Greetings All:
My second game for the year (competing only against my self-set goals) was
to see how many species of butterfly, amphibian, reptile, bird, and mammal
I can find and photograph along Lubbock's Canyon Lakes - running from the
west loop to the east loop - during 2015.
My goals for the year - 50 species of butterfly, 5 species of amphibian, 10
species of reptile, 200 species of bird, and 10 species of mammal - with
90%, overall, documented via photography.
Thanks to loads of valuable assistance from Phillip Kite - the birding
master of the Canyon Lakes - I had a pretty good December, adding one new
REPTILE, quite a few new birds, and a new mammal. It was not quite good
enough, however, to top out any more of my goals.
All in all, I picked up 7 species of butterfly, 0 species of amphibian, 2
species of reptile, 99 species of bird, and 7 species of mammal bringing my
totals for the year up to 46 species of butterfly (92%), 1 species of
amphibian (20%), 13 species of reptile (130%), 176 species of bird (88%),
and 16 species of mammal (160%) for 2015. We had a relatively poor
butterfly year, amphibians have vanished from the lakes region over the
last decade, and both spring and fall migrations were very poor for
shorebird and songbird migrants, explaining the goals not met.
Butterflies that I think of as annual at this site that were missed this
year: Sleepy Duskywings, Least Skipper, Bronze Roadside Skipper, Nysa
Roadside Skipper, Dotted Roadside Skipper, Yucca Giant Skipper, Giant
Swallowtail, Olympia Marble, Common Mestra, and Common Wood Nymph. Just
four of these ten species would have done it.
Amphibians that used to be annual along the lakes that were missed this
year: Great Plains Toad, Texas Toad, Woodhouse's Toad, Green Toad, Great
Plains Narrow-mouthed Toad, and Plains Leopard Frog. This was a wet year
and, so far as I can tell, all of these species have vanished from the
inside the loop stretch of the Canyon Lakes during the last decade.
Birds that I think of as annual at this site that were missed this year:
Common Goldeneye, Common Loon, Little Blue Heron, Rough-legged Hawk, Common
Gallinule, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser
Yellowlegs, Baird's Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Stilt
Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Phalarope, Bonaparte's Gull,
Franklin's Gull, Least Tern, Black Tern, Inca Dove, Common Nighthawk,
Rufous Hummingbird, Gray Flycatcher, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Say's Phoebe,
Loggerhead Shrike, Plumbeous Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Chihuahuan Raven,
Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow,
Townsend's Solitaire, Swainson's Thrush, Sage Thrasher, Ovenbird, Northern
Waterthrush, Louisiana Waterthrush, Townsend's Warbler, Canyon Towhee,
Savannah Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Summer Tanager, Pyrrhuloxia, Rose-breasted
Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird.
Just 24 of these 49 species would have done the trick.
All I can say is thank goodness for reptiles and mammals:)
Of these 252 critters, 222 species were photographed (88%) during the
year. This goal was missed primarily due to overconfidence in January and
February - too much thinking that I would get a second bite at the winter
bird 'apple' in November and December - and lack of photographic focus
during a couple of particularly good butterfly days because I was showing
folk around.
Critters that, ultimately, I saw but didn't get photographs of: Common
Streaky Skipper, Mexican Yellow, Lupine Blue, Tawny Emperor, Viceroy, Texas
Spotted Whiptail, Greater White-fronted Goose, Sora, Virginia Rail, Herring
Gull, Greater Roadrunner, Long-eared Owl, Chuck-will's-widow,
Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Prairie Falcon, Cave Swallow, Red-breasted
Nuthatch, American Pipit, Black-and-white Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler,
Northern Parula, Yellow-breasted Chat, Grasshopper Sparrow, White-throated
Sparrow, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Lesser Goldfinch, Northern
Pygmy Mouse, Red Fox, Bobcat.
The December list with new species for the year denoted with an * and newly
photographed species for the year denoted with a (y):
Orange Sulphur
Sleepy Orange
Dainty Sulphur
Variegated Fritillary
Common Buckeye
Question Mark
Red Admiral
Red-eared Slider
Gopher Snake*(y)
Greate White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Ross's Goose
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail (y)
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican*(y)
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Sora
Virginia Rail*
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Solitary Sandpiper (y)
Wilson's Snipe
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Greater Roadrunner*
Barn Owl
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-naped Sapsucker*(y)
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon (y)
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Rock Wren*(y)
House Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Western Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Curve-billed Thrasher
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Parula*
Pine Warbler*(y)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Harris's Sparrow*(y)
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Black-tailed Jackrabbit
Eastern Cottontail
Desert Cottontail
Eastern Gray Squirrel
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Hispid Cotton Rat
Red Fox*
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
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