Mystery Bird

From about 10 am until nearly 10:30, our site was visited by this bird:



Unhelpful hint: it's standing under Heidi's tripod.

Answer will be posted on the 21st!

last of the box

We saw these birds from the transport box:



Into hand:



Into the box:



Peeking into the box:



And now this:



Growing so fast, no?

Mystery Butterfly

Your only hint: it was a life butterfly for Heidi, not for Matt.



Answer will be posted on the 20th.

days go by

"The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it. The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering." - Aldo Leopold

Apologies for the lag in posts - our babies have left the box! So we had a few days of waking up at 6 am and going to bed around 11, followed by more of the same.



Of 7 falcons released on the 10th, 5 are still accounted for. Of 7 falcons released on the 11th, 5 are accounted for. All 10 of those accounted for ate heartily this morning. One is even starting to chase beetles on the ground(!)

In other news:

The roads have yielded roadkill javelina, plenty of live gigantic red/yellow millipedes, the occasional tarantula, and on Friday night our first snake. It was tiny, fast moving, and gone by the time we turned around to look for it. For a rainy 67 degree evening, hopefully it found warmth and shelter quickly! Only two or three stereotypical desert toads have been seen, but tonight while unloading gear after our evening observation, Matt found and brought me a little spadefoot type toad (herp folks, we need your help! we have no herp guide!) ...that was the 9th. On the 10th, Matt found a crazy looking Vinegarroon (looks like a scorpion on the front, but has a looong pointy vinegar-shooting needle-like tail). On the 11th we were visited by a whiptail lizard of some sort and a teeeny little walking stick. On the 12th, we had a very cooperative [name withheld for photo quiz] butterfly. The 13th provided me with my "life" [Western] Mexican Hog-nosed Snake!



Mystery Toad!

We've had Mule Deer and crazy grasshoppers, a splendid abundance of different weevils, plenty of dragonflies that never land (orange shadowdragons?) and the heat-of-day hum of cicadas.



Vinegarroon - wiki link

The site has also provided ample Vesta Crescents, tiny orb weaver type spiders, two flyover Long-billed Curlews, one flyover Willet and one other flyover non-Killdeer wader that never cooperated. Add the teal (silhouetted, sadly) we saw on our way to work on the 10th and it's feels almost coastal! ...almost.



Tiny walking stick.

Today we had our first Texas Horned Lizard, first chance to update the blog for a while... the usual madness. Hopefully we'll get the lizard and some snake photos posted soonish. Until then, a few posts are scheduled to pop up in the next few days regardless of whether or not we have access, so enjoy!

Brace for 2 photo quizzes coming soon!

a peek at k8

One bird in the first release group is K8 - you can see the bands on 59 and OK clearly in this snippet, but K8 is the restless alpha female you see at the end (actually, the only female in the group). Her constant pacing and impatient hopping around often leaves other birds wondering how they were knocked from their perch. She's feisty. This morning most of her tail feathers were a few inches shorter - in the final moments of the video below, you can see some of them starting to break.



It won't impact her much, since baby feathers are fairly weak to begin with. They just grow super quickly and it takes a lot of energy to get them out so fast. Adult feathers are slower to come in and of a much higher quality.

[will add two more photos here when I get a chance!]

EDIT:





In the lower photo, you can see the quail board in the background - we slide a little wooden tray into the box so the falcons never see us. Quail are zip-tied to the board so the birds won't pull them all off the board... it prevents buildup of nasty, over-ripe, smelly quail pieces. Aren't you glad you asked?

One More Face

Not a member of the genus Falco.


Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata)

Heidi and I came across this guy on the property we work on. It seems if there is a turtle species that follows the two of us around, it's this guy. We love meeting this organism each time we are granted the opportunity.

There are a few of them around with all the rain. It was actually nice to find this one on private property rather than the side of the highway, hoping to cross.

It was mentally refreshing to see this terrestrial turtle. To be reminded of good things.
There are many turtle species that live on this land mass, not on the waters surrounding it.
Then there are the unfortunate souls, equal (in the least) to ours, that are in the Gulf of Mexico.
They are very closely related to fellow beings I worked with, lived among, and maneuvered around while on Tern Island of the French Frigate Shoals atoll. LINK.
Sadness.
I've yet to re-shape the particular and unique anger, so heart-hurting, that this BP event has formed in my core. It is only related to it and nothing else. I will continue to work on it. Presently, its shape remains the same.

Alright... back to life. Back to these young falcons Heidi and I are privileged to associate with. Good times. Good work. Good things.

That which is beyond Self.

Good evening.

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.

faces

Here are a few more snippets from yesterday's transfer -



These birds all hatched in the June 1-4 span, so they're almost ready to adventure out and figure out what this life is all about. You can tell from the videos that they really are Not Thrilled about this handling and going from box to box with [un]pleasantries exchanged...




Overall, this is a project that *does* something. Allow me to explain. For example, a baby ocelot or jaguar born in a zoo will stay in a zoo. It will live out its life in relatively crowded conditions (compared to wild ranges), it will be subjected to constant human contact, never be able to roam its own native habitat...



I've worked with Attwater's Prairie Chickens, nearly doomed to extinction by urban sprawl, fencing, overgrazing, and loss of prairie (and trees, among other things). They are essentially found in only 2 places - dedicated preserves where they are heavily repopulated, and captive breeding projects.




So to antagonize young falcons may be temporarily unpleasant for them, but they will live the life of a falcon. Their species still exists in the wild, their habitat still remains. They will not be shuffled off to other captive breeding programs because their survival in the wild is impossible. Yet these are the last of the Endangered falcons in North America - Peregrines were de-listed a while ago.



...ponder these faces and think about how it's easier to save habitat before something is Endangered, because once the habitat and ecology surrounding a critter are gone, you need all of that in place for reintroduction. If that is even possible. Otherwise, if captivity is the last chance for the species, is it really surviving at all? Or are we, as humans in general, simply setting aside a feeling of guilt with captive populations because the critters are not technically Extinct?