom, and that porch was certainly full of Bordered Patch cocoons...

Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia)

And a horribly blurry parting shot - just for the warm, buffy, rusty orange color that contrasts so elegantly with the white spots and black border...

Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia)

Hallie

Disclaimer: this post contains anthropomorphic sentiments.

Hallie is on the right, unnamed male is on the left. Our neighbor named Hallie after Hallie Stillwell... not sure who Hallie's squeeze is, but they were canoodling* on 29 April in the new house's water cutoff box (*as Texas Horned Lizards don't quite seem capable of spooning or cuddling). 

He's a handsome fellow.

year of the phalarope

Wilson's Phalaropes have been exceptionally abundant in the western portion of Texas this spring; generally we do well to find a pair or three during migration every year (this may be a personal bias and lack of water, but we're always looking!)

There were 74 Wilson's Phalaropes at Marathon's treatment ponds on 11 May, up from 55 on 25 April. Numbers had been fluctuating since 7 made their first appearance on 17 April; we'll take what we can get.

Female Wilson's Phalarope, 29 April 2013, Marathon treatment ponds

A bit of reminiscing on my part - growing up on the coast, I was quite familiar with Sanderlings and Willets and Killdeer and staring at the bird book (ignoring measurements, of course), I always thought of phalaropes as duck-sized swans or something of that sort. Surely anything with THAT long and slender of a neck - and swimming habit - had to be a fairly large bird.

My first encounter with Wilson's Phalarope was one of frustration: a tiny gray and white sandpiper with a long neck was SWIMMING. Spinning. Jabbing at the surface of the water mid-spin. It was chaos. This was no swan. It was not even Willet sized!

Female Wilson's Phalarope, 29 April 2013, Marathon treatment ponds

Unfortunately for us, 'phalarope' doesn't tend to conjure quite the mental image that it could - you can't mistake a goldfinch in breeding plumage, but 'phalarope' doesn't give you the luxury of knowing what you're looking at - or looking for. I'd vote for 'swimpiper' because it's definitely not a sandpiper and if a 4 year old can identify a sandpiper, I'd be willing to bet that the same 4 year old could ID a swimpiper.

Wilson's Swimpiper. My apologies to taxonomists, who are weeping just reading this. Tissue?

Please excuse our absence

We successfully purchased a house across town (still in Marathon!) and managed to get all of the boxes moved in, though not unpacked. We do still exist, we are still somewhat reachable during the next week or two, but we may not be able to respond in a timely manner due to some unfortunate family circumstances.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support of this adventure that we call life.

-h

Edit: 5/18/13
Back to the grind - it's chaos, but it's ours! After a month of no blacklighting due to the move and everything else, Tripudia luxuriosa and a few Ponometia  have graced the new house. It may not be The Double Bacon Ranch, but we may have some decent blacklighting here yet. Thank you for your patience while I was AWOL on grievance - roadtrips are food for the soul.
-h

on the move

Everything is on the move; Pectoral Sandpipers and Rusty Blackbirds and Pronghorn Antelope, oh my! People, too. So in our posting absence, please accept this offering of other wildlife on the move.

Bees swarming a cottonwood at Post Park, 17 April 2013

Yellow-headed Blackbirds near the Double Bacon Ranch, 21 April 2013

Bullsnake crossing Post Road, 17 April 2013

Bullsnake crossing Post Road, 17 April 2013

Wilson's Phalaropes at the SW ponds in Marathon, 17 April 2013

Wilson's Phalaropes at the SW ponds in Marathon, 17 April 2013

Wilson's Phalaropes at the SW ponds in Marathon, 17 April 2013

Wilson's Phalaropes at the SW ponds in Marathon, 17 April 2013