Last night, Charlie Miller came out to join me for some black lighting for insects. He got here about dark and almost immediately heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl calling. Of course, I couldn’t hear it, but he guided us to where it was and soon we were standing under it. I could hear it quite well then. It stayed high in a pine, I was able to get some photos. That is the first saw-whet I’ve seen in a long time. The black lighting was kind of slow but we got some interesting things. As always, a larger image can be seen by right clicking and opening in a new tab.
The Northern Saw-whet Owl. Charlie was sure he could hear two but we only saw one. A few days ago, I went up by Government Hill for a hike. Two Prairie Falcons started harassing me, I got a pretty good shot of one flying straight at me. In a muddy stock pond, I saw this clump of Broadleaf Arrowhead, I thought it made a nice photo. Hypoprepia miniata, Scarlet-winged Lichen Moth. As the name suggests, larvae feed on lichens. Parthenice Tiger Moth, Apantesis parthenice. Will be a new South Dakota record for BugGuide. A Western Wood-Pewee posing on a lichen covered branch.
Today my brother Ted was here, having come up from Rapid City to work on the communications tower north of my campsite. We were sitting outside visiting when I noticed a different species of swallowtail flying around. At first, I thought it was an Anise Swallowtail. It landed and I got a few photos. Later, I was checking the photos and determined that it was actually an Old World Swallowtail, also referred to as Baird’s Swallowtail, which is the subspecies that occurs in this area. This is a lifer butterfly for me! The Old World Swallowtail is found across Asia, Europe, and western North America, nearly the entire palearctic region. It is the only species of swallowtail in most of Europe. There are over 40 recognized subspecies. Unlike the nearly identical Anise Swallowtail (for which the larval food is plants in the Parsley family), the larvae of the Old World Swallowtail feed on various species of sagebrush and sageworts.
My first clue was the black spot in the orange eye of the hindwing. In an Anise Swallowtail, that black spot is centered. In the Old World Swallowtail, the black spot is on the border. I got more photos, some showing the underwing and abdomen. The Anise Swallowtail has a mostly black abdomen; the Old World Swallowtail has a yellow abdomen with black stripes. There are other differences too but are more subtle and not as easy to pick out. A nice frame filler! I surely didn’t expect to get a lifer butterfly out here in the Slim Buttes, but I did. An Anise Swallowtail from the Black Hills, for comparison.
Today I went for a long hike, off trail and down canyon. I ended up at Puckeroo Spring. I wanted to see if I could find the old Doc Hodge house. Doc Hodge was what we would call a naturopathic doctor nowadays. He was apparently friendly with the Sioux and learned about their methods of treating disease and injuries. He lived in a house in what is now Doc Hodge Draw. There is a Doc Hodge Spring too. I could see the remains of the house in Google maps and wanted to see it for myself. It is on private land, so I just looked from high spots along the fence line with the National Forest Service property. I can find almost nothing on the internet about Doc Hodge, and no photos of the old house. I did find this comment in an article in South Dakota Magazine.
Untamed Harding County April 19, 2016 By John Andrews
Scott B Besler said:
In reply to Wayne Rosby’s question about the Doc Hodge place. Doc Hodge was an herbal doctor to whom many swore loyalty for curing illness and aches during those early years in Harding County. The Hodges had a ranch there along with Doc Hodges hospital/infirmary. The ranch stayed in the family for a number of years and is now part of the Lermeny ranch. My grandmother gave Doc Hodge credit for his treatment of my mother when she was a young girl and contracted Scarlet Fever. She said his herbal treatment lowered her high fever and may have saved her life. I too am obviously happy about that or I might not be here.
It just happens that I met Wayne Rosby and his wife, Dorothy, a few days ago. Charlie Miller stopped in with them and we had a nice visit. Dorothy is Charlie’s sister. At the time I didn’t even think to ask them about Doc Hodge’s house.
Here’s a satellite image from Google Maps, showing the old house. Not much to see here, but I guess this is it. This was taken from the ridge above Puckeroo Spring. All the trees look closer to the house than they do in the Google Map image, but that is probably just the telephoto lens effect. I’m not entirely sure this is the same building. I could see this from the fence line. Scott Besler’s comment indicated a hospital/infimary, whether it was part of the house or separate, I have no idea. That big tree in the background looks like the same tree in the first photo, as does the leaning tree on the right side of the photo. I can see the old stone walls in the Google Map image too.
July 15 and I’m still in the same place, Slim Buttes, Custer National Forest, Harding County, South Dakota, USA, Earth. I still haven’t had a good night for astrophotography. Today smoke from the Canadian forest fires rolled in, it is not helping. There isn’t much new here. I went into Buffalo this morning for groceries, water, gas and ice. On the highway I saw lots of Chestnut-collared Longspurs that I haven’t seen before. A few nights back, a series of thunderstorms came through, the second storm started dropping hail, some were up to 2 inches diameter. No damage here though, but a lot of rain.
A Rock Wren that has just captured a grasshopper. I watched it dismantle the insect and eat it. Wildflowers are still abundant. The Purple Coneflower is about done but the Wild Bergamot (Horsemint) is coming on strong now. This photo is of Upright Prairie Coneflower, Ratibida columnifera. I put in another night with the blacklight. This is Harris’ Three-Spot, Harrisimemna trisignata. It is a very distinctive moth, nothing to be confused with it. The larvae feed on various woody plants, including wild raisin, winterberry, bush honeysuckle, black willow, white ash and apple, none of which I have seen in the Slim Buttes. This is a more eastern species and will be a first SD record for BugGuide when I get it entered. Also a first SD record for iNaturalist. American Bird’s-Wing Moth, Dypterygia rozmani. Larval food is various docks and smartweed. Another nocturnal species of burying beetle, Nicrophorus pustulatus. It is the only species in the genus Nicrophorus that is known to raise its young on food sources other than carrion. The beetle is known to utilize snake eggs to raise the young. Also reported to be a brood parasite of other Nicrophorus species. Like most burying beetles, this one is carrying a load of phoretic mites. Phoresis by mites serves only as a means of transportation, in this case to a food source, carrion.
Last night I set up the blacklight. Since the butterflies were abundant, I thought maybe the moths would be too. And they were. I have far too many photographs of new moths to post here. I photographed 16 species that were new for me! I was hoping to get an Io Moth but that didn’t happen, but I did get some really nice sphinx moths that I’ve never seen before. Maybe tonight I can get an Io Moth. I’ve been using iNaturalist to get a quick ID on most of these moths and it is working very well, highly recommended!
This was the most exciting species, Aechemon Sphinx. Larval food is various species in the grape family. This is a big moth! I’ve never seen one before. This is a smaller sphinx moth, the Vashti Sphinx. The larval food plant is snowberry. Another new species for me. A Waved Sphinx. Larva feed on ash and hawthorn, both of which are present in the area. Zeller’s Macalla Moth, Macalla zelleri. Another new species for me. Larval food plant is poison ivy, which is very abundant here. Common Lytrosis Moth, Lytrosis unitaria. A strange looking moth, one of the larval food plants is hawthorn, which is found in the Slim Buttes. This will be a first South Dakota record for BugGuide when I get it entered. Nicrophorus orbicollis, a species of burying beetle, carrying a lot of phoretic mites. Large Lace-border Moth, Scopula limboundata. This will also be new BugGuide record for South Dakota when I get it entered. This is my big butterfly find, a Striped Hairstreak from a couple of days ago. I’ve only seen two of these before and neither one of those was very cooperative. This one was, I got lots of photos with the 100mm macro and ringflash.
I left Pierre yesterday and drove to the Slim Buttes. There has been some good rain out here and the flowers are abundant as are the butterflies. After being in Pierre for almost 2 months, the quiet out here is welcome. There are no trains, barking dogs, loud vehicles, airplanes, or other noisy things. Just birds and the wind. This morning, I went for a walk and got 26 species of birds. My eBird checklist is here. I hope for a few clear nights so I can do some astrophotography in the dark skies of Harding County.
I found this Plains Garter Snake in a puddle on the road, I’m not sure what it was doing but it refused to leave the water. Butterflies are really abundant. Here’s a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell. A Two-tailed Swallowtail nectaring on a thistle. Aphrodite Fritillary.Great Spangled Fritillary.While in Pierre, I took one trip out to the Fort Pierre National Grasslands. Here’s a Burrowing Owl that was harassing me about being too close to its nest hole. This is Wedgeleaf Frogfruit, Phyla cuneifolia. It was growing in a prairie dog colony near Richland Dam. This location is the farthest north this species has been reported, according the iNaturalist. Typically a species of the southwest, the Navajo reportedly used it to treat spider bites. A Marbled Godwit. I’m experimenting with some new software for astrophotography. StarXterminator lets me remove the stars for processing then add them back. NoiseXterminator is a much better method of reducing noise. I think the results are impressive on the North America Nebula, which I took several years ago. Now if I can just get some astrophotography done! The weather has not been cooperative.
I’ve been checking on a patch of Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) and photographing insects on the flowers. Although the plant is poisonous to most mammals, including humans, the flowers are very attractive to insects. All parts of the plant are toxic to mammals and can cause cardiac arrest if eaten. It is a member of the Apocynaceae family and other plants in the family are also poisonous. Dogbane is a host plant for many insects, including the Snowberry Clearwing Moth. Although I found many species of flies, the lack of bees is quite concerning. Not much is known about most of these species, just a name and a distribution. It is fun and challenging photographing them; I used a 100mm f2.8 macro and a ringflash.
A soldier fly, Odontomyia cincta.Hobomok Skipper. Common Thick-leg Fly, Tropidia quadrata. This is a species of hover fly. Larvae are aquatic. Broad-headed Marsh Fly, Helophilus latifrons.Yellow-shouldered Drone Fly, Eristalis stipator.Clay-colored Leaf Beetle, Anomoea laticlavia. According to comments in BugGuide, larvae are myrmecophiles having an association with ants of the genus Formica.
I’ve been back in South Dakota for two weeks now. Amazingly, I’ve added two new birds to my state life list. It is hard just to add one species to that list, after birding in this state for over 50 years. I’m now up to 372 species seen in South Dakota. I also keep three county life lists, and both of those species were added to my Hughes County list, which is at 316.
The first one I added was White-winged Dove. This species is showing up more often in South Dakota in recent years. I could probably have added it a long time ago if I wanted to drive a long way chasing reports. But I just waited and eventually got it right here in Pierre. There were actually two of them. Thanks to Charlie Bessken for this bird! This one was a complete surprise. A Mississippi Kite at Farm Island, a very rare bird in South Dakota. My sister Susan Leach and her husband Rick also saw it. I’m not sure if Charlie Bessken saw it but she was there too. A take-off shot, showing plumage typical of a subadult Mississippi Kite. This is the best photo I’ve taken since I got back, a Red-headed Woodpecker that posed nicely.
I left Valley of Fires on Saturday and drove north into Colorado, stopping for the night at the Timpas picnic area. Timpas picnic area is actually a Forest Service (Comanche National Grassland) picnic area/campground of sorts, there are some picnic tables, shelters, a restroom, interpretive signs, and best of all, some pretty good birding. It was here, many years ago, that I got my lifer Cassin’s Sparrow. I saw some again on this stop, along with abundant Lark Buntings, some Curve-billed and Sage Thrashers, meadowlarks, and others. For me, the Cassin’s Sparrow was the most interesting.
Timpas is open for camping and is free and quiet. There is no water and no phone/internet service. There is a railroad that runs close by, but every time I’ve stayed there the only train is an Amtrak that comes by around 8 PM. I left Timpas early this morning and drove to Red Willow State Park near McCook. I like this park but it sure is expensive, $42.00 a night. At least it is quiet. After free camping in the Sonoran Desert all winter, I shouldn’t complain.
I got some pretty good photos of Cassin’s Sparrows. They aren’t much to look at, but their song makes up for that. They fly high in the sky, like Lark Buntings, while singing. I saw more Eastern Collared Lizards at Valley of Fires. This one is a large male but lacking any color. I’ve read about melanistic individuals living in areas of dark rocks, maybe this is one of them. This is a blister beetle, Epicauta atrivittata. I saw a couple of them on the walls of the restroom at Valley of Fires. There isn’t much information on this beetle, it is known to feed on mesquites and some species of nightshade. Also, at Valley of Fires, Red Barberry. The Apache ate the fruits and made a yellow dye from the roots. I came across two different plants named after the same botanist, Augustus Fendler. I got curious about him and found out that he led quite an adventurous life. Here’s a LINK to a Wikipedia article about him. This flower is Fendler’s Desert Dandelion, Malacothrix fendleri. And here is Fendler’s Penstemon, Penstemon fendleri.
I left the RV park this morning, undecided about where to go next. I had almost decided to make a long day’s drive but a check of the campground at Valley of Fires Recreation Area revealed several vacant campsites, one of which I took. My total miles of driving today is only 64 miles. This is a great campground, electric sites are $18.00 and with my senior pass only $9.00. I paid for two days. I stopped here a year ago and saw my lifer Eastern Collared Lizard, so I was hoping to see more and get better photos, this time of a more colorful male. Well, that all worked out and even more.
Almost the first lizard I found was this female Eastern Collared Lizard, just like the one I saw a year ago. Maybe it was the same one. It let me get very close. I walked down a small canyon, and it wasn’t long before I found this guy, a nice male Eastern Collared Lizard. This one did not let me get close. He kept trying to hide on the other side of whatever rock he was on. I waited him out, after about half an hour he came back out. This photo was taken when a small cloud went over the sun.Male Eastern Collared Lizard, another view. Finally, he climbed back up on top and did some pushups. I took lots of photos in full sunlight. Now that I know where he lives, I may take the 500 f4 down there tomorrow. This one was a surprise, a Twin-spotted Spiny Lizard. A lifer for me. There is another spiny lizard that occurs in this area, the Crevice Spiny Lizard, which so far has eluded me.
