Month: October 2023

Birds and Bugs

OK, also one mammal. The weather has cooled down nicely and is perfect fall weather for the Sonoran Desert. It seems every day brings something new. Just yesterday I was counting birds at Lake Ajo when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, it was a Gray Fox out in broad daylight, sauntering by the truck. Now that the full moon is past, I expect to start doing astrophotography again.

The sun was high, so the light wasn’t the best, but I whistled at the fox, and it paused for some photos.

At Highway Tank this female Brewer’s Blackbird posed for a nice photo with a nice background.

During a hike up McGrady Wash, this Loggerhead Shrike swooped by and landed in a bush. I could see it was eating something, but it was too well hidden to identify the prey. Then it flew into a creosote bush with some of its prey.

A tight crop of the image shows this. I think I can see lizard skin.

This Northern Waterthrush is the first one I’ve ever seen in the Sonoran Desert. It was at Highway Tank.

And a Cassin’s Finch at the golf course.

I put in another night at the black light with some friends and got this fly. A nocturnal fly is sort of unusual, so I photographed it. It turns out it is in the genus Ormia. From Wikipedia: Ormia is a small genus of nocturnal flies in the family Tachinidae, that are parasitoids of crickets. Flies in this genus have become model organisms in sound localization experiments because of their “ears”, which are complex structures inside the fly’s prothorax near the bases of the front legs.

A photo of the underwing of a Staghorn Cholla Moth.

Birding Blacklighting

Hot and Dry

Well, it is the desert. It has been hot. No rain in the forecast. Maybe I should have stayed in Granite Gap awhile longer but I’m here and I’m staying. For the last week highs have been around 100, record heat for this time of year. Tomorrow, it cools down and it should stay that way now. Birding has been great; one just needs to get out early before the heat builds.

This Ruddy Ground was at Highway Tank. This is the first one I’ve found on my own. I’ve seen a couple of others after following reports from other birders.

A Slate-colored Fox Sparrow at Highway Tank, this morning.

An Eastern Phoebe at Highway Tank, it has been there for a few days now. Quite a rare bird in the Sonoran Desert.

I got out with the blacklight one night. This is *Hemiphileurus illatus*, Lesser Triceratops Beetle, a species of rhinoceros beetle. Adults and larvae feed on other insects and insect eggs.

A close crop of the head showing the horns that give this species the name of Lesser Triceratops Beetle.

This strange insect had me puzzled as to whether it was a moth or a bug. It is a bug, a Hemipteran, *Scolopsella reticulata*. It is a species of planthopper, and the only member of its genus found in North America. I can find very little information about it. There are only 12 records in iNaturalist.

Birding Flowers and Plants Herps

Back in Ajo

I left Granite Gap on Monday and drove to Ajo. Before next week is over I may wish I had stayed at Granite Gap, it is going to get hot again! I suppose I will survive. I’m glad I came here though, last night we got a California Kingsnake, a species that I’ve only seen dead on the road once before. This one was smaller and easily photographed and handled. Birding has been pretty good too. There is an invasion of Red-breasted Nuthatches, and they are turning up in places where the species has never been reported, like Ajo. Previous to yesterday, there were no eBird records of Red-breasted Nuthatch in the Ajo area, I’ve now seen three.

This is the first Red-breasted Nuthatch I saw. It was in Bud Walker Park.

Yesterday Greg Gilson found this Palm Warbler at the golf course. This morning, five of us were treated to see it as it was still here. Another first for the Ajo area. Greg also saw a Golden-crowned Sparrow yesterday, but we could not find it today.

Here’s the California Kingsnake. It is very similar to the Long-nosed Snake, but the snout is shorter and the black bands go around the entire body. The white patches are wider at the bottom too.

A pair of Western Diamondbacks we found under some old plywood at the golf course.

I went to Highway Tank one day and found this lion track with a coyote track superimposed over the left toe.

While out for a hike at Granite Gap I came across this plant, something new to me. It is Stinging Serpent, *Cevallia sinuata*. The leaves are armed with spines that emit formic acid. The plants were past flowering, this is a seed head.

Another image that shows the leaves of Stinging Serpent.

Birding Insects

Still at Granite Gap

It just won’t cool down out at Ajo. It did for few days but then the heat returned. It looks like maybe next week it will start to cool down again. It has been very nice here at Granite Gap. I have lots of hummingbirds at my feeders, but only three species so far.