Photos from the field

Just a few fellow earthlings we ran into in the trans-Pecos:


Western Black-necked Garter Snake (Thamnophis cyrtopsis cyrtopsis), s. Brewster County, TX

This was a new herp for us. There were a pair of them in a water tank. -h may have a few better photos of these guys.

Also, hovering around the same pool of water in this portion of the Chihuahuan Desert were numerous ...


Flame Skimmer (Libellula saturata), s. Brewster County, TX

A day or two earlier we spent some time in the Davis Mountains, enjoying great birds and bugs. A few of the leps we came across:


Phaon Crescent (Phyciodes phaon) Jeff Davis Co.
We had a few Vesta Crescents (P. graphica) and later had Tiny Checkerspots (Dymasia dymas) in south Brewster County.

In the Davis Mountains the Satyrinids flying were

Canyonland Satyr (Cyllopsis pertepida), Jeff Davis County

This was a new lep for us and nearby was an equally new yet entirely uncooperative Drusius Cloudywing (Thorybes drusius). We were psyched about that species. -h did get a digi-bin of the drusius just for our records.

One bug we tried to turn into a Mexican Sootywing (Pholisora mejicanus) but just could not was

Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus) Jeff Davis County

The underside hindwing just was not helping our cause to make this bug P. mejicanus.

While enjoying all, and photographing some, of the leps we had Hepatic (Piranga flava) and Western Tanagers (P. ludoviciana) making their presence known along with Gray Vireos (Vireo vicinior) and Gray Flycatchers (Empidonax wrightii). The latter was a seriously excellent bird as its summer range in TX just touches the sky-island habitats such as certain elevations in the Davis Mtns.

More from this trip later...