Semi-annual Update

The 2012 review is up at Big Bend Nature.com and that means we're off the hook for more bird/bug updates for this post... right? Guess that leaves the pithy, lifey stuff...

Jan - hey, rare birds ARE life to us; Nutting's Flycatcher was some Herculean feat of masochism in spite of being a life bird for both of us. The bird called twice in something like two hours of our first observation and the call is what we HAD to record for confirmation. No pressure. Awesome bird. Great folks who chased it, as well. Kind of a who's who of birders, or an awkward family reunion.

Feb-May were somewhat nondescript, except when May rolled around we were both laid off from our part time jobs (same place - so there went our 20 hr/week gig, roughly 1/2 of our income, on 5 minutes notice... at the same time I lost my tutoring position due to graduation), but I guess at least we don't have to work at the checkpoint anymore! That was at the beginning of the week of finals and graduation. Not cool. I could have been studying!

Layoffs aside, May was wonderful; Matt's folks came out for my graduation and in the time-honored tradition of shirking rituals, I ate at CowDog instead of walking for graduation. Not quite a trip to the RGV (high school graduation), but CowDog with the best in-laws ever? Remarkably wonderful. We even introduced them to a black-tailed rattlesnake in the Chisos Basin! They stayed at Eve's Garden... not that we blogged their breakfast or anything. Ok, we did.

June saw a bit of travel; Matt held down the fort while I went to California for a wedding - not just any wedding, but that of a former solar car competitor turned bff/dear friend. While out there, I also managed to meet that 'new' nephew of mine who was already a year old! Whoops. I'm a bad aunt. Other than seeing a few birds during the wedding ceremony, no birding was done - but plenty of friends seen/met/stayed with in the process. Also, June was crafty... because I made a skirt into a dress for the wedding.

July was an exhausting/exhilarating mix of anticipation and phone-tag during the crunch time of pre-festival madness; Matt scouted and I wrangled field trip leaders and the most awesome celebrities ever, but between the two of us and some seriously awesome trip leaders, I'd say ~22 people at a first year birding festival with Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman is pretty much a success.

Following the festival, we took a week of down time and took the small dog to Santa Fe to meet her cousin. It was great to see the long-lost relatives (we see them maybe every 2-3 years or so). The fall turned into a busy mix of shipping Matt off to the AZ/CA border for some field work and I settled into my new job at Pitaya Verde.

The shift to winter was a mix of job shuffling again; Matt focused on guiding and contract work, I put my name in the hat for a librarian position. After Thanksgiving - early December for anyone keeping track - a neighbor told us about a house with a "for sale by owner" sign out front... and we've been throwing ourselves into it, full force, since then. We do enjoy the little house of termites, but the Double Bacon, as much as we love it, is sometimes just a bit too much. There's no closing date yet, but we're up to our ears in surveys, inspections, roof quotes and generic madness. Add the new job to the existing job and the move across town seems like quite a challenge. It's a pretty hefty move: all the way from the NE side to the SW side. A whopping 17 blocks... that's clear across town, as the maximum would have been 22 blocks if we'd lived any further on the NE side!

So please bear with us through blog silence as we tackle the latest batch of challenges: we're still here and our PO box won't change (434), but we're swamped with "productive" things!

Anakin, Matt, Nauga and Heidi - Jan 2013, photo by Tom Lehr

Thanks, Spring Valley Elementary!

Wow, Midway ISD has some great bugs. In the past, there have been some first county records for moths (Vine Sphinx comes to mind) and Mrs. York, a counselor at Spring Valley Elementary, has been kind enough to send more photos to us! All of these are from September 2012.

Cicada species, possibly Tibicen genus.

The bug above is a cicada - they make that whining noise in the middle of the day in summer when everything else has gotten quiet and gone to find shade. If we're not mistaken, the critter above is one of the Genus Tibicen - "Annual Cicadas" or "Dog-Day Cicadas"  On occasion, you may find their crunchy, empty exoskeleton when it has been shed.

Waved Sphinx (Ceratomia undulosa)

Waved Sphinx (Ceratomia undulosa) is a really exciting moth - it is a second county record! The first county record* for McLennan Co. was found in 2009 by another of the York household; Mrs. York's husband!

* officially the first one we found was not accepted due to its rough condition, but the 2010 Waved Sphinx found by Mrs. York's son, Matthew, was accepted!

Virginia Creeper Sphinx (Darapsa myron)

Virginia Creeper Sphinx (Darapsa myron) - this is an adult of the caterpillar that eats the leaves of Virginia creeper, which is a native vine, related to the grape vine. The vine can commonly be found growing along fences or trees in McLennan Co. Sometimes people mistake these vines for poison ivy ("leaves of three, leave them be") Virginia creeper is NOT poison ivy! Instead, it is dinner for caterpillars that will grow up to be these beautiful Virginia Creeper Sphinx moths!

Virginia Creeper Sphinx (Eumorpha vitis)

Can you tell the difference between poison ivy and Virginia creeper? Vine Sphinx and Virginia Creeper Sphinx need to know the difference!

Thanks to Mrs. York for sharing these neat bugs from Spring Valley Elementary!

Houston, we have a Pupa!

Edit: this has now been blogged (with more pics!) at Big Bend Birds & Nature - when inch worms grow up.

I should be blogging this over at the other blog, but I managed to forget to take a picture of an inch-worm that adopted us. I harvested some mesquite nibbles for the hubbardi bunch and the little critter caught a ride and found itself in with a bunch of non-geometers. So while I forgot to take its picture, it thrived. Then it started to look pretty bad and I felt terrible and was certain that, along with ~40 other caterpillars this season, it had died. It turned this bizarre shade of teal blue on one end and darkened and instead of being a long, juicy inch-and-a-smidge long... it was barely half an inch long.

But then it turned into a pupa. How ridiculously awesome!

Busy, busy summer

As the title implies, we're up to our ears in... life. Between wrangling pups, pup-sitting for others, work, school, work and more work, we've managed to get a few photos worth sharing:

Family portrait: Matt, Nauga, Heidi and Anakin. Awww.

A Black Witch moth on the back wall while blacklighting.

The Chihuahua named Little.

Pepsis wasp. Oh yes, there's an Entomology class afoot this summer!

Recent bug life: Lyside Sulphur, Eyed Elater and an Opuntia Beetle (the 'longhorn')

The reason you don't go the speed limit out here. Ever. This was taken at 6:40 - long before dusk!

...and, FINALLY, our first dung beetles of the season. It only took until mid July to see them at Post Park. Still no sign of them in town. Maybe after a few real rains?

Upcoming local things...

If you don't read our Big Bend regional blog, here's what you're missing:

Please note that dates/times may change but we will do our best to post accurate and updated information as soon as we know!

Friday Night [Black]Lights

On Friday nights starting in March, the Marathon Motel invites all interested to join in blacklighting for moths around the property. This is a new region for us, with diverse bugs and promising prospects - amateurs to experts are very much encouraged to join and share your knowledge and enthusiasm! We may, on occasion, blacklight at Post Park as well - those dates TBA.


Sunday Breakfast & Birds

Join us on Sunday mornings starting in March at the Marathon Coffee Shop* for the best breakfast burritos in town! We will leave for Post Park/Fort Pena Colorado at 8 and for those wishing to meet at the park directly, meet at 8:15 for a free guided bird/butterfly walk. After Post Park, folks are invited to Guzzi Pizza for species list review, regional wildlife discussion and some of the best pizza and 'sandwiches' in West Texas!

* The sign by the road says "Breakfast and Lunch" - it's on the far west end of town, just past the Gage Hotel; they open at 7 AM and do not accept checks or debit/credit cards, so remember to bring cash!

Agapema anona

alias Mexican Agapema, alias Greasewood Silkmoth, alias William H. Bonney....

Heidi gave me a call this morning:
H- Matt, get your butt up here and get the camera out of the jeep
me- okay, okay.... , I am working in here.
H- alright, just hurry
me - okay...., what is i -



WOW!!!!!!

Great find, Heidi!

Agapema anona is a member of the family Saturniidae, or "Silkmoths". The members of this family are our largest moths, however they are not always humongous. This particular individual's wingspans might be slightly longer than two quarters stacked side-by-side.

Absolutely spectacular male on a very cool morning. I can tell this guy is male due to the crazy feathery antennae. This attribute detects the subtle fragrance of a pheromone released by the female. This is intentional on her part, and is in a way.. a "call ." With a breeze, this male may be able to detect a "call" from half a mile a way.



A. anona larva feed on various condalia (Condalia spp.) and Greasewood (Sarcobatus spp).
Certainly some of that around. Adult females spin the cocoon in the branches of these host-plants.

This species is thus far known to range from SE Arizona, S New Mexico, and far-west Texas.



We are happy to range here too.







Edit: this lovely fellow was found early in the morning out near the public laundry room at the Marathon Motel. -heidi

Post Park inhabitants

September 5th was when these photos were taken, and yes, other older photos will start to pop up on the blog, now that things are settling down.



Ah, tent caterpillars...

Post Park, also known as Fort Pena Colorado Park, or The Post, is a county park about 5 miles south of Marathon. The birding is fantastic. So are the butterflies (not to mention moths; we found a Poplar Sphinx there!) Anyway, while the juv Canyon Towhee seen begging earlier in the season was still begging, we found a few other juvies being a bit less dependent:



Young Vermillion Flycatcher out over the pond.



Young Zone-tailed Hawk on a yucca.

The Zone-tail was first seen up in a high cottonwood tree, Matt found it and pointed it out to me - we immediately assumed Common Black Hawk due to habitat and, well, it was perched. Zone-tailed Hawks never perch (common knowledge). Once we realized that the tail was not particularly banded, we quickly wavered over whether or not this could be an insanely dark Red-tailed Hawk... wing length vs. tail length and a solidly dark back helped ease our concerns. Finally when it flew we had a perfect Turkey Vulture mimic; Zone-tailed it was! And one short, adult tail feather was growing in, so as it cruised the area we were able to reassure ourselves that the ID was correct.

Only one tarantula was seen at the park on the 5th; one of those bound and determined to get to wherever it was going, not stopping for photos nor introductions. The bright abdominal fuzz was so attention grabbing that I crawled along for quite a while just trying to get a decent angle while it ran southwest. Trying to lure it onto my hand just resulted in it trying to find a detour. Such pacifists!



(Note: it shows up a bit larger than life-sized on my screen... it's really a bit smaller than my hand.)

Eumorpha vitis

Vine Sphinx

Found first thing this morning in near-perfect condition floating in the courtyard fountain at work. Drowned.

Kept.

First one since Junction, Kimble Co., TX in summer 2009.

Spring Valley Elementary. in Hewitt, TX, had one of these guys in '09, too.. link.
That one, a McLennan County first.

Nothing nicer than a sphingid first thing in the morning. Well, not a whole lot. Some things. More than some. A few?

Like what?
...

Lintneria what? Lintneria who?

Yesterday, Heidi and I traveled to the Brewster County DPS/DMV in Alpine to get some affairs in order.
In the middle of the afternoon we came across a huge sphinx moth snoozing on the outward side of a window on the DPS building.



I was about to quickly write it off as a "surely" fairly common certain Ceratomia species;I was getting tired.
Heidi wasn't so sure of the assumption within my rapid response. "I don't know about that.."



I happened to have my camera in the truck on this trip. This is what I took these pictures with.
The only camera Heidi had was the one in her cell phone. She took some pictures nonetheless. In fact, the moth actually spread its forewings momentarily to give us a brief glimpse of the upper-side of its generally covered hindwings.

The photo that cinched, unanimously, the ID with some fairly knowledgeable folks in the lepidoptera world:

Heidi's:


Lintneria istar, "Istar Sphinx" moth.

New species for us!
New genus for us!

What a team we are. What a balance. :-)
Thank goodness for Heidi.
Thank goodness for so many reasons..

And a bare-basics cellphone w/ camera.

Watch your mouth

Some of us don't have mouths, however..

Heidi discovered a big, beautiful beastie of a moth this afternoon at a county park ~5 miles from Marathon.


Western Poplar Moth (Pachysphinx occidentalis)

This Sphingidae family member does not feed (a characteristic more known of the adult Silkmoths, Family Saturniidae). It's larvae feed plenty, on willow and poplar leaves.



A new moth for us.

"Hey Now,..."

"... all you sinners. Put your lights on. Put your lights on." - Carlos Santana

I tend to leave the porch light on in the evenings. Then check the lights and the adjacent patio walls for cool insects, more specifically for the want of interesting moths, before heading to bed.

Often rain systems and leading edges of hurricane-influenced meteorological events can be the facilitator of interesting and less than common moths.

Last night, several interesting insects, but nothing too out of the ordinary...yet.
However, sphinx moth (Family Sphigidae) species are always attention-getting due to size, patterns, behavior, and other characteristics.



Waved Sphinx moth (Ceratomia undulosa)

C. undulosa is "common east of the Rockies, its larvae feeding on ash and other members of the olive family." (Eaton, R. and Kaufman K., Field Guide to Insects of North America, pg. 242, 2007)
We certainly have ash trees on the property and around this neighborhood.



My father had actually reported a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) eating a large moth outside the dining room window back on 27 April 2009. Upon hearing that, Heidi and I searched for and found the moth's wings the following day.

'Twas a Waved Sphinx, or so we believed.
However, the photos we took of the faded, wet wings weren't conclusive enough for one of the few state record keepers. That's understandable, there are a few other species that theoretically could have once sported those faded dilapidated wings.

McLennan County, Texas is in the range of this species. However, in the world of Lepidoptera, scores of species are under-reported. Not too many folks in the greater-Waco, TX area looking for and kicking up moths and butterflies, I suppose.

These photos ought to do.



Tomorrow morning we are heading out to the trans-Pecos region of far-west Texas. This portion of the Chihuahuan Desert is were I worked, completed grad school requirements, and otherwise lived for ~ 4 years or so.

I was not the avid amateur moth and butterfly hunter back then as I am now. I spent much of my time working on Montezuma Quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae) and kicking rocks in the Davis Mountains.

I look forward to returning with a watchful eye toward leps. It brings a newness to a region I otherwise know.

Hopefully we'll have a porch light.

Alpine, lepidoptera and Marfa Lights

This post would be "Alpine day 1 part 2" if we went in a linear posting pattern... Instead I went for a more descriptive title.



The above scenery surrounds the edges of Alpine; high, dry, rocky land and very hardy plants dotting the ground.



True to the title, we now present a squashed Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) - Matt's truck was never one for bug catching until the front end was raised a bit to level out both ends. Now it's almost as good as my Jeep!



I kid you not; that one peek shows (from top to bottom) includes a White-lined Sphinx moth (Hyles lineata), an American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis), a Common/White Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis/albescen) and some parts of a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta). Not pictured is a Little Wood-Satyr (Megisto cymela) that was a bit to the right of that cluster.

After being thoroughly impressed with the bugs "collected" between McLennan and Brewster County (all of whom were eaten overnight, for what it's worth), we drove to Marfa to see their courthouse. It's quite an impressive structure for such a desolate county. Afterward we went to see the absolutely endearing Marfa Lights.



The observation area is a nice little raised deck with a wind break (thank goodness; I was wearing 2 layers of long sleeves, a wind breaker, mittens and the warmest hat I had! We arrived just after sun down, so there was still a nice evening glow... one light was there when we got there. I'd scanned past it, thinking it was a ranch light with an orange glow. Only after noticing that it was slooowly sinking behind a ridge did I realize that it was one of the lights! We saw up to four at once; a small red one that blinked in and out next to an orange one, the semi-stationary orange one, and two white ones that wobbled a bit but stayed mostly on a horizontal path. Very cool! If only the radio tower out there were gone...

Here's the wiki page for the Marfa Lights. Critics apparently claim that the lights are attributable to vehicular traffic; the road was darn busy when we were there and the lights didn't behave as the Anson Lights (you flash a light three times and eventually you see a light - there are a few contradictions about those as well). Disclaimer: I've not seen the Anson lights but have friends who have seen them. The earliest report of the Marfa Lights was apparently in the late 1800s and assumed to be Apache fires (so said the historical marker), but apparently they're also assumed to be the restless spirits of gold seekers. Good thing Disney doesn't have a hand in it, or it'd be a Tinkerbell pilgrimage.

blatant promotion

An Inordinate Fondness #4 is up! It is hosted by xenogere and posted in the style of a road trip. Matt submitted our Ironclad Beetle post. (This is our first submission to AIF)

Also...



The Moth and Me is now up! It is being hosted by Beetles in the Bush.

Features include our own "stunning noctuid" and "Poor Grammia"

urges

A few more glimpses from Friday: the urge to spy, the urge to... have really convincing camouflage, the urge to feed and the urge to make more beetles!



...the ID of the little pinkish and green fellow is pending, no clue about the fellow behind it. I think it's a green beetle with black spots, but didn't even notice it until looking at the photos - it was spying on the photo session with the little pinkish one! Pardon the anthropomorphism.



An unidentified moth that looks like bird poop (it was just a matter of time until another one showed up in this blog!)



These Juniper Hairstreaks have the best of both worlds - flowers, and lots of them. Walking from blossom to blossom on Antelope-Horn Milkweed (Asclepias viridis), these four butterflies are downright pampered. They were also quite complacent when approached, so more photos are likely to follow.



New to our vocabulary, the Net-winged Beetle (Lycus fernandezi). Looks a lot like the Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth from our last post, no?



Nothing like beetle procreation.

And we'll leave you with those signs of spring while we run off to the vast, frozen, north Midwest. Back in a week!

feet

Friday's CBSP trip gave us post fodder for a looong time - so there may be a few installments of the April adventure well into May. Ah well, it's exciting! So in this post I'd like to offer you feet. Yes, feet. Other posts have included plenty of my feet, so Matt's are the primary focus... at least, the creatures that investigated his feet, anyway.



Impromptu foot model, indeed. The poor Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth (Lycomorpha pholus) inadvertently mistook Matt's ankle for a delicious spot to nectar (nectar as a verb = +4 points!) ...and you're saying "that moth is black and red/orange!" and you're right. But the name is still Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth (kind of like Ring-necked Duck, whose neck-ring is invisible, their names mock us).



Great product placement, I know. First we have a nice big TEVA label and now you can see the inside ankle strap configuration. Matt's old ones were falling apart (sole was delaminating), so these shiny new ones attracted... shiny new bugs. You can tell the bug isn't "new" because something has already taken a chunk out of its shell! Lest you think this sprinting creature is too cute, its common name is Caterpillar Hunter (Calosoma scrutator). Had Matt wiggled his toes, they may have become a snack! Kidding there, I hope, but how ridiculously awesome is that name?? Unless you're a caterpillar, anyway.



Now, the pour off where Matt and I first lounged in July of 2007 is absolutely gorgeous. The biodiversity along this stretch of Colorado River tributary is astonishing. We never did ID the two snakes we came across, since neither were close nor cooperative. One in the water was large and boldly striped (almost like a broad-banded water snake, but not quite) and the tiny fellow streaking through the forest was long and slender and had three pale stripes running its length. Ribbon? Garter? Could have been either.



The fishies that I've been so smitten with are either sunfish or bluegill or known by any number of common names, and the rather large Red-eared Slider was quite at home with them. But more cooperative than any of the aforementioned critters: little aquatic invertebrates. From a distance, the rocks merely looked slightly hairy with plant growth. They're not plants at all; they're thirsty freshwater fringes of invert life!



If you didn't realize that you were looking at a limestone pour off, you might be inclined to call them anemones. They sway in flow of the water and asynchronously bend as if the water was far deeper and insignificant in their wiggles.



Beautiful little foot-mouth creatures, no?



Leeches! Seriously, who doesn't love leeches?? Okay, most people don't realize how endearing they are. They are fish food, turtle food, bird food and on rare occasion, a slight inconvenience to humans. These are apparently fond of fish due to their cylindrical shape...

"The leeches that attach to people while swimming in Texas ponds and lakes are usually those that normally parasitize water animals but will affix to swimmers when attracted by factors such as movement. Their size is typically less than one inch long or at most one and a half inches. Leeches do not transmit human diseases and skin damage is considered quite minor. Leeches that are attached to people may be merely removed by hand or encouraged to release by application of table salt."

From the "Leeches In Texas Waters" pdf
S. K. Johnson, Extension Fish Disease Specialist
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Texas A&M University



So nothing to worry about. My right ankle showed a trace of blood when we got back to the Jeep, but it could have been a scratch from vegetation as much as anything else. But because it didn't want to scab and had no visible puncture, I suppose I did my part in supporting the food chain. Since Matt's feet got all of the other "visitors," it was my turn anyway!

Your bloodthirsty water-thirsty adventurers: