Final Four; Southern Dogface

In the three hours we spent birding and butterflying Warbler Woods, you probably wouldn't think we had a week's worth of posting material! We could, but we'll spare you. These next photos are a bit tricky, bear with me: Southern Dogface (Zerene cesonia) is the butterfly below... all 1.5 of them.



Those angles aren't stellar but they show you what we saw; a confusing jumble of too-many-wings for one butterfly, but not-enough-wings for two. As best we can tell, the male Southern Dogface was "snacked" mid copulation by either a dragonfly, or more likely, a bird. This is a bit distressing for the observer because this means the female is now dragging around extra weight. And unable to detach from the male's body, she's unable to lay eggs. So somewhere there will be a very happy bird who will snack on a bug-and-a-half when she goes.



Morbid, eh? Next post won't be.

Final Four; bluebonnets

Matt's post, "a few bugs of the Final Four" offered photos of dancing Bordered Patches and Vesta/Graphic Crescents. No bluebonnets? Well, here they are!



Voila, the seasonal photo of bluebonnet goodness! Our visit to Warbler Woods was punctuated with scattered meadows crammed full of bluebonnets. They're quite a nice pick for the state flower of Texas since they have a lovely, full cluster of blossoms. Even their aroma is etched into my brain as a "happy smell" (right up there with gardenias and mimosa trees).



More love for the bluebonnets. Any guesses on the spider ID? While we're guessing ID, the flowers below could also use the help. It was all I could do to resist crawling through each patch of flowers and trying to get every different kind; we would have been there forever and barely covered any ground!



As usual, there was plenty of scat to be seen. Yet in all of the central-Texas scat-poking, the cluster of sow bugs/pill bugs was something I hadn't seen before. It was reminiscent of the dung beetle party witnessed last summer, with sow bugs replacing dung beetles. Whatever had been eaten to produce the scat was furry but without any bones visible to ID it, and not wanting to crash the party, we left the turds undisturbed.

That sounded awkward... have a flower?

San Antonio nightlife

Post-game adventures involved walking from the stadium back to the hotel, with a slight detour to breathe the quiet moments that the Alamo doesn't often have.



It's really quite a lovely structure, sadly surrounded by urban madness these days. The couple next to the flagpole were so photogenic - since it was Easter Sunday, a few folks were still milling around in their church garb, this family being among the last of the evening crowd.

Our hotel, Emily Morgan was across the street on the NW side of the mission; you can see the top corner in the photo below. It looked remarkably vacant from the outside, day as well as night.



These photos give you an idea of what my camera was up against. I'm certainly not fluent in nocturnal photography, nor playing with the timer on the camera... but the results were still pretty cool. Our Baylor shirts outshined the Alamo because we were just at the edge of the street light's path!



If you feel brave, here are a few more artistic attempts:



These last few posts have probably contained the most of "Matt and Heidi" that you'll ever see. The next few posts may contain a few more token photos to appease the relatives who say we post more creepy-crawlies than cute-fuzzies, but it's quite debatable whether or not we count as cute-fuzzies! (Collins, the Bluebonnet photo will be up soon; it counts!)



The above angle cracked me up; Monday morning as we headed out, our line of sight just happened to involve the Crockett Hotel sign appearing just above the Alamo. Sneaky!

Final Four

Since we were very conveniently located in downtown San Antonio, Matt and I did the obligatory tour d' River Walk: we paused in front of the Alamo for our standard tourist shot. I hadn't seen the Alamo since a class field trip in 4th grade; it looked the same, surrounded by too much civilization. After scooting through the Marriott shops to get to the crowds of UCONN fans, we gawked at Cave Swallows nesting under bridges and a Yellow-crowned Night Heron selecting twigs for its nest. Classic River Walk experience, no?



Here are the photos that everyone* has been waiting for; the stadium and our view from within said stadium. Not sure if they're still calling it the Alamodome, but at least it doesn't sound as random as Minute Maid Park!
* everyone = people who know I'm the least sports-oriented person ever



And here's a lovely shot of the loudest Baylor fans in the entire stadium:



Thankfully, on our way down to San Antonio, we had stopped at Oma's Haus in New Braunfels for lunch and ended up taking a "fudge strudel" - good thing. After the 70:50 game, we needed a consolation snack! Sorry, no photos of that delicious piece of heaven-in-a-pastry.

Final Four, the preparation

About that Final Four... I married into a very Beary Baylor family and wouldn't you know, my Jeep had some adjusting to do as well. Oh yes.



I must have felt bad about not making the Houston game (was under the weather anyway) to support the men while they were clobbered by Duke. Matt was able to go with his father and brother-in-law, at least. In addition to wanting to support the women, Coach Mulkey told everyone to be there and we certainly couldn't decline. So, San Antonio it was!



Here's the view from our corner room at the Emily Morgan Hotel: can you guess the Baylor fan?



...when we continue with our next Final Four post, there will be obligatory Alamo photos of the happy couple. And photos from the game. And probably some fuzzy evidence that my camera has some handy night settings.

before the Final Four

With little down time between the Baylor men playing in Houston, our anniversary and the Final Four... a few things slipped between the cracks. With an early trip to Meridian State Park, we saw one "after hatch year" (AHY) male Golden-cheeked Warbler (Dendroica chrysoparia) (nearly a month later than our first sighting last year). Also starting to show up, Juniper Hairstreaks (Callophrys gryneus):



The Trudell & York family, enjoying the spring weather:



For evidence of our pseudo-elopement, check out "let them eat cake." We tried to do some normal anniversary type things, like waiting a year after the marriage to finally combine dinner and a concert. Our usual bread pudding stop at Buzzard Billy's was delicious, and Waco hosts a series of free summer concerts along the Brazos (the Brazos Nights concerts), so until next year:



The opening act was Lucas Nelson & Promise of the Real; yes, that's Willie Nelson's son. The main draw was Waco native Wade Bowen, and the after-concert attraction was a Longhorn Beetle (of the Cerambycidae).



...and one of these posts we'll even get caught up on San Antonio.

A few bugs of the Final Four

... or at least a few butterflies.

Heidi and I made it down to San Antonio to help support the women's basketball team of Baylor University. While the freshman and sophomore weighted Bears lost to the University of Connecticut's experienced basketball machine that quite possibly is the best of all time we had a blast at the NCAA Final Four held in the Alamodome.

We also visited a property north of San Antonio in Guadalupe County. Much of the state is in the lull between the first arrivals of individual avian migrant species and the throngs of the rest yet to come; however, butterflies have really begun to emerge the past couple of weeks. This proved true for us late one morning on our way back north to Central Texas.

One of my favorite butterfly species is Chlosyne lacinia or Bordered Patch. We encountered at least 15 individuals of this species on our walk through the property.




The above shows a female Bordered Patch giving a "flutter response" to a male.
For the wikipedia entry on Ultraviolet Communication click HERE.

Many butterfly species are sexually dimorphic.
Some species are distinctly dimorphic in coloration. While others may be less so, with perhaps just a slight difference in size. The latter is often the case, like the Bordered Patch..



and Phyciodes graphica, the Vesta Crescent pictured below



Sometimes the differential is so minute, you just have to be there.

Anyways, the following list comprised the butterfly species we came across on 5 April 2010 that late morning and early afternoon in Guadalupe County, TX:

Nathalis iole, Dainty Sulphur, numerous
Phyciodes graphica, Vesta Crescent, ~10
Phyciodes phaon ,Phaon Crescent, 1
Battus philenor, Pipevine Swallowtail
Vanessa virginiensis, American Lady
Vanessa atalanta, Red Admiral
Chlosyne lacinia, Bordered Patch
Atalopedes campestris, Sachem, 1 fem
Zerene cesonia, Southern Dogface
Anaea andria, Goatweed Leafwing, still several of these out though a number are getting worn
Callophrys gryneus, Juniper Hairstreak, 1
Agraulis vanillae, Gulf Fritillary, 1
Erynnis funeralis, Funereal Duskywing
Pyrgus communis/albescens, Common/White Checkered-Skipper
Colias eurytheme, Orange Sulphur
Celotes nessus, Common Streaky-Skipper
Venessa cardui, Painted Lady
Strymon melinus, Gray Hairstreak
Papilio glaucus, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Pieris rapae, Cabbage White

We've had so much precipitation this winter that things should only get better as the year progresses.

Heidi and I have a shared favorite; a distinctive little bug of parts of the southwest:

Celotes nessus, Common Streaky-Skipper



The psychedelic patterning of spots and linear arrays give it an almost crinkled appearance. In many places, sometimes with mottled shade, this patterning nearly completely breaks up its shape. This may cause a casual observer or predator to wonder where that little bug, or snack, disappeared to.



In these photos, the skipper tends to stand out. Then again, we know where this one is within the frame and we are talking about it. One does wonder at times, when the insect is re-found, how one ever lost sight of it in the first place. Its patterning stands out so.

If you are down in this part of the continent, you may have just walked by one.
We only found two over several hours this day. Our usual less-than-frequent encounter is generally with a single individual.

The streaky-skipper was a nice little anniversary bug for us on the way back home from our weekend.

The State of the Birds 2010 Report