Migrating sandpipers.

Here's one.

Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)

A significant percentage of fall migration is represented by "shorebirds." Many sandpipers, Family Scolopacidae, are among our longer distance migrating species.

Many of these are "tundra-nesters."  They spend their summer breeding season in the far-edges of northern latitudes.

Here's a range map for the Baird's Sandpiper as an example:

I came across this individual at the *Marathon Treatment Ponds in Brewster County, right here in our corner of the Chihuahuan Desert. When Heidi came by on her lunch break, there were two.

No doubt this bird was quite okay taking advantage of this body of water, even before it has been treated. As you see in the map above, this bird has a long ways yet to go.



A few ID tips on this species would include noting how the outer primary ("flight-feathers") feathers project beyond the tail.  In the photo above we can see a nearly solid black feather projecting further than the white-outlined tail feather.

Additionally, take a look at the first picture.  Notice the buffy breast.  This bird is a fairly "large" sandpiper, and that color existing on its breast also helps eliminate some possible species.  Yes, the bird's overall size does as well.

While water is a key component for many species, they still have to travel great distances, at times, to find another puddle.

While we have migration buzzing all around us right now, many species are nocturnal migrants.  That includes this featured sandpiper.



So look up and listen up.  Even overnight; perhaps particularly at night.

 If you hear the following late at night, you could be hearing the Baird's Sandpiper migrating overhead:

http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/24039

Well, in this recording you would be hearing several.

*Marathon Treatment Ponds are PRIVATE property.  We have been granted access.

Migration is Upon Us..

... and has been for a recent while now.  Discovered yesterday at the treatment ponds, one excellent bird for the Marathon Basin was this individual:

Forster's Tern  (Sterna forsteri)

Also at the Marathon Treatment Ponds were over 30 Wilson's Phalarope.

Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor)

In addition, there were a Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), a Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri), and a Least Sandpiper (C. minutilla).

The Marathon Treatment Ponds are on private property.  We have been granted access.  So do respect, if you are out here, private property.  You might give Heidi Trudell a call or email regarding this property.  As always, it can only take one time to screw up access for all of us.

Anyways, nothing too Earth-shattering but it is nice for us to begin to observe a leading edge of migration happening on our corner of the Chihuahuan Desert.

One of the earliest migrating species is Rufous Hummingbird.  We have played host to them here at Casa de Dos Baños (CDB).

Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), male.

I had the wrong settings on the camera for this guy, so I had to go with a feeder shot. When spinning the dials on the SLR, I should double-check said dials.

For the bird-people reading this, check the notch on both R2 feathers.

We do get Allen's Hummingbirds (S. sasin) out here during migration.  More so than certain field guides would suggest.  Such data and questions and "seriously??"- type inquires might should be directed toward Kelly Bryan and his West Texas Avian Research.  He has already had one of his earliest (the earliest?) Allen's show up this year.

We have had several Rufous Hummingbirds this early Fall, with some evident turnover.  However, we've yet to get Allen's Hummingbird here at the CDB.  We expect to at some point, as we've hosted them in town in past migrations.

Cheers, and here's to a great migration out here and throughout the state!

Post Park, in photos

Just focusing on the water, not the picnic tables, facilities, etc. filing for future reference.

CLOSURE: Davis Mts State Park Sept. 3 - March 1

Tip of the hat to Texas Mountain Trail Region for this announcement!

Important Announcement regarding Davis Mountains State Park:

FORT DAVIS, TEXAS – Beginning on September 3, 2013, Davis Mountains State Park will begin a temporary closure, which will last through March 1, 2014. Texas Parks & Wildlife staff will be performing major upgrades on the park’s utilities and systems during this time. Many of the park’s amenities, including the campgrounds, trails, and Interpretive Center, will be unavailable to visitors.

In addition to completing much needed utility projects, an extensive new trail system will be put into place in the Limpia Canyon Primitive Area. The current system, which consists of 6.5 miles of trail, will be improved and an additional 6 miles will be added to the existing route. The park’s new bird viewing area, which began construction in May of this year, will be completed, as well.

These improvements will add dimension to our park & provide additional opportunities for outdoor recreation for our park visitors. We are eager to unveil them when we reopen in the spring.

Please note that the Indian Lodge and Black Bear Restaurant are unaffected by this closure and will remain open during standard business hours. The Indian Lodge office is open 24 hours a day and can be reached at (432) 426-3254. The Black Bear Restaurant is open Tuesday through Sunday from 7:00AM to 8:00PM, extending hours until 9:00PM on Fridays and Saturdays. Advanced reservations for the Indian Lodge can be made by calling (512) 389-8900.

Davis Mountains State Park and the Indian Lodge are located four miles north of Fort Davis on Hwy118N.

More from the Mountain Trails Lodge

The teaser bug from our last post? Rustic Sphinx (Manduca rustica). Simply wonderful. It was a new bug for both of us, an early arrival at the lights (a bit before 11 pm) and it stuck around long enough to play 'pass the bug' with pretty much all of the students in the morning!

These photos are from July 11th and 12th; an evening/morning blacklighting session at the Mountain Trails Lodge in Fort Davis, TX. The lodge is on the south side of Fort Davis, so not quite *in* the mountains, but at a high enough elevation to get most of the mountain goodies!

This Seraph Moth (Olceclostera seraphica) was not at our lights, but the kids found it on the window of one of their cabins; they're docile and cooperative and I think everyone was a good sport, especially the moth! One of the cabins even had a Northern Giant Flag Moth the day before, one of the kids took a photo of it and showed it to us; wish it stuck around!

Apotolype brevicrista, a bit darker above, a bit paler below...

Fuzzy, fuzzier... we do love our 'fuzzy yeti' or 'furry yeti' moths - it's a nickname that most folks can remember, and always a crowd pleaser!

 



 

The moth above is a Noctuid... further ID pending!

Check out how close the iPad was able to zoom in on the caterpillar... technology may be a love/hate relationship, but if it gets critters investigated, we're loving it! It was a bit hard to see the bugs with so many gadgets vying for front row photos, but it's long term, shareable experience.

 



 

...and a handoff...

 

Above is a plume moth (somewhere in the tribe Pterophorini) - great dry grass camo!

 

Five-spotted Hawkmoth handoff - Manduca quinquemaculata - is pretty much our most numerous hawkmoth, and frequently most cooperative. At least three were passed around with this group.

 



 

Students of the planet; a small section of the larger group. Wonderfully attentive, curious folks.

 



Mountain Trails Lodge, round two!

July has been a remarkably busy month for us: schedule changes, additional side projects (in a small town, you work while the working is good!) and plenty of distractions away from birds and bugs, unfortunately. But, as with most birding - when we have been in the field, the birds certainly have not disappointed. And we may have snuck a quick ~60 hour trip to New Mexico into the schedule to see the Rufous-necked Wood-Rail. That is another post for another blog, but it was amazing!


So, back to the Mountain Trails Lodge - we've posted about them briefly before (here and here), but this time we didn't get rained on while set up, nor rained out! We modified the setup from before (there's a sideways sandwich board along with three sheets) and added another set of lights - instead of four UV bulbs, we had four UV bulbs and added two normal CFLs. The difference was pretty dramatic. Waist-high setups are definitely my new favorite!


Twenty-two middle school aged (ish) students from San Antonio asked a ton of really excellent questions (unfortunately I have no idea how scorpions communicate with each other) and most of them even made it up at 6 am to see what all was lured to the lights -- it's hard to get adults up at 6 to watch bugs, so we were thrilled with the human turnout!

The moth turnout was spectacular. Big, cooperative, showy moths were around in single digits, but small, intricate, well camouflaged moths were quite abundant. Far too many to even reasonably cover in a blog post of this nature (plenty of fodder for future posts!) so we'll have to limit our coverage here...

As is true with many things in life, Forrest Gump nailed it with the 'box of chocolates' quote - blacklighting is like a box of chocolates; you NEVER know what you're going to get! Last time we set up at MTL, the evening started with a flight of termites and by morning we had an abundance of purslane moths. This time we started with gnats and ended with cucumber beetles.

The gorgeous beast to the left is Davis' Tussock Moth, Halysidota davisii. We are quite fond of these, having only seen a few prior. The colors are not quite accurate here - the turquoise stripes are buffered by tangerine edging, and those colors repeat in the stencil patterns down the wings. With the cream colored background and near translucence of the wings, every sighting involves a lot of photos and murmurs of appreciation. We'll gladly overlook the wear on the wings!




Turnout at the lights included, but certainly was NOT limited to:
Hubbard's Small Silkmoth (Sphingicampa hubbardi)
Purslane Moth (Euscirrhopterus gloveri)
Five-spotted Hawkmoth (Manduca quinquemaculata)
Clouded Crimson (Schinia gaurae)
Seraph (Olceclostera seraphica)
Apotolype brevicrista
Palpita quadristigmalis
Tripudia luxuriosa
Catabenoides vitrina
Melipotis spp. (multiple) 
Ponometia spp. (multiple)
 

Abundance award of the evening would have to go to the always sharp-looking Genista Broom Moth (Uresiphita reversalis).

And a quick teaser..... no, not the gnat on the antenna, the moth!

Next up: more photos!