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. A Cooper’s Hawk strafing the pond. 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.
2 replies on “Hot and Dry”
The Scolopsella reticulata is a weird bug!
That photo of the Eastern Kingbird is so wonderful!
2 replies on “Hot and Dry”
The Scolopsella reticulata is a weird bug!
That photo of the Eastern Kingbird is so wonderful!