aredoubles's Favorites

This wasp is underwater searching for its host, Petrophila sp. caterpillars (also aquatic). I collected one of the wasps and sent it to Andrew Bennett at the Canadian National Collection of Insects. He identified it as Tanychela, and it would key to the species T. pilosa, but he thinks it could be a new species!

Spotted by Diego Lara, SPIBNC Groundskeeper while we chatted under the tree that the bird is perched on in the photos. Large dark pigeon with white crown, red legs and feet, long slender bill. Observed eating Possum Grape Vine fruit from vines growing up the trees. Seen at SW corner of parking lot gardens.

First sighting around 10:15-20am or so. Was alerted to this very large immature hawk by a mob of grackles that were after it. Bird soared and circled over the lots and continued north with grackles following it. Birder friend, Alex Lamoreaux showed up soon after and after relaying the sighting and jumping in the van to chase, we found the bird soaring over the Louie's Backyard area with the grackle mob in tow. Hawk then returned south and took refuge in the Sheepshead north lot. A bit later bird lifted off and circled the area for a bit and headed north out of sight. First suspicion was immature Common Black Hawk, but following better views, photos, and discussion by other birders present, we reached the conclusion that the ID is Great Black Hawk because of huge size, finely barred tail lacking thick black terminal bands, long legs that it dangled while soaring. White crescents were obvious nearing wing apex and white upper tail coverts were seen and photographed, differentiating it from Common Black Hawk. Coastal habitat and range fits better with Great Black Hawk than Common. ID Confirmed by expert, Bill Clark. Possible 1st US record following review. An incredible and totally unexpected bird!

Taken on Lake Creek Trail in northwest Austin (Williamson County, TX).

I was excited to find this yellowish damselfly with a blue abdomen tip in a patch of woods by a pond on Lake Creek today. I did not recognized it. After looking through my Damselflies of Texas field guide I think it's a Vesper Bluet. The guide says this is mostly a nocturnal species, so it's interesting I stumbled upon it in the middle of the morning.

Filling in some various October sightings at the porchlight/blacklight.

I don't recall having seen a cricket quite like this: (a) very short FWs, covering only the base of the HWs; and (b) banded antennae with pale middle area.

Melanistic juvenile (likely male based on size relative to the Great-tailed Grackle it was feeding upon). Verified by William Clark, and Lance and Jill Morrow. First observed by M. Silvas with me, and I shouted "melanistic Cooper's Hawk, OMG" as I identified the bird preliminarily, before submitting it to experts for review.
N31.070728 W-97.369269
JPK-2925

After a failed search on 8/1 that involved spending several morning hours looking in the riverside park to the north of here, I realized at the end of my day (ran out of water at noon-ish), that this area was probably the more ideal habitat for Ringtails. Many Eastern Ringtails were out and about, but no little dragonflies with blue faces... I made up my mind to return and start here on another day.

My family and I arrived a few minutes after 8:00, and I found the first female on barbed wire at 8:15 am. A second female was found on grass soon after that, around 8:30, and a male was found on poison ivy stems at about 8:45. I continued searching to the NE of this area, out in the roughly mowed field, and along the tall grass next to the road near the 'come and take it' monument. No more were found (lots of Eastern Ringtails though). See the image with precise locations for more info.

I noticed that all three were perched between 6" and 24" off the ground. They seemed to be more active and harder to approach at first, but by the last one, they didn't startle easily. The description that they fly a bit like a damselfly is accurate. I knew they were a dragonfly as soon as they flew up, but they are darker, small, and stayed low over or in the grasses and weeds.

The first two females were found on or near the lower strand of barbed wire on the fence along the ranch road.

At 9:45, we were ready to call it quits (the heat and humidity were on high), when a local lady arrived and asked 'are you all looking for the dragonfly?'

When I told her yes, she said she had been looking for it and had been there when Greg Lasley had seen one recently. I took her back to the areas where I had found the three, but there were none to be found at 9:45-10:00 along the same edges or in the field. I'm not sure where they went, but it definitely seems as if the heat and full sun had driven them into hiding.

In Texas, Hutton's Vireo is a common breeder in the mountains of far west Texas such as the Chisos, the Davis and the Guadalupes. Beginning in 1990, increasing numbers of this species have been found to the east in the Texas Hill Country and nesting has been documented in at least 3 or 4 counties just west of Austin and San Antonio. Austin is in Travis County and although there are a few records of the species in Travis Co.:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/561272
we have never had documentation of nesting. A City of Austin biologist recently discovered a pair of Hutton's Vireos nest building on the west edge of the city in a preserve tract of land. My friend Mike and I were invited to try to get some shots of these birds to document the record.

When the two biologists and Mike and I arrived, one of the birds (presumably the female?) was on the nest (which is in a large Cedar Elm) hunkered down low. It gave me the impression she was still incubating, but she could be brooding very small chicks as well. One of the biologists, based on her observations, thought the young should be hatched by now. We heard Hutton's Vireo song and other Hutton's call notes in the area several times. After 10-15 minutes we saw another Hutton’s Vireo approaching the nest carrying food. The bird on the nest hopped off and headed into the woods while the bird carrying food went directly to the nest. That bird leaned over and presumably fed a young chick as when it assumed a normal perch position again the food item it had been carrying was gone. We watched that bird lean over into the nest and pick up large pieces of egg shell, and take them away from the nest. With this behavior I suspect the chicks may have hatched this very morning, or were still in the process of breaking out of the eggs while we stood there. Of course, we could not see into the nest because of its height so that is speculation, but in my experience the adults will remove the egg shells very soon after hatching. We stood there a short time longer and I took a few more shots to document the nesting record but then we left so as not to disturb the birds with their tiny chicks any longer.

I plan to go back in several days when the chicks will be larger. Anyway, this is the first documented Travis County nesting of Hutton’s Vireo (although I very strongly suspect it has nested here in the past, just not documented). This is preserve land, not open to the public, so I have been intentionally vague about the mapping, but the nest is within the accuracy circle shown.

By the way, I was hoping to ensure that the egg shells we saw were indeed Hutton’s Vireo and not a nest parasite such as Brown-headed Cowbird. The Hutton’s Vireo eggs are described in various sources as “white with a few small brown dots” while Brown-headed Cowbird eggs are more tinted blue and more heavily mottled overall. I think this pair has baby Hutton’s Vireos which is great. I have posted 6 shots of the Hutton's in various postures and views including a shot of an adult with an egg shell.

One of the photo opportunities we were most interested in at this location was the vulture photo blind which had been constructed nearby. King Vultures are regularly seen here ad we hoped for the chance to get some shots. I have seen King Vultures on numerous trips to southern Mexico and Central and South America dating back to the late 70s, but most of my views were of birds soaring very high in the sky. The species is known to be shy of people and can difficult to get close to.

Our guide obtains pig heads from a slaughterhouse in the region when he has clients such as Dave and me who are interested. These heads are put out in the early morning and hopefully by 9 AM or so the Black Vultures will find them which may attract one or more Kings.

The hide or blind is constructed into the ground so that the photos are taken at more or less ground level. You are shooting through optical quality glass in windows in order to lessen the disturbance to the birds and from the bird side of the glass only a dull reflection is seen. It is an incredible piece of construction and was designed very well.

To make a long story short, during our morning in this blind we had hundreds of Black Vultures and 6 Kings! Three adults and other younger birds of various ages. I have over 400 nice images, just a few which are here. It was quite an experience to see this magnificent bird up close and personal. At one point an adult King Vulture was within 5 feet of us....I took some cell phone shots!

This was the find of the day for us. John and Kendra Abbott and I were driving slowly along a forest road in the SE corner of Oklahoma in the Ouachita National Forest when we saw a large blue and black butterfly nectaring on some sunflowers a short way off the road. It was a huge butterfly and I thought at first it was a large female Tiger Swallowtail, but when we got the vehicle stopped we saw it was not a swallowtail and realized it was a female Diana Fritillary! We only had it in view a few moments before it took off back into the forest, but we obtained a few shots. I had seen a couple of males at a distance in Arkansas last year but was not able to take any shots, so this was the first time I've ever photographed the species. A very exciting record for us of this very local and often hard to find butterfly. I'll post 4 shots.