Some Butterflies

It's been wet, cold and rainy the past few days so here's some butterfly pics I took at Frontera on Saturday. I've heard some birder-turned-butterflier people say that butterflying is much more difficult than birding. To this I say "bull-hooey!". Gee, you get up late after they start flying, take a few pics and if you don't recognize them in the field, look 'em up when you get home. You can even catch 'em and look at them uder the dissecting scope. You don't have to get up early. You don't have to trudge all over the place. You just stand by a patch of flowers and talk to your buddies. Also, relative to birds, it's much easier to make a significant discovery because butterflies haven't been studied as much. Never the less, some of them are still cool. I like to look at them when birding is slow. Here's my first Brazilian Skipper.



Using my above mentioned identification technique, I determined this to be a Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak.



And there were a couple of Silver-banded Hairstreals around. This little guy is only about a half inch long.



Here's a Mournful Duskywing. You can tell birding is bad when I'm photographing hairstreaks and skippers.



This tiny little guy is a Blue of some kind. I wasn't smart enough to photograph the underwings so I'm not sure of the ID. I guess a real butterflier would have known to do this.

Valley Stuff

I've been all up and down the Valley this week but haven't seen anything spectacular. While guiding some nice people from England we did manage to see the Rock Wren at Anzalduas County Park. He's been hanging out in the rocks to the south of the spillway as you enter the park.



Earlier in the week I checked out the boardwalk at the SPI convention center in hopes of finding the Nelson's (Sharp-tailed) Sparrow found last Sunday. I had no luck but found some photogenic birds, like this Roseate Spoonbill.



And this Reddish Egret.



Here's a White Ibis.



I have about maxed out my camera's photographic abilities, save using a tripod and remote release, on this Black-bellied Plover.



I think these are Long-billed Dowitchers based on the rounded back.



This guy has been hanging around for several years.

Bentsen Rio Grande State Park, 11/21/09

I went to Bentsen this morning to look for the Rose-throated Becard seen yesterday. No one I ran into saw it today but I finally got the Allen's Hummingbird on my year list. This bird is spending its third consecutive winter at Bentsen.



This male Northern Parula has been seen several times over the last couple of weeks.



Bentsen is one of the best places in the Valley for Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet.



Ten or more years ago there was a smudgy faced yellowish oriole at Bentsen that was assumed to be a hybrid of Altimira and Audubon's Oriole. It was lovingly referred to as "Smudge". Since then there has alway been a smudgy oriole around except now they're oranger than the oringinal. This is "Son of Son of Smudge" (at least).



I need to start myself a butterfly list. I saw two new ones this morning. This is my first (north of Mexico) Pavon Emperor.



I don't really care to look at grass skippers too much as they hardly qualify as butterflies. But some of the spread-wing skippers are pretty cool. This is my first White-patched Skipper.



Mottled Duck 2
Blue-winged Teal 4
Ring-necked Duck 2
Plain Chachalaca 20
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Neotropic Cormorant 2
Anhinga 3
Black Vulture 5
Turkey Vulture 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Common Moorhen 4
American Coot 150
White-winged Dove 1
Inca Dove 4
White-tipped Dove 5
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Allen's Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 10
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 8
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 4
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 10
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 2
Green Jay 20
Black-crested Titmouse 1
House Wren 8
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 25
Northern Mockingbird 1
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 12
Northern Parula 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2
Black-and-white Warbler 2
Olive Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 2
Great-tailed Grackle 15
Altamira Oriole 1

Hagerman NWR, 11/19/09

On the return trip from Missouri after celebrating my dad's 80th birthday, Honey and I decided to check out Hagerman NWR in Grayson County near Dennison. What a wonderful birding area! We spend four hours there enjoying the waterfowl and sparrows. There was a large flock of about a thousand geese which provided an opportunity to take side-by-side photos of Ross' and Snow Geese.





The best bird of the afternoon was this unexpected female Rusty Blackbird in a receding mud puddle on the road to the Crow Hill Trail. State bird #517! Rusty Blackbirds are in big trouble across the country with estimates of more than 80% of the population gone for reasons unknown.





And of course there were the sparrows. I love sparrows and they are not too diverse here in the RGV. But we had ten species yesterday afternoon at Hagerman including beautiful Harris' Sparrows. Unfortunately they always like to have a twig or two in front of them.



And White-crowned Sparrow.



And Field Sparrow.



And Song Sparrow.



And Swamp Sparrow.



Greater White-fronted Goose 50
Snow Goose 1000
Ross's Goose 100
Canada Goose 7
Gadwall 20
Mallard 30
Northern Shoveler 20
Northern Pintail 200
Green-winged Teal 200
Redhead 100
Ring-necked Duck 10
Lesser Scaup 20
Bufflehead 4
Red-breasted Merganser 1
Pied-billed Grebe 2
American White Pelican 15
Double-crested Cormorant 300
Great Blue Heron 15
Great Egret 5
Black Vulture 5
Turkey Vulture 20
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 50
Black-bellied Plover 1
Killdeer 15
Greater Yellowlegs 10
Least Sandpiper 70
Dunlin 3
Wilson's Snipe 3
Bonaparte's Gull 150
Franklin's Gull 1
Herring Gull 1
Herring Gull (American) 200
Mourning Dove 30
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 5
Eastern Phoebe 2
Loggerhead Shrike 1
American Crow 25
Carolina Chickadee 3
Carolina Wren 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 50
American Pipit 50
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Field Sparrow 8
Vesper Sparrow 2
Savannah Sparrow 5
Fox Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 10
Lincoln's Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 10
Harris's Sparrow 15
White-crowned Sparrow 15
Dark-eyed Junco 5
Northern Cardinal 3
Red-winged Blackbird 200
meadowlark sp. 10
Rusty Blackbird 1
Brewer's Blackbird 20
American Goldfinch 3

Two more butterflies.

The past two mornings I've had the privilege to assist famous birder and author, Jon Dunn, with his warbler workshop presented as part of the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival. The warblers have been a bit thin these two days but we did find some cool butterfles. This Great Purple Hairstreak at Anzalduas was new one for me.



Another new one for me, north of Mexico, was this beat up Many-banded Daggerwing I found at Frontera. What's really cool is that is was a life butterfly for Jon. This is a real honor for me considering that Jon Dunn has found literally thousands of life birds for people throughout the years.

Butterflies are picking up!

During the last week or two the butterfly diversity in the Rio Grande Valley is definitely on the upswing. This brilliant Ruddy Daggerwing has been present at Frontera Audubon thicket for the past couple of days.



There were a couple of cute Red-bordered Pixies at Anzalduas this morning.



Here's a Gulf Fritilary from Frontera.



And a Variegated Fritilary.



And a buhzillion Queens continue at Frontera.



When I moved to the Valley a little over fifteen years ago I bought a little Kapok tree. It lived in a pot for half of that time and eventually got put in the ground when I moved to Weslaco. This scawny little tree finally put out a couple of flowers. Prettiest Kapok flowers I've ever seen.

Sugar House Pond, 11/7/09

I've recently discovered the Sugar House Pond on FM 1425 a mile north of Hwy 107 has water once again. And when it has water with mudflats, it's the best place in Hidalgo county for shorebirds. I visited a couple of days ago and scored 15 shorebird species, the most I've ever seen at one site in Hidalgo County.

The Sugar House is a sugar refinery for sugar cane grown in the area. Looks like a smoke belching monstrosity from a Miyasaki movie.



Lots of birds.



Best birds were five Black-bellied Plovers, ten Semipalmated Plovers, a lone Snowy Plover and two Dunlin. These are all easy to see on the coast but are tough to get here in land-locked Hidalgo county. Here's some black-bellies.



Greater White-fronted Goose 1
Northern Shoveler 50
Green-winged Teal 120
Ruddy Duck 10
Snowy Egret 1
Tricolored Heron 1
Northern Harrier 1
Merlin 1
Black-bellied Plover 5
Snowy Plover 1
Semipalmated Plover 10
Killdeer 1
Black-necked Stilt 1
American Avocet 46
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Long-billed Curlew 2
Western Sandpiper 200
Least Sandpiper 400
Dunlin 2
Stilt Sandpiper 250
Long-billed Dowitcher 250
Wilson's Phalarope 2
Horned Lark 2
American Pipit 2
Savannah Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 200
Great-tailed Grackle 100

Yturria Brush, Lower RGV NWR, 11/3/09

Checked out the Yturrias Brush tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR for the first time this morning. This area of Tamaulipan thorn-scrub is located west of La Joya on Hwy 83 just east of the Hidalgo County line. I was hoping to get some good desert stuff for Hidalgo County as it looks like a good place for Black-tailed Gnatcatchers and maybe (in summer) Varied Bunting. It also looks like a good place for wintering things like Green-tailed Towhee and Sage Thrasher. But this morning the best thing I could find was four Hermit Thrushes.



Of course the usual desert suff was there like Black-throated Sparrow and Pyrrhuloxia (and bushels of mockingbirds).





My first White-fronted Geese of the season flew over.



And there were some interesting invertebrates lik this Empress Laelia.



And this big orb-weaver spider. I gues that's what it is.



When I got home I saw my first Theona Checkerspot out in my butterfly garden.



So maybe no great birds but still a fun morning at a place that I'll check out again in a few weeks.

Greater White-fronted Goose 36
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 2
Northern Harrier 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
White-tailed Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Mourning Dove 8
Greater Roadrunner 2
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
White-eyed Vireo 3
Barn Swallow 10
Verdin 7
House Wren 18
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 9
Hermit Thrush 4
Northern Mockingbird 18
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 18
Cassin's Sparrow 1
Black-throated Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 3
Pyrrhuloxia 3

Tropical Parula at Anzalduas, 11/2/09

This morning I coaxed Honey out of our nice warm bed on her day off to go birding at Azalduas County Park south of Mission. It was a magnificent, cool clear morning. We started by walking the large field at the entrance where we were able to flush a couple of Sprague's Pipits, my first of the fall. We then walked a lap through the trees scaring up an adult Gray Hawk and finally finding a decent flock of wintering passerines with Orange-crowned, Black-and-white and Yellow-throated Warblers. I struck out on the usual Northern Beardless-Tyrannulets. We then drove to the west end of the park above the dam. Checking out the grove of trees behind the cable near the dam I was happy to find this Tropical Parula. It appears to have a bit of an eye-crescent which is not uncommon for Tropical Parulas down here.





While I was digging out up the Tropical Parula, Honey spotted a Merlin on top on the dam. We then walked north along the edge of the water and turned up the resident Black Phoebe. There wasn't much going on below the dam All in all, the park was a bit slow but it was still a good morning of birding.



Pied-billed Grebe 1
Neotropic Cormorant 1
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Anhinga 1
Snowy Egret 1
Black Vulture 3
Turkey Vulture 60
Osprey 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Gray Hawk 1
Merlin 1
American Coot 15
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 1
Rock Pigeon 50
Mourning Dove 2
Inca Dove 10
Common Pauraque 1
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 3
Black Phoebe 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 8
Couch's Kingbird 1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Green Jay 10
Bank Swallow 1
Cave Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 200
Black-crested Titmouse 3
House Wren 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 12
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5
Northern Mockingbird 3
Sprague's Pipit 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 8
Tropical Parula 1
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 6
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Eastern Meadowlark 1
meadowlark sp. 72
Great-tailed Grackle 2
Lesser Goldfinch 4

West Texas, 10/21-24/09

I had been thinking about making a run out to Big Bend to look for western Empids and maybe a late Lazuli Bunting along the river and then I heard about the Lewis's Woodpecker in Ozona so I packed up the car and took off on Wed. Well I struck out on all of them but still found some good stuff.

After missing the Lewis's Woodpecker (he may still be there as the town is full of loaded pecan's) I decided to rub salt in my wounds by starting a Lewis's Woodpeckerless Crockett County list. I wound up with 35 species in a couple of hours including a SAGE THRASHER on Hwy 290 west of Ozona. A half mile east of the Pecos on 290 I was surprised too find this cute little BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. And under the bridge over the Pecos on the Crocket County side was a GREEN KINGFISHER. Not sure how often they are seen out there.



Got back on I-10 at Sheffield as a cold front was passing through. I drove through a bit of rain and after a bit could see clear skies ahead. Then in my rearview mirrow I saw the most incredible rainbow. And ahead of me was the most incredible sunset. Certainly a good omen.





Spent the night in Fort Stockton and headed out early to Lake Balmorhea with visions of scoters, jaegers and rare gulls in my head. Well, I didn't find any of those either. But I was pleased to see this cool CRISSAL THRASHER near the wash on the west side of the dam. It's been many years since I've seen one.



The most unusual thing I found was two very late BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS. Excuse the pic as the birds were 100 yards away.



Ross's Goose 2
Gadwall 10
American Wigeon 10
Mallard (Mexican) 2
Northern Shoveler 10
Redhead 5
Ring-necked Duck 3
Lesser Scaup 10
Ruddy Duck 63
Scaled Quail 6
Pied-billed Grebe 6
Eared Grebe 2
Western Grebe 1
Clark's Grebe 1
Western/Clark's Grebe 110
Neotropic Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 12
Osprey 3
Northern Harrier 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Kestrel 1
American Coot 250
Black-bellied Plover 2
Killdeer 24
Spotted Sandpiper 6
Greater Yellowlegs 4
Long-billed Curlew 5
Least Sandpiper 2
Long-billed Dowitcher 1
Ring-billed Gull 4
Greater Roadrunner 3
Belted Kingfisher 4
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 10
Say's Phoebe 1
Vermilion Flycatcher 3
Loggerhead Shrike 1
Chihuahuan Raven 3
Barn Swallow 400
Verdin 2
Bewick's Wren 3
Marsh Wren 13
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher 3
Northern Mockingbird 2
Crissal Thrasher 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 4
Common Yellowthroat 2
Green-tailed Towhee 1
Spotted Towhee 1
Canyon Towhee 2
Vesper Sparrow 1
Black-throated Sparrow 5
Lark Bunting 30
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 6
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-crowned Sparrow 5
Pyrrhuloxia 5
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Eastern Meadowlark 12
Brewer's Blackbird 15
Great-tailed Grackle 30
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
House Sparrow 2

I raced through the Davis Mountains as I wanted to get to Big Bend before dark. East of Fort Davis on Hwy 118 I stopped to bird the long pond along the highway and was surprised to see two TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES pass overhead. I quickly let out a pish and one of them stopped briefly allowing me to see the eyering and wingpatches.

Spent the night in Cottonwood Campground in Big Bend Nation Park. I was awakened by a loud pair of GREAT HORNED-OWLS and the purring of an EASTERN SCREECH-OWL. The campground turned up a lot of good birds. Here's a BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER.



In the tree tobacco was my mystery hummer that I originally thought might be a Costa's but has been called an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD by the two people who have responded to my ID request. I'm still open as to the ID. The very straight bill and pale eye-arc would point to Anna's, but at the time I thought it was too small.



Then by the campground registration board along the river was this unexpected BROWN THRASHER (or is it a Long-billed?) I thought it was too rusty and the "smack" call seemed thinner than what I am used to hearing from the Long-bills down here in Weslaco.



Then about 50 yards upstream I saw a GRAY CATBIRD. There were also several CAROLINA WRENS. Their song is a little different from what I am used to hearing in the RGV.



Driving up river to Santa Elena Canyon I stopped and pished a lot in the patches of tall Johnson-like grass and in the groves of salt cedars and mesquite. Here I found my second mystery bird which I think is a BAIRD'S SPARROW. I never saw it from the front and the habitat didnt' seem right but the back looks good. The broad pale edgings and rufous on the flight feathers and the two white lines in the back are significant. Looking through a lot of photos on the internet Baird's seems to fit best. It may have been a migrant passing through. A MERLIN passed overhead and gave good looks.



Then at the picnic area for Santa Elaena Canyon, behind the next to last picnic table as you loop counterclockwise around the bathrooms, was this sharp RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER. He had some wells drilled and looked like he might be there for the winter.



As I headed back to park headquarters I was shocked to see the lonely female MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD. It was just a bit east of the turnoff to the Basin.



I decided I needed to head for home and thought I would make a quick run over to Fort Pena Colorado park (The Post). There was nothing unusual there but just south of Marathon at the turnoff to the cemetary were six more MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS. I had two more a bit down the road and two more on Hwy 90 just east of Marathon.



Here's my Cottonwood Campground list.

Mallard (Mexican) 4
Great Blue Heron 1
Cooper's Hawk 2
Sandhill Crane 2
Spotted Sandpiper 1
White-winged Dove 1
Mourning Dove 2
Inca Dove 4
Greater Roadrunner 3
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Great Horned Owl 2
Common Nighthawk 1
Anna's Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 3
Black Phoebe 1
Vermilion Flycatcher 2
Chihuahuan Raven 7
Barn Swallow 2
Verdin 1
Carolina Wren 3
Bewick's Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
American Robin 5
Gray Catbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 20
Black-throated Gray Warbler 1
House Finch

Here's my list from Cottonwood Campground to Santa Elena Canyon

Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 2
Merlin 1
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Mourning Dove 1
Greater Roadrunner 3
Red-naped Sapsucker 1
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 3
Black Phoebe 1
Say's Phoebe 3
Ash-throated Flycatcher 1
Loggerhead Shrike 2
Chihuahuan Raven 2
Rock Wren 2
Canyon Wren 1
Carolina Wren 2
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher 5
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 15
Green-tailed Towhee 3
Vesper Sparrow 1
Black-throated Sparrow 5
Baird's Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 3
Northern Cardinal 8
Pyrrhuloxia 3

Here's my Crockett County list

Wild Turkey X
Turkey Vulture X
Cooper's Hawk X
Red-tailed Hawk X
American Kestrel X
Rock Pigeon X
Eurasian Collared-Dove X
Mourning Dove X
Belted Kingfisher X
Green Kingfisher X
Golden-fronted Woodpecker X
Ladder-backed Woodpecker X
Northern Flicker X
Vermilion Flycatcher X
Loggerhead Shrike X
Verdin X
Bewick's Wren X
Ruby-crowned Kinglet X
Northern Mockingbird X
Sage Thrasher X
European Starling X
Orange-crowned Warbler X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Blackburnian Warbler X
Spotted Towhee X
Canyon Towhee X
Chipping Sparrow X
Vesper Sparrow X
Lark Sparrow X
Black-throated Sparrow X
Northern Cardinal X
Pyrrhuloxia X
Yellow-headed Blackbird X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
House Sparrow X

Looks like it may be an interesting winter in west Texas.