Marfa Public Radio, take two!

I'll add a note when the archived version of "Talk at Ten" is posted, but until then: Matt and I were on Marfa's NPR station today! It was almost a year ago when we were last on to discuss drought impacts on birds - this time the news was much better. Hopefully folks will check out the Gage Gardens (which is recovering from a good bit of hail damage) and otherwise investigate the festival, which is now less than a month away!

Trudell, York, and West on Talk at Ten

...and while we're promoting everyone and everything, check out Kenn Kaufman's post about his summer plans! Coming up: Birds and Butterflies in West Texas

It's daylight.

I'm so accustomed to armchair moth-ing (the equivalent of armchair birding, I suppose) that actually being outside in the light of day to look at pollinators was a strange change of pace. I'd met up with Andy Bankert midday to take him to the Christmas Mountains Oasis after he hiked Pinnacles Trail in Big Bend National Park for Colima Warbler. Even in the noonday heat, CMO was definitely worthwhile! We were officially looking for Lucifer Hummingbird (check), Varied Bunting (check) and Elf Owl (nope). Unofficially, I was really hoping to see the resident Mojave rattlesnake as well.

Vertebrates aside, we had a slew of flying insects. Probably 90% were mosquitoes (long overdue - as was the rain!) but the rest were dragonflies and damselflies and butterflies and...

Uresiphita reversalis - Genista Broom Moth
Unknown crambid-type moth







Clockwise from the blurry dark moth in the upper left:

Tarache quadriplaga - either that or one of the Ponometias
Kricogonia lyside - Lyside Sulphur
Ponometia semiflava - Half Yellow (look straight across to the right of the butterfly, it's yellow and dark blue-gray)
Palpita quadristigmalis - Four-spotted Palpita
Helicoverpa zea - Corn Earworm Moth





































There were some other really impressive looking pollinators, but that's fodder for future posts! Definitely makes me wish I'd checked every beebrush plant on the property!

Back to birds for a moment - we had been emailed a note of caution from Carolyn before we headed to CMO... "Lucifers are here but not abundant. Kelly banded 10 yesterday." They may have been skittish, but they were certainly lovely!

Here's Andy's breakdown of the day, according to Facebook:
Long day! Left Marathon at 3 AM, made it to Boot Canyon by 6:15 for Flammulated Owl, found a Colima Warbler nest by 7:15, back down to the basin by 9:45 where I almost stepped on a rattlesnake! Thanks to Heidi Trudell for taking me to see Lucifer Hummingbirds and Varied Buntings afterwards! Looking for Black-tailed Godwit tomorrow.


We wish Andy the best of luck with The Godwit. We'll be living vicariously through him - he'll be after the godwit and we'll be on Marfa NPR's Talk at Ten to discuss the Gage's July birding festivities.

Friday, Aug 12 on Marfa Public Radio

Check out Marfa NPR's live streaming from 10 am until 11 (we'll be the first segment) and then from 6:30 to 7 pm when it is replayed. We're pretty excited - we'll get to talk about the impact of the drought in spite of having rain recently!

Marfa Public Radio - www.marfapublicradio.org

In case folks find our blog via Marfa NPR, here are a few species we may be referencing, in no particular order:
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - low numbers (high count of 1 for Post Park all summer)
Cassin's Sparrow - conspicuous by their absence; all over the rest of the state
Summer Tanager - delayed arrival
Say's Phoebe - emaciation
Lincoln's Sparrows - delayed migration, high cat predation numbers
Bell's Vireo - emaciation, on-time arrival
Vermilion Flycatcher - on-time arrival, an exception
Yellow-breasted Chat - emaciation, on-time arrival, high cat predation
Orchard Oriole - present in good numbers, but not singing
Black-chinned Hummingbird - emaciation
Lark Sparrow - emaciation
Western Wood-Pewee - emaciation and abnormal behaviors
Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler - emaciation and modified behaviors, late migration
Barn Swallow - emaciation, late nesting, observed nest failures, high cat predation
Lark Bunting - very late migration

...the above fall into the context of species whose numbers and/or emaciation were highly apparent to us and comprise the bulk of our observations.

Between fires and drought, this should be an interesting conversation - we'll try to fill in more details after the show!

Photo/permalink via Marfa Public Radio:


Handy links from previous posts:
the drying, the drought (a bit heavy, but eye-opening)
in the meantime, pictures
freezer catch-up
and an optimistic final note: drought?

...and we will edit this post to let y'all know when the full segment is available online!