Marathon Mammals

This post, admittedly, is missing foxes, coyotes, badgers, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, desert cottontails, black-tailed jackrabbits and javelinas. But for one weekend around town, it's a novel sampling of the local mammals!

We'll start with "It's a bird! It's a plane! ..." except it's up in the tree and someone called it in as an escaped pet monkey. Personally, I think sloth would have been more descriptive. Our local deputy had a good laugh, though, because Prickles is the porcupine (erethizon dorsatum) who lives just west of the Marathon Motel and has a few favorite trees that s/he loiters in. What a lovely face!

We now turn to another arboreal inhabitant, but one that would generally be mistaken for a bird around dusk... our beloved bug-eater, the Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus). Matt spotted this one roosting in a cottonwood tree just south of the pond at the Marathon Motel.

Like a dark brown hamster with frosting on the fur tips, Hoary Bats are adorable. And remarkably strong, to cling to a leaf clump on a gusty day! Here's a closer look at the roosting critter:

Alas, not all Hoary Bats are so fortunate. This one was found dead under a suspected roosting spot (and ironically, fairly close to an 'old school' windmill). The lighting here gives you an idea of what to expect when you see a Hoary Bat in flight - dark flight webbing contrasts with the pale fuzz along the leading edge of the wing, so identification isn't too challenging if the light is decent.

Identification is still pending on this last bat, a very small critter (about thumb-length) found by our neighbors with an abdominal wound. Current guess is Evening Bat, but we'll have to see what the experts say!

Edit: As of April 18th, we have ID! Thanks to Dr. Chris Ritzi from Sul Ross for identifying our California Myotis (Myotis californicus); click here for TPWD link.

Birding Post Park/Fort Pena Colorado

This morning's bird walk was treated to a pleasant morning that started off cool and warmed up gently as the sun made it over the hills. The Vermillion Flycatchers are already paired up and they're quite... busy. Should be a bumper crop of little ones this summer! New arrivals for the season are in bold.

Species:

2 Mallard (Mexican)
8 Turkey Vulture
5 American Coot
2 Killdeer
1 Eurasian Collared-Dove
15 White-winged Dove
2 Mourning Dove
1 Belted Kingfisher
11 Golden-fronted Woodpecker
2 Ladder-backed Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
1 Black Phoebe
3 Say's Phoebe
8 Vermilion Flycatcher
2 Ash-throated Flycatcher
2 Barn Swallow
3 Cave Swallow
3 Cactus Wren
2 Marsh Wren
1 Northern Mockingbird
1 Curve-billed Thrasher
10 European Starling
1 American Pipit
3 Canyon Towhee
4 Chipping Sparrow
1 Vesper Sparrow
1 Black-throated Sparrow
5 Lark Bunting
2 Savannah Sparrow
2 Lincoln's Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
15 White-crowned Sparrow
2 Northern Cardinal
1 meadowlark sp.
1 Brewer's Blackbird
20 House Finch
11 Pine Siskin (migrating through)
3 Lesser Goldfinch

Total species reported: 38

Additionally, on Post Road, we found a late Eastern Phoebe, a Verdin, and one Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

Friday night with Cowhead Arches

(Entry is backdated to reflect the date of observation!)

Not all creatures were named with elegant tact, sadly.
Cowhead Arches is one of them.
Drasteria pallescens is at least a bit more dignified, no?

Certainly, for a moth to be abundant enough to warrant a common name, you'd think that there would be a more 'normal' label for it. But in spite of its relative popularity (it has a common name!) there's still relatively little known about it. The bugguide link will tell you that its host plant is unknown. Not too surprising, as it *is* a moth... there's so much still to learn about the inhabitants of our continent.

Other visitors to the blacklight, at least those graced with common names, were White-lined Sphinx (Hyles lineata), featured on the blog previously and Southern Emerald (Synchlora frondaria), new to our blog. A little tattered around the edges, but a lovely guest regardless!

Oh, there were people as well... a talented young moth spotter, age 3, (just right of center, seated) and a few locals and a few out-of-towners and much fun was had by all. Quite a good turnout for humans and moths alike!

Snowberry Clearwing moth - first Brewster Co. record

Confirmed.

"Confirmed that H. diffinis is NEW for Brewster. It probably occurs "commonly" in the Chisos, but nobody's ever reported it up there... Not unusual to find them at higher elevations in NM and AZ...." - Texas Lepidoptera Survey, 25 March 2011.



I happened across this guy, Hemaris diffinis, back on 18 March 2011. Simply perched near the center of a large rosemary shrub in the Courtyard Cafe at Marathon Motel. Add another first county documentation discovered on grounds at the motel.

Click for the original post.
You don't have to scroll down too far actually.

Christmas Mountains Oasis

This entry is backdated to match the date of observation - we spent midday Tuesday enjoying Carolyn's fantastic Christmas Mountains Oasis and it has taken a while for us to catch up with the list, the weekend and the bumper crop of newly emerged moths.

Spring highlight for us, Scott's Oriole (photo below). Other jaw-dropping beauties included Lucifer Hummingbird and, well, Sage Thrasher is a bit more delicate in its presentation, but is lovely nonetheless!


















Species:

15 Scaled Quail
4 Turkey Vulture
7 White-winged Dove
5 Mourning Dove
2 Lucifer Hummingbird
2 Black-chinned Hummingbird
1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
2 Say's Phoebe
1 Common Raven
4 Barn Swallow
4 Cactus Wren
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Sage Thrasher
3 Rufous-crowned Sparrow
5 Canyon Towhee
1 Cassin's Sparrow
1 Brewer's Sparrow
1 Field Sparrow
1 Lark Sparrow
25 Black-throated Sparrow
1 Lark Bunting
1 Grasshopper Sparrow
1 White-crowned Sparrow
2 Northern Cardinal
6 Pyrrhuloxia
3 Scott's Oriole
5 House Finch
1 Lesser Goldfinch

Total species reported: 28

Post Park bird walk

This morning's bird walk was quite well attended; Matt and I were joined by a repeat guest as well as two more locals and one fellow from PA. Age range was 3 to 70, so an informal time was had by all!

Location name: Marathon- Ft. Peña Colorado Pk (The Post), Brewster, US-TX

Species for informal bird walk:

2 Wild Turkey
20 Turkey Vulture
6 American Coot
2 Killdeer
15 White-winged Dove
12 Golden-fronted Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
2 Say's Phoebe
1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
2 Violet-green Swallow
3 Barn Swallow
3 Cactus Wren
1 Marsh Wren
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Northern Mockingbird
2 Curve-billed Thrasher
12 European Starling
2 American Pipit
2 Orange-crowned Warbler
10 Canyon Towhee
10 Chipping Sparrow
2 Savannah Sparrow
2 Lincoln's Sparrow
20 White-crowned Sparrow
1 Northern Cardinal
1 meadowlark sp.
25 House Finch
5 Lesser Goldfinch

Total species reported: 28

And some incidental observations - and a few unusual finds among them! No duplicates are listed, just species not seen during the bird walk.

Post Road species list:

1 Wilson's Snipe (passing through)
1 Greater Roadrunner
2 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 Black-and-white Warbler (first of season)

Total species reported: 4

Otherwise, of note locally we've had Black-chinned Hummingbirds investigating our feeders and a female Anna's Hummingbird as well. One Willow Flycatcher was seen near the pond at the Marathon Motel yesterday and Cave Swallows are definitely back in the area!