Category: Birding

Butterflies Galore

Today I drove out to a place I call 8115 Arroyo. It seems to have no name on maps but there is BLM Road 8115 that goes to it, so I have made a name for it. I’ve been watching the summer monsoon storms on radar for the last three or four months and this area has got quite a lot of rain. It shows too, the vegetation in the arroyo is lush and green, the spiny hackberry are loaded with green fruit that is just starting to ripen and should be attracting birds soon. The numbers of butterflies was amazing. It was mostly American Snouts and Cloudless Sulphurs, but I also saw Queens, Sonoran Metalmarks, Empress Leilia, Southern Dogface, Mexican Yellows, Gray Hairstreak, Leda Ministreak, and Pipevine Swallowtail. I saw my first ever caterpillar of a Pipevine Swallowtail too. The abundance of American Snouts was just amazing, sometimes hundreds on a single plant.

I don’t think I have seen this before, at least not in flower. Texas Virgin’s Bower, *Clematis drummondii*. There was lot of it flowering in 8115 Arroyo. Butterflies seemed to ignore it though.

Here’s the Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillar. I had to post it on BugGuide to find out what it was. It is a large caterpillar, it was on Chuckwalla Delight. Throughout the arroyo, Chuckwalla Delight was attracting lots of butterflies.

I can walk by hundreds of butterflies of many species but when I find a Sonoran Metalmark I have to start taking photos. The flower is Chuckwalla’s Delight.

It isn’t often I can get shots of the underside of a Sonoran Metalmark, the light wasn’t very good here.

I took more photos of the Lewis’s Woodpeckers at the golf course, now there are four of them.

A Cloudless Sulphur nectaring on Hummingbird Trumpet.

Astrophotography Birding Herps Photography

A Skull and a Snake, Among Other Things

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date October 12, 2021

Birding has really improved with the latest storm. Today I saw two American White Pelicans at the ponds (first time ever for Ajo) and two Lewis’s Woodpeckers at the golf course, only the second time I’ve seen that species in the Ajo area. There were three Red-necked Phalaropes at the pond too. I had one good night for astro before the storm and now the moon is getting too bright again. I am enjoying this cooler weather but will miss snake hunting, I suppose till next spring, although I did have an encounter with a snake recently.

I was checking out The Thicket for owls. I didn’t see any owls but I did come across this Coachwhip. It was close, laying there and watching me and I suppose hoping I would just go away. I have given up trying to catch this species for photography. Even if I could catch it, all they do is fight, bite, and try to get away. Not a nice snake to handle. And they are big, this one was about 5 feet long.

Zoomed out to see more of the Coachwhip, a very fast and powerful predator.

One of the two Lewis’s Woodpecker at the golf course.

A species of wild *Datura*, or Moonflower.

These wild Morning Glories are blooming by the hundreds in The Thicket.

I got about an hour on this, the Skull Nebula, NGC 246, about 1600 light years away. I have tried this before with the 500f4 but it is too small, it works much better with the C8. I am going to be adding more exposure time to this eventually. This is an interesting planetary nebula, located in Cetus. It has a central star, known as a white dwarf, that is forming the nebula, but also a second star and an even smaller third star, forming the only known planetary nebula with three central stars. None of the stars in this image are bright enough to be seen even with binoculars, the brightest is about magnitude 10.

Here is the white dwarf, cropped out of the image above. The large second star is also visible. I am pretty impressed with my Celestron C8 reflector since it can actually resolve these two stars. Not many scopes can. The third star is too small or maybe is hidden behind these stars, I don’t know. Here’s a link with more information:
Eerie Skull Nebula glows bright for Halloween | Space My little C8 can resolve the central stars just about as well as the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope! I need more exposure time for the dimmer stuff.

Astrophotography Birding Herps Photography

Eye of Sauron?

I think the heat of summer is behind me now. By next week it looks like an even more significant cool down is on the way. I’ve been getting a little bit of astro done too. I decided that I’m going to spend more time on fewer deep sky objects. I started out with the Helix Nebula. As always, one can right click on an image, open in a new tab and see a larger image.

The Helix Nebula in the constellation Aquarius. This is one of the largest and brightest planetary nebulas in the night sky but even at this latitude (32 degrees north) it only rises to about 35 degrees above the horizon, so I am shooting through lots of atmosphere. I’ve got almost 7 hours on it now (with the C8) and the faint outer bands of glowing hydrogen are starting to show up. I’ve become somewhat of a Lord of the Rings fan and I think it looks like the eye of Sauron.

My snake hunting is going OK, I’m finding lots of snakes but mostly of three species, including this one, the Long-nosed Snake. I have photographed these before but here’s a new one.

A young female Red-naped Sapsucker that let me get very close.

Birding Blacklighting Insects Photography

Granite Gap

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date September 22, 2021

I finally left Datil Well and drove down to Granite Gap. I’m still in New Mexico, a few miles outside of Arizona. The weather here is a bit warmer than Datil Well but it is not too bad. The area has has some rain and it shows, lots of grass and late summer flowers. I saw my first White-crowned Sparrows of the fall this morning. I tried some black lighting last night and did OK despite the full moon.

A new one for me, BugGuide tells me it is the Thin-banded Lichen Moth.

This is *Plagiomimicus olvello*, apparently not much is actually known about it, not even the larval food plant.

This one was exciting, a tiger beetle. I knew what it was from my tiger beetle collecting days, although I have never actually seen one before. I used to think this species might turn up in South Dakota but as far as I know it has never been recorded there yet. This is *Tetracha carolina* – the Carolina Metallic Tiger Beetle (Formerly *Megacephala carolina*). Colorful and iridescent, it is a prize catch for tiger beetle collectors. There was time when I would have caught one and put a pin through it but a photograph is just as good. At least three of them were at my light last night.

While on my morning hike, I found a pair of Rock Wrens foraging in a rock pile. They went behind a large boulder, so I quickly positioned myself on the other side (with the sun behind me), just a few feet from the top of rock, and started pishing. Up they came, and I got a few nice shots at very close range.

Astrophotography Birding Herps Photography

Astrophotography at Datil Well

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date September 13, 2021
2 Comments on Astrophotography at Datil Well

This area of New Mexico has the darkest skies one can find anywhere in the United States. It is a great place for astrophotography but this time of year, one has to deal with the monsoon season and clouds. To top that off, the moon is getting bright again. I got in a couple of pretty good nights though. It is amazing to be out at night here and see how bright the Milky Way really is. There are lots of birds around too. I have a couple of feeders up and one hummingbird feeder. The Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays have eaten all of my black oil sunflower seed already and there is no place to buy more. A large flock of Pinyon Jays is roaming the area and but have been difficult to photograph.

Last night I worked on the Fireworks Galaxy. I got some time on this last June in South Dakota and added it all together to produce this.

Same with the Crescent Nebula. I really need a lot more exposure to make this one look impressive but this is what I have so far.

Probably the best shot I have ever taken of a Juniper Titmouse. I have a few of them coming to my feeder. The nice perch and clean background with nice light are a tough combination to get.

There are lots of hiking trails in the hills around here. I have found two of these lizards on the trails. This is the same species of horned lizard that occurs in western South Dakota, Greater Short-horned Lizard (*Phrynosoma hernandesi*).

A close-up of one of the short-horned lizards.

As always, right click on an image and open in a new tab or window for a larger image.

Birding Photography Travel

Datil Well Campground, New Mexico

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date September 10, 2021
2 Comments on Datil Well Campground, New Mexico

I left Valley of Fires yesterday, it was getting too hot. I drove 130 miles west to Datil Well Campground. This area is at much higher elevation and although the forecast is for record high temps in New Mexico, it will only get to around 85 here. This is a BLM campground, with campground hosts, water, restrooms, but no showers. A few of the campsites have electric hookups but most don’t. Cost is $5.00 a day, $2.50 with my senior pass. When I first got here, I saw several Pinyon Jays and immediately put out some feeders. However, all I get at the feeders so far is some Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays, Juniper Titmice, and Mountain Chickadees. I have a Rufous Hummingbird and a Black-chinned Hummingbird too.

Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay. I have two of them, they are quite fearless once they get used to me. Using some almonds for bait, I can get them to pose on this rock with lichens.

I was talking with the campground hosts this morning, they said this area got 4.5 inches of rain in one storm, in less than an hour. It shows too, there is lots of erosion and an impressive bloom of flowers. This is some species of aster and is very abundant now.

Lots of paintbrush, I don’t know for sure which species this is, but it has been a long time since I’ve seen a red paintbrush.

This caterpillar was on the stem of the asters. I haven’t ID’d it yet.

Birding Photography

Still in the Black Hills

It has been quite a while since I’ve udpated, but I’m still here. Not much new. It was hot for a while, then rain, then it cooled down enough to require an extra blanket at night. I’ll take the cooler weather anytime. Bird migration has not picked up at all. The only “for certain” migrant I’ve seen is an Olive-sided Flycatcher. Archery Elk season opens September 1 and some hunters have trail cams at Baldwin Spring and Jumpoff Spring. For some reason, they have not put any at Lost Spring and that’s where the Elk are. I’m not going to say anything. For now the moon is full and no astrophotography, I am really starting to miss it.

Now the most common flower in the meadows is Dotted Gayfeather, shown here.

A Monarch nectaring on Dotted Gayfeather. I’m seeing quite a few Monarchs now.

Mountain Mahogany has seeded out, whole hillsides of Mountain Mahogany look silvery due to the seeds. I assume the spiral shaped awn has a similar function as some species of needlegrass, it forces the seed into the ground when the awn get wet.

I’ve got lots of Red-breasted Nuthatches coming to my feeders now. They are fun to photograph. White-breasted Nuthatches and some chickadees too. I’m hoping the Pygmy Nuthatches will discover the food source soon. I haven’t seen any hummingbirds.

As always, right click on a photo to open in a new tab for a larger image.

Birding Blacklighting Insects Photography

More Blacklighting

I decided to try the black light last night. This works best on dark, warm, humid nights. The moon is nearly full but it was certainly warm and humid. I got a few interesting insects. Birding is slow, a male Cassin’s Finch has found my feeder and comes in regularly, but nothing else does. I am sure glad I’m where I’m at because it has to be hot down on the plains if it is this hot here.

This is a mantispid, also known as a mantisfly. I’ve never seen them before and according to BugGuide this is a first for South Dakota. I had several come in last night. Most likely it is *Dicromantispa sayi*.

This moth is *Eubaphe mendica*, The Beggar. It gets its name from the spots which resemble holes in a beggar’s clothing. Also a first BugGuide record for South Dakota.

Birding Photography

Back to the Black Hills

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date July 18, 2021

I left the Slim Buttes on Friday and drove back to my quiet spot in the Black Hills. It was getting hot up there and forecast to get even hotter. When I got to my spot, someone else was there with a big 5th wheel and ATVs. There was plenty of room for me too but I decided I wanted some distance from ATVs so went back to the main road and took the road to Jumpoff Spring. I have often thought about taking the Scamp on that road but haven’t done it because of a steep hill and a rough, rocky road to get up there. Well, I tried it, took it real slow in 4 wheel drive and it turned out OK. No cupboards dumped out and nothing much happened. I really like this new spot, even quieter and more remote. One thing I am certain of, no one is pulling a 5th wheel or big camper up here! I put out the trail cams yesterday near Baldwin Spring and got nothing, then this afternoon I was walking down the trail by camp when I saw fresh Mountain Lion tracks from last night, made after the light rain that fell. I had one hummingbird at my feeder this morning that hasn’t come back, I think it was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

The meadow by my new camp is full of Purple Coneflower and many other flowers, there is a clump of Bristly Poppy in the back. The abundance of Purple Coneflower is amazing here.

A Western Wood-Pewee at Baldwin Spring. This one of the best photos I’ve ever taken of this species, they always seem to land in a shadow or too high up.

How many more photos can I take of Western Tanagers? I just can’t pass up a good shot.

A very scruffy looking Vesper Sparrow, in heavy molt.

I only got one shot of the hummingbird and it is not a good one. But, looks like Ruby-throated to me.

Birding Photography

Birds, Flowers, Butterflies

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date June 24, 2021

I haven’t been seeing anything too exciting. The weather has been windy and not good for trail cams. When the wind blows hard, movement of vegetation and shadows triggers the camera and I get hundreds of videos/photos with nothing in them. Now it looks like a couple of days of rain. I went back to Baldwin Spring one morning and got more nice bird photos. A walk in Hell Canyon was good for butterflies.