Sunday night Charlie Miller and I went for a night drive, mostly to see if we could get more Northern Saw-whets to responds to calls. We had no success with that. However, on the roads there were Common Poorwills. I think these must have been family groups, as there would be several close to together, then none for a distance. Also, some of the birds were incredibly tame, I think I could have picked up several of them, but I didn’t try that. I suspect that these were the young ones, probably just out of the nest. One just sat on the road as we drove slowly by. I took a photo out of the truck window, looking down.
One of maybe eight that were sitting on the road. We could hear more. It was hard to accurately count them as most would flush then land again up ahead with other poorwills. This is nearly a full frame image.This one was in the vegetation just off the road. This is a slightly cropped image. I was so close that I couldn’t fit the entire bird in the frame. I photographed this one from the truck window, shooting almost straight down. It never flushed, even as we drove by.
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.
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.
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 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 Granite Gap this morning. I’m currently at the Bosque Birder’s RV Park, near San Antonio, New Mexico. I took a short drive through the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge this afternoon. I was quite surprised that nearly all of the ponds are dry. There is a lot of water running through the ditches in the refuge, but I guess the management plan is for dry ponds for now. There is water in the Boardwalk Marsh and that’s about it.
A few days ago, I checked on the Great Horned Owl nest. The lone young owl was out of the nest, but it hasn’t moved very far. A Greater Earless Lizard. This one is starting to develop some color, but it is not even close to the ones I saw at Big Bend National Park a few years back. Photos of those can be seen at the LINK. I got some more shots of the Lesser Nighthawk, this time I got closer and in a nicer setting. A couple of days after finding my first Round-tailed Horned Lizard, I found another. This one is so different in coloration and pattern, that one would almost think it was a different species, but it is not. The size and placement of the four cranial horns and the short, round tail with black bars is diagnostic. A different angle. There are some Desert Marigolds, Baileya multiradiata, in flower now. These are quite large and showy flowers.
I’m still here. The weather is pleasant, it is quiet, for the most part, and I’m still finding new things to photograph. I said it is quiet for the most part, but last week, there was an accident on I-10 east of Wilcox. A truck hit an overpass bridge and damaged it so badly that the westbound lane was closed. The traffic was all routed down state Highway 80, which goes right past me. I’m about 1/4 mile from the highway but it was still pretty noisy with all the trucks rumbling by. That lasted for two days. Most of the time there is very little traffic on Highway 80.
An Acmon Blue, living dangerously. Can you spot the crab spider?A new species of cactus for me, Beehive Cactus, Escobaria vivipara. One could almost pass this flower off as a bladderpod, which were extremely abundant earlier this spring. But it is later now, and I took a closer look. This is Golden Linanthus, Leptosiphon chrysanthus. I cannot find much information about it besides the name. It is in the Phlox family. This strange plant is Jatropha macrorhiza, Ragged Nettle-Spurge. It is reportedly rare in the United States. It occurs in southwest New Mexico and southeast Arizona but is more common in Mexico. I came across a pair of Black-throated Sparrows feeding this young bird that is fresh out of the nest. A Lesser Nighthawk roosting. This is the first time I’ve been able to get a shot like this, in fact the first time I’ve seen a Lesser Nighthawk roosting! Mammallaria heyderi, Pancake Pincushion. First one I’ve ever seen. During wet periods, the cactus will pull in enough water to swell up to the size of a basketball. Mexican Cactus Fly. The larvae feed on dying cactus. This one is nectaring on Brittlebush. Red Four o’Clock, Mirabilis coccinea.
This morning I took off on a long hike to investigate a mountain I can see in the distance from the rim of the Peloncillos. The mountain had a sheer face with lots of large boulders piled up at the base. Looked like good herp habitat. In addition, the big rock face will run off lots of rain into the boulders at the base, therefore should be much wetter than most of this area. When I got to the scene, that is what I found. The mountainside is pure granite with a large jumble of boulders at the base. There are many types of plants growing in the boulders that I don’t see elsewhere around here. Most notable, lots of Soapberry. There is a butterfly called a Soapberry Hairstreak that I’ve been looking for, this could be the place to get it. I didn’t see any today though. There was also more Gambel’s Oak.
I’ve never seen this flower before, Buckley’s Centaury, Zeltnera calycosa. What a beautiful flower! Typically, this plant grows in wetter places and the boulder field seems to be good enough. Another view with a different angle. Desert Holly, Acourtia nana, is flowering, first time I’ve seen this happen. I got two lifer butterflies today. This one is a Texas Powdered Skipper, very similar to the Arizona Powdered Skipper, but there are differences. The other lifer butterfly, an Acacia Skipper. I was checking the Turkey Vultures soaring overhead and found this Zone-tailed Hawk in with them. At the base of the boulder field, there was a lot of Cane Cholla in flower. I tried to make this into a Mexican Fritillary, but it isn’t, just the ordinary Variegated Fritillary.
This morning I went for my usual morning hike. I headed west over the rim of the Peloncillo Mountains. At my location, that rim isn’t very high, but it still gives a great view of the surrounding area and the Chiricahua Mountains to the west. At the crest, as I was admiring the scenery, a Scott’s Oriole flew into some Ocotillos right in front of me, sun behind me. I thought sure, as soon as I raise up the camera it will fly off. But it didn’t. I took 77 photos as it foraged in the flowers. The bird was definitely pollinating too.
My favorite, nice light, nice action, nice background, great bird! What more could one ask for? I have lots of images like this one. This image shows the pollen on the bird’s face and bill. This one turned out very nice too. I’ve never seen a male Clark’s Spiny Lizard this colorful. At first, I wasn’t even sure what species this was. It doesn’t have the typical banding on the front legs, although there is some. The lizard posed so I could see the ventral blue patches. A Great Horned Owl, still apparently on a nest. This is getting pretty late in the season for that. Slender Janusia, Cottsia gracilis. This is the only species of Janusia in the region. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. I copied the following from Southwest Desert Flora: A rare species in the United States, where Slender Janusia is found primarily in Arizona with small populations in New Mexico and Texas. It is also common in Baja California and Mexico.
