Greetings All:
Finding myself beset with the need to paint the exterior of my house and
really work the yard back into shape, I decided to see what kind of numbers
I can rack up from my central Lubbock yard this year and, accordingly, have
made photo-documenting my yard my photography game for the year.
Given the habitat available at the site, my goals are going to be pretty
modest. I am shooting for 40 butterfly species, 0 amphibian species, 2
reptile species, 80 birds species, and 4 mammal species - of which I hope
to photograph over 90%. This may not be as exciting as some of my previous
photographic games but it will certainly be hard-fought.
The results from the drought-ridden sixth month were very poor. We had a
couple of minor rains scattered through the month which brought some
flowers up but did little for critters. The coolest critter of the month
was a Brazilian Skipper which blasted into the yard, visited a Turk's-cap,
and blasted out - before I could even think of running for the camera! At
the slower end of the spectrum my Ornate Box Turtles finally emerged ...
and I did get photographs!
During May I had 16 butterfly, 2 reptile, 21 bird, and 2 mammal species
in/over/from the yard - far below what is normal for the month - putting me
at 17 butterfly, 0 amphibian, 2 reptile, 35 bird, and 2 mammal species for
the year - 40%, 100%, 50%, 43.75%, and 50% of my taxonomic goals. Of the
56 species seen thus far this year I have photographs of 49(87.5000%).
Things are still looking a bit grim both yard- and goals-wise.
The list follows (* = new, (y) = photographed):
Funereal Duskywings
Horace's Duskywings*(y)
Mournful Duskywings*(y)
Common Checkered Skipper
Sachem*(y)
Brazilian Skipper*
Cabbage White
Orange Sulphur
Southern Dogface*(y)
Sleepy Orange
Dainty Sulphur
Gray Hairstreak
Marine Blue
Reakirt's Blue
Queen*(y)
American Lady
Ornate Box Turtle*(y)
Mediterranean Gecko
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift*(y)
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Black-crowned Night Heron
Mississippi Kite
Western Kingbird
Blue Jay
Cliff Swallow*
American Robin
Curve-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
House Sparrow
House Finch
Great-tailed Grackle
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Gray Squirrel
House Mouse
Year halfway - way below target - still trying; Anthony Hewetson; Lubbock
