Greetings All:
I'm going to give it one more try: while polishing off the historical
data for eBird I'm going to take it easy and try, once more, to have a
good year in the yard, shooting for 40 species of butterfly, 0 species
of amphibian (should be able to achieve that goal:)), 2 species of
reptile, 80 species of bird, and 4 species of mammal - with at least
90% of the critters seen photographed.
Next year, by gosh and by golly, I will do something different:)
September continued the brutal pattern of almost no rain and high
temperatures were relentless. This meant that the spot watering
regimen continued unabated and led to very little in the way of new
butterflies (during what is usually a great month for butterflies).
On the other hand, I did much better with birds than I thought I
would, finishing the month off with a truly high note when I
photographed a first winter White-throated Sparrow (only the second
September record for my region), topping off a month with better than
expected shorebirds and songbird migrants.
During September I spotted 17 species of butterfly, 0 species of
amphibian, 1 species of reptile, 47 species of bird, and 4 species of
mammal, bringing me up to 37 species of butterfly, 0 species of
amphibian, 1 species of reptile, 69 species of bird, and 4 species of
mammal - 92.5%, 100%, 50%, 86.25%, and 100% of my taxonomic goals for
the year. Of the one hundred and eleven species seen so far this year,
I have photographs of one hundred (90.09%).
I hope that October will be better, particularly for butterflies, as
things should at least cool down and the watering will have, even in
the absence of rain, a stronger impact on the whole blossoms and
butterflies situation. I have given up on my Ornate Box Turtles for
the year - they have either died or given the year a pass in terms of
emergence. As for birds, October is one of our most unpredictable
months and we are still experiencing a very strong movement of mostly
western birds through the region.
The September list follows, coded as *= new, (y) = photographed:
Common Sootywings
Orange Skipperling
Fiery Skipper*(y)
Sachem
Nysa Roadside Skipper
Cabbage White
Orange Sulphur
Cloudless Sulphur
Sleepy Orange
Gray Hairstreak
Western Pygmy Blue
Reakirt's Blue
Monarch
Queen(y)
Question Mark
Red Admiral
Painted Lady
Mediterranean Gecko
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo*
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird*(y)
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird(y)
Upland Sandpiper*(y)
Wilson's Phalarope*(y)
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron*(y)
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night Heron
Turkey Vulture
Mississippi Kite
Northern Harrier*(y)
Broad-winged Hawk
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Merlin*(y)
Say's Phoebe*
Blue Jay
Barn Swallow
American Robin
Curve-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
House Sparrow
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch*
Spotted Towhee*(y)
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Lark Bunting*(y)
White-throated Sparrow*(y)
Lincoln's Sparrow
Great-tailed Grackle
Wilson's Warbler*(y)
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Gray Squirrel
North American Deermouse
House Mouse
Feral Cat
Anthony Hewetson; Lubbock
