mikaelb 的最愛
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gcwarbler描述
REVISED NOTES (1/25/24): Three observations I have recently uploaded (Glossy Snake, Spotted Chorus Frog, and Red-spotted Toad) come from old scanned slides, all from the same roll with an erroneous (late) stamped date of "Jan 80" on the slide mounts. The creatures were apparently photographed on a green lawn, which implies (a) that they may have been captured locally and photographed before release, (b) that they were documented during the growing season. I have assumed that they were all photographed by me in person. The set of three species have partially overlapping ranges which I thought would help me pin down the location and--with the aid of supplemental field notes--a possible date of occurrence. Unfortunately, searches of all my field notes and calendars have failed to find any mention of these occurrences. My field notes almost certainly would have made mention of a Glossy Snake documented in hand.
Assuming (a) that the images are actually my own, and (b) that the images were taken sometime within a year prior to the stamped date on the mounts (e.g. Jan 1979 - Jan 1980), I looked at all my field work for this period and tried to narrow down the possibilities. Aside from local (Austin area) birding notes, I found documentation of 18 field trips and excursions during this period which span a wide swath of Texas and one trip to n.e. Arizona. I can eliminate 15 of the 18 field trips because they occurred in the cold seasons and/or were well out of the range of one or more of the three species (e.g. no Red-spotted Toads occur in East Texas, etc.). I am left with three field excursions as possibilities:
- I made a birding trip to West Texas (mostly Big Bend NP) May 12-19, 1979. During that trip, my friends and I did some road cruising after local thunderstorms in the desert on two dates. On May 18, I listed encounters with a Glossy Snake and an abundance of Red-spotted Toads on the roads between the Chisos Basin and Rio Grande Village. That is intriguing, but I make no mention of whether any were photographed. Moreover, no species of Chorus Frog is mentioned in those notes, and none is known to occur in the Big Bend of Texas. As intriguing as this possibility is, I discount it as a source of the observations.
- From October 1-11, 1979, I did extensive field work in the Kayenta-Black Mesa region in northeast Arizona. That field work includes regular help lists, but none of the three species are mentioned and no chorus frog is mapped as occurring in the region. I discount this field effort.
- From May 28-31, 1979, I did field work in Palo Pinto County, Texas, on/near the Worth Ranch on the Brazos River downstream of Possum Kingdom Reservoir. Although I have no herp lists from those efforts, I had previously scanned and uploaded a small number of snake, lizard, and frog observations which were documented with slides from that work. They are on a roll with a date stamp of "Jul 79" but are necessarily from the late May field work, the only time I visited the area that year. A careful perusal of readily available herp records (iNaturalist, Werler & Dixon 2000, etc.) suggests that Glossy Snake has NOT been documented in Palo Pinto County, although it has been documented in Comanche and Shackelford counties a few counties to the south and west and others to the north on the Red River. Both Spotted Chorus Frog and Red-spotted Toad have been documented in Palo Pinto County although they are apparently uncommon.
Did I photograph the above three species in Palo Pinto County, then leave the roll of film in a camera for several more months before developing it? This now seems unlikely. I have other personal field photos (slides) dated after the May 1979 field work and before the "Jan 80" time stamp on the subject slides, suggesting I exposed and developed other film in the interim. Curiously, the eight slides documenting the three herp species are the only slides I have in my collection with a stamp of "Jan 80"; the remainder of the roll they were on are absent. That is suspicious. I'm a pack rat; I rarely throw out slides--only extremely blurred ones of no value.
All the above lead me to question one of my basic assumptions, that these are my own slides. I accomplished the field work in Palo Pinto County with a companion field biologist who was an avid herper. I don't know what other field work he did nor if he would have given me the slides for my collection. Of more concern, I have in my collection large numbers of slides taken by my late friend Greg Lasley from all over Texas and the World. I am usually careful to label any of Greg's slides so as not to confuse them with any of mine...but the quality of his imagery is such that I rarely have to worry about that. And now that I look closely at the eight slides documenting the three herp species--from somewhere, sometime--I cannot rule out the possibility that I received these from Greg Lasley. However, Greg himself never uploaded any records of Glossy Snake or Spotted Chorus Frog and only a single Red-spotted Toad (from 2016 in Big Bend). If he had images of these species, I'm quite certain he would have added them to the iNat database.
In the end, the uncertainty about the provenance of the eight slides and thus my "observations" of the three species must lead me to discount both the date and location I had previously ascribed to them. I'm going to leave all three observations on iNat but I will be marking both the date and location of each observation as not accurate in the DQA, relegating these observations to casual status.
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維吉尼亞馬鞭菊 (Verbesina virginica)觀察者
gcwarbler描述
"The Art of A Hard Freeze"
I absolutely detest cold weather, but I always look forward to this fleeting moment during the first hard freeze of the winter.
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greglasley描述
I was mowing part of my yard at about 11 AM this morning. There were 10-20 Red Saddlebags and a few Wandering Gliders following my lawn tractor around taking advantage of any small critters I flushed up with the tractor. I then noticed two Hyacinth Gliders with the other dragons. They are considerably smaller so they caught my eye pretty quickly. I got off the tractor and went into the house to get a net and succeeded in netting one of the Hyacinth Gliders. They don't often perch during the middle of the day while they are actively foraging, and I figured my best chance at getting a shot of one was to catch it. My wife held it (a female) while I took a few shots. First record for my yard and apparently only the 2nd record for Hays Co. on OC, the other being one of the old "Dot Map" records on OdonataCentral where I will also post it. There are other Hays Co. records on iNat, however. The Hyacinth Glider was then released.
Dripping Springs,
Hays Co., Texas
3 July 2017
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billdodd描述
I saw this dazed and hungry-looking ringtail on an afternoon walk in my neighborhood. I expect it had been made homeless from the Texas #icepocalypse we just experienced.
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eric_keith描述
Despite their name, these things were zapping mosquitos and gnats with equal voracity.
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gcwarbler描述
"Toto, I don't think we're [on Salton Drive] anymore!"
MK and I took a break from the cold (?) Texas winter with a 12-day getaway in Guatemala on a birding trip. This digi-scoped male Quetzal seems like an appropriate subject to start my uploads. I'll have a few more birds, a handful of moths and insects, and a ton of plants to upload in coming days and weeks.
Scope views of the present bird courtesy of one of our premier guides, Josue de León L.
Edit (2/2/2022): I've added a 2nd image which was taken with my little point-and-hope Canon PowerShot camera, zoomed out to about 20X. It produced a very respectable image (after a little brightening with software)!
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earthgrazer描述
This beauty was found in a Walgreens parking lot by Bill Nichols of College Station. It allowed him to relocate it to a safer grassy area nearby.
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阿斯赫刺柏 (Juniperus ashei)觀察者
gcwarbler描述
I went back to look at the junipers in the remnant Chalk Prairie at Granger Lake. I don't know if I found the exact same individual as another (documented 6-1/2 yrs ago) that we were discussing:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1535031
but it can't be too far removed. Within a radius of about 200 yards (26 acres) centered on the present tree, there are only about 6 other junipers.
I spent time (and a lot of digits) documenting every aspect of the present tree and am comfortable labeling it Ashe Juniper. Growth form, bark, needle details, berries, presence of Robergea fungus, etc., all point to this species.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101497108
The present tree is middle-aged. I'd make an educated guess that it is on the order of 30 to 50 years old, which basically dates back to the establishment of Granger Lake and the wildlife management areas around the lake. I can guess that the berries of Ashe Juniper were transported here via robins or waxwings. I don't know where the nearest large stand of Ashe Juniper to this location might be, but it is probably much closer to I-35 in Georgetown, Round Rock, Pflugerville, or Austin.
@connlindajo @pintobeans @lanechaffin
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gcwarbler描述
I'm uploading this as a "placeholder" for the large number of uploads I'll have later from a mini-bioblitz at Maddin Prairie in Mitchell County, Texas. This was the first moth I photographed during out blacklighting effort and it appears to be something special. We IDed it on site as one of the Macalla's, then I thought it was going to be a closely related species of Cacozelia. Third time's a charm...
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gcwarbler描述
Field sketch of Pacific Loon at Hornsby Bend from CWS field journal, May 23, 1998. I don't find any images on eBird for this occurrence but there are at least 3 eBird checklists mentioning the record, including a detailed description by Bill Reiner Jr.:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S52507486
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greglasley描述
This image for the bottom damsel. The top one will be reported separately.
I love this image because it shows a Smoky Rubyspot male at the top and an Ebony Jewelwing male at the bottom. Great illustration of wing shape differences. I see many reports of one reported as the other and try to explain the wing shape differences to folks...this shot is a great illustration.
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人類 (Homo sapiens)觀察者
greglasley描述
Texas iNat gathering in Dripping Springs on November 11, 2015.
Kneeling from left: @mchlfx (checkered shirt), @robberfly, @maractwin (blue shirt), @mksexton, @sambiology, @kueda (red bandana);
standing L to R: Bob (husband of taogirl) and Tuffy the dog, @greglasley, @lotus (sunglasses), @mikaelb, @blubayou (red blouse), @gpstewart (red shirt), @taogirl, @annikaml (sunglasses), @gcwarbler, @connlindajo, @brentano, @billdodd, Wilson (wife of cullen), @cullen, @cgritz, Aaron (husband of cgritz). Photo by Cheryl (wife of greglasley)
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描述
Was shopping in Lowe’s and these sparrows had poked a hole in the seed and having a party!
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灰斑鳩 (Streptopelia decaocto)觀察者
greglasley描述
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Streptopelia decaocto
Dalhart, Dallam Co., Texas
17 January 2011
Approx. 1000 Eur. Collared-Doves
were in the immediate area, many
on top of a huge pile of corn kernals
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greglasley描述
I see lots of shots of animal tracks posted on iNat, but save for a raccoon or a few other simple ones, I claim no knowledge or expertise in tracks in the snow, mud, etc. But I thought tracks of Emperor Penguin in soft snow might add a different critter to the tracks repertoire! Image 3 shows the culprits making the tracks! We watched this daily for 8 or 10 days on that trip to the Ross Sea in 2001. The track in image 1 is made by a single individual. When there are multiple birds in a line (and they often travel 2 to 25 or more in single file in the same rut), those marks on the side of the rut where their flippers propel them along get very obscure from multiple flippers.
When on rocks and gravel or a thin snow cover, Emperors walk upright. But when in loose snow, or they want to speed up, they flop down on their bellies and "take off" propelling themselves along with their rear feet as well as their flippers. Under many circumstances they can move a good bit faster than a person is able to. Emperors are 3 feet tall and large ones can weigh 70+ pounds.
Emperor Penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri
Cape Washington,
Ross Sea
Antarctica
4 December 2001
these images scanned from 35mm slides
Location: Cape Washington, Ross Sea, ... (Google, OSM)
Places: AQ, AQ, Antarctica More...
Lat -74.5248, Lon 165.1697
Accuracy: 1000m
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綠蠵龜 (Chelonia mydas)觀察者
tdavenport描述
Port Aransas Jetty, Mustang Island, Nueces County Texas
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bethd描述
I thought this was a Mexican Spadefoot but have been told the only way to differentiate the S. multiplicata (Mexican spadefoot) from S. bombifrons (Plains Spadefoot) is to palpate their head to check for a cranial boss between the eyes. This is not in my field guide, but to be safe I will ID this as Spea sp.
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大冠蠅霸鶲 (Myiarchus crinitus)觀察者
billarbon描述
Ladies and gentlemen: this is where your rare and desirable dragonflies go. To feed another generation of 'fly catchers'.
From the 'about' section on iNaturalist:
"Their breeding habitat is deciduous or mixed forests across eastern North America. They nest in a cavity in a tree. Usually a snake skin is included in the lining of the nest, but sometimes a plastic wrapper is substituted."
I would say many snake skins. The about section also describes the adult birds habitat as in the tops of trees and rarely being seen on the ground. Hunting in the canopy is probably where they find prey.
I would also add, the cavity they use - which I did not see until it hit the ground - was in an old woodpecker cavity. I'm sure they don't make their own.
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鷹形目 (目 Accipitriformes)觀察者
mikaelb描述
This observation is on the surface of a window. To me these look like talon marks left by a hawk or an owl. Maybe it was trying to grab a reflection of a bird in the glass, or tried to grab a bird that was already flying into the glass.
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connlindajo描述
Gruesome photo.
Voracious spider captured hummingbird in web at sugar feeder. I did not think about location of web, other than it was uncomfortable to avoid when going through garden gate, when I rehung the feeder. A few hours later, she had trapped and scalped and wrapped the hummingbird.
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灰額主紅雀 (Cardinalis sinuatus)觀察者
oz4caster描述
Poor lighting angle, but based on the bill shape, I think this may be a Pyrrhuloxia, which is the top iNat autoID suggestion, but not certain. Could possibly be a female Northern cardinal.
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美洲鶴 (Grus americana)觀察者
colleenm描述
Embarrassingly bad digiscope photos but yes there are two whooping cranes in the Port Aransas Nature Preserve for the first time in recent history. I'm elated!!!
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長尾鼬鼠 (Neogale frenata)觀察者
jonahevans描述
Observation and photos reported to Texas Parks and Wildlife by Kenneth Phillips. He found the animal in his house.
Posted with permission.
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美國山貓 (Lynx rufus)觀察者
blubayou描述
It just missed catching a Green Jay. It sits near the bird feeder.
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mako252描述
42 miles offshore. This would be the first documented Tamaulipas Crow in the ABA area since 2010 if accepted by the TBRC.
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紅腳鰹鳥 (Sula sula)觀察者
mako252描述
extremely rare in Texas- I believe the 3rd Texas record if accepted by the TBRC.
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卵齒蟾屬 (屬 Eleutherodactylus)觀察者
weathergaltx描述
Saw 3 individuals in 'the limestone wall'. Got good pix of just 2.
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人類 (Homo sapiens)觀察者
greglasley描述
@robberfly, I have found the optimal birding vehicle for you to complete your transformation to birder elite. I took this shot in Barrow, Alaska, in 2012...I know this vehicle is for you...has your name all over it. It would attract attention on the streets of San Francisco I suspect. This is more than roadside kitsch I think...
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aguilita描述
Images 1-3 are of the same specimen
Image 4 is of a separate specimen
Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata)
27 July 2015: Observed several older male Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) flying and perching on the edge of the north lake at South Lakes Park in Denton, Texas. The City of Denton, Texas administers South Lakes Park.
Black Saddlebags is strictly a North American dragonfly because its extensive range is found in Canada, United States and Mexico.
In Canada, according to NatureServe’s entry for this dragonfly species, two provinces host it including British Columbia and Ontario (excellent range maps are found at this site).
In the continental United States all but four states including Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota in the West and Maine in the East do not host this dragonfly. In other words, Black Saddlebags is widely dispersed throughout the United States and with but minor exceptions it is found throughout the nation. Alaska much farther to the northwest does not host it either and neither does Hawaii presumably.
In Texas, John C. Abbott’s, Dragonflies of Texas, has this dragonfly occurring across the state and it is common where it does occur which is fairly much everywhere. This is on reflection a very resilient dragonfly and quite adaptable to all sorts of environments.
In Mexico, Dennis R. Paulson and Enrique González Soriano make clear in their “Mexican Odonata” distribution list that’s available online that Black Saddlebags is found in 11 of Mexico’s 31 states including (in alphabetical order) Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Yucatán.
Because of its occurrence in North America Black Saddlebags is among those dragonflies that is the most widely distributed throughout the northern latitudes of the hemisphere. Therefore it stands to say that Black Saddlebags is an iconic and quintessential resident of the Western Hemisphere.
Sources: “Mexican Odonata,” Dennis R. Paulson and Enrique González Soriano, Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington (http://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/slater-museum/biodiversity-resources/dragonflies/mexican-odonata/); NatureServe entry of Tramea lacerata (http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Tramea+lacerata); John C. Abbott, Dragonflies of Texas: A Field Guide (University of Texas Press, 2015); Idaho Museum of Natural History, Idaho State University, entry for Black Saddlebags (http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/bio/insects/drgnfly/libefam/trla/trlafr.htm)
