October 2009

October 2009

Butterflies (like this Mazan's Scallopwing) were nice, too.

Oct 1 Resaca de la Palma State Park Main Loop plus Ebony, Flycatcher and Wild Olive Trails: Blue-winged Teal 3, Plain Chachalaca 2, Least Grebe 1, Pied-billed Grebe 1, Great Egret 1, Snowy Egret 1, Roseate Spoonbill 1, Turkey Vulture 1,White-tailed Kite 1, Mississippi Kite 1, Broad-winged Hawk 2, Crested Caracara 2, Common Moorhen 4, Killdeer 1, White-winged Dove 65, Mourning Dove 6, Inca Dove 2, Common Ground-Dove 2, White-tipped Dove 4, Ringed Kingfisher 1, Belted Kingfisher 1, Golden-fronted Woodpecker 14, Ladder-backed Woodpecker 5, Eastern Wood-Pewee 1, Empidonax sp. 4, Great Crested Flycatcher 1, Brown-crested Flycatcher 3, Great Kiskadee 12, Couch's Kingbird 7, White-eyed Vireo 10, Warbling Vireo 3, Green Jay 15, Bank Swallow 4, Barn Swallow 8, Black-crested Titmouse 5, Carolina Wren 2, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 12, Northern Mockingbird 17, Long-billed Thrasher 1, Curve-billed Thrasher 1, Nashville Warbler 1, Northern Parula 2, Yellow Warbler (Northern) 3, Black-throated Green Warbler 1, Black-and-white Warbler 2, American Redstart 1, Northern Waterthrush 3, Hooded Warbler 1, Wilson's Warbler 7, Olive Sparrow 12, Northern Cardinal 2, Dickcissel 1, Red-winged Blackbird 40, Eastern Meadowlark 4, Great-tailed Grackle 32, Brown-headed Cowbird 2, Altamira Oriole 4, Baltimore Oriole 4, Lesser Goldfinch 4

many-banded daggerwing

Oct 2 Estero Butterfly Walk The best find by far was the MANY-BANDED DAGGERWING found near the Park Store on the blooming Anacua by the kiosk! About the only thing in double-digits were the Queens, White Peacocks, Western Pygmy-Blues and Mexican Bluewings. Otherwise: Giant and Pipevine Swallowtails, Southern Dogface, Cloudless/Large Orange/Lyside Sulphurs, Tailed Orange, Little Yellow, Ceraunus Blue, American Snout, Gulf Fritillary, Red Admiral, Funereal Duskywing, White-Striped Longtail, Brown-Banded Skipper, Mazan's Scallopwing, White and Tropical Checkered-Skippers, Laviana White-Skipper, Clouded/Julia's/Fiery/Eufala/Ocola Skippers, Whirlabout, Sachem, and Common Mellana. The Eupatorium are just about to bloom, the White Plumbago is just starting (it's amazing how lush it looks now and how dead it looked just a couple weeks ago), so the Butterfly Festival on the 24th may be fantastic after all!

We had 100 fifth-graders in today too, and my part of the program was about dragonflies. We could only find very common species (Roseate Skimmers, Common Green Darners, Red and Black Saddlebags) off the deck, but Terry, Huck and I found Rambur's Forktail, Familiar Bluet, Blue Dasher, Striped Saddlebags, Red-Tailed Pennants, Pin-Tailed Pondhawks and Blue-Ringed Dancers later.

Oct 3 Estero Bird Walk Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Plain Chachalaca, Least Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, American White Pelican 200, Neotropic Cormorant, Anhinga 16, Great Blue Heron , Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1, White-faced Ibis, Wood Stork, Turkey Vulture, Osprey 1, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Cooper's Hawk 1, Sora 2, Common Moorhen, American Coot 20, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet 3, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpipe, Stilt Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Caspian Tern 1, Forster's Tern 1, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove 1, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Common Ground-Dove, White-tipped Dove, Common Pauraque 2, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Ringed Kingfisher 1, Belted Kingfisher 1, Green Kingfisher 1, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Empidonax sp., Great Kiskadee, Couch's Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird 1, Loggerhead Shrike 1, White-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo 1, Green Jay, Cave Swallow, Barn Swallow, Black-crested Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Northern Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, European Starling, Nashville Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Blue Grosbeak 1, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird 20, Baltimore Oriole 1, Lesser Goldfinch, House Sparrow

scorpion eats moth blue

Oct 4 Estero Night Hike Eastern Screech and Barn Owls, Scorpions and moths and bugs at the blue ultraviolet lights, Pauraques and Lesser Nighthawk, Alligator Red Eyes swimming toward us, Gulf Coast Toads and Rio Grande Chirping Frogs... This is the first time I've actually caught pictures of scorpions eating moths!

Oct 9-12 Northwest Ohio on a non-birding occasion: Canada Goose, Mallard, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Killdeer, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-Capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Bluebird , American Robin, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow

Oct 14 Estero Llano Grande SP Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Plain Chachalaca, Least Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, American White Pelican 291, Neotropic Cormorant, Anhinga, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork 1, Turkey Vulture 1, White-tailed Kite 3, Red-shouldered Hawk 1, Broad-winged Hawk 2, Peregrine Falcon 1, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe 1, Caspian Tern 1, Black Skimmer 1, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Common Pauraque 2, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird 1, Belted Kingfisher 1, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Couch's Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Common Yellowthroat, Olive Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Dickcissel, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, House Sparrow. Frontera Audubon, a half-hour for lunch: Plain Chachalaca 6, Anhinga 1, Green Heron 1, Gray Hawk 1, White-winged Dove 45, Inca Dove 5, White-tipped Dove 4, Groove-billed Ani 1, Chimney Swift 2, Buff-bellied Hummingbird 4, Belted Kingfisher 1, Green Kingfisher 2, Golden-fronted Woodpecker 7, Brown-crested Flycatcher 1, Great Kiskadee 2, Couch's Kingbird 11, White-eyed Vireo 1, Cave Swallow, Barn Swallow 6, Black-crested Titmouse 1, Carolina Wren 1, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1, American Redstart 1, Summer Tanager 1

Oct 15 Valley Nature Center half-hour at lunch: Gray Cracker at cactus/brushland, Plain Chachalaca 18, White-winged Dove 2, Inca Dove 1, White-tipped Dove 2, Buff-bellied Hummingbird 7, Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird 1, Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6, Great Kiskadee 3, Couch's Kingbird 2, White-eyed Vireo 1, Black-crested Titmouse 2, Carolina Wren 1, House Wren 3, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2, Northern Mockingbird 4, Nashville Warbler 2, American Redstart 2, Great-tailed Grackle 4, House Sparrow 85

Oct 28 Estero Llano Grande SP Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Fulvous Whistling-Duck 10, Gadwall 3, Mottled Duck 2, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail 3, Green-winged Teal, Ruddy Duck 2, Plain Chachalaca, Least Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, American White Pelican, Neotropic Cormorant, Anhinga 3, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Green Heron 1, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill 2, Turkey Vulture, White-tailed Kite, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Cooper's Hawk 1, Harris's Hawk 1, Red-shouldered Hawk 2, Peregrine Falcon 1, Common Moorhen, American Coot 200, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, Spotted Sandpiper 2, Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Curlew 2, Least Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe 1, Wilson's Phalarope 1, Eurasian Collared-Dove 2, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Common Ground-Dove, White-tipped Dove, Red-crowned Parrot, Eastern Screech-Owl 1, Common Pauraque 4, Chimney Swift 1, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher 1, Green Kingfisher 1, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe 2, Vermilion Flycatcher 1, Great Kiskadee, Couch's Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 18, Loggerhead Shrike 1, White-eyed Vireo 1, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow 1 Cave Swallow, Barn Swallow, Black-crested Titmouse, House Wren 1, Northern Mockingbird, Long-billed Thrasher, Curve-billed Thrasher, European Starling, Common Yellowthroat 1, Savannah Sparrow 5, Dickcissel 5, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark 2, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed Cowbird, House Sparrow

Oct 30 Harlingen City Lake Quick five-minute stop: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 200, Snowy Egret 2, American Coot 22, Spotted Sandpiper 1, Laughing Gull 30, Vermilion Flycatcher 1, Tropical Kingbird 1

Oct 31 Estero Llano Grande SP Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Gadwall 1, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Ruddy Duck 1, Plain Chachalaca, Least Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, American White Pelican, Neotropic Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron 1, White-faced Ibis 2, Turkey Vulture, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Cooper's Hawk 1, Harris's Hawk 1, Red-shouldered Hawk 1, Red-tailed Hawk 1, Peregrine Falcon 1, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe 1, Caspian Tern 1, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, White-tipped Dove, Red-crowned Parrot, Barn Owl 1, Eastern Screech-Owl 1, Common Pauraque 1, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird, Ringed Kingfisher 1, Belted Kingfisher 2, Green Kingfisher 2, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird 1, Couch's Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 18, Loggerhead Shrike 1, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow 2, Barn Swallow, House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Northern Mockingbird, Long-billed Thrasher, Curve-billed Thrasher, European Starling, American Pipit, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Savannah Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Lesser Goldfinch, House Sparrow