Animal Log of your native fauna

[bmathison1972]

Haven't birded in three weeks, but I got a lifer yesterday at Decker Lake, the canvasback duck:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S104743321

[bmathison1972]

three lifers today at Lee Kay Ponds here in Utah: Neotropic cormorant, burrowing owl, and western meadowlark

[Avian]

Identified white moss (Leucobryum albidum), annual meadow grass (Poa annua), Carolina ponysfoot (Dichondra carolinensis), wax myrtle (Morella cerifera), American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), and a wild-growing Hippeastrum hybridum around the yard in some spare time.

[bmathison1972]

Good birding today; 51 species at two adjacent eBird hotspots, including two lifers: 1) white-faced ibis and 2) Bonaparte's gull

Decker Lake: 34 species, 2 lifers:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S107909632

Jordan River Parkway: 33 species (17 of which were not at the lake); repeat of one of the lifers for the day:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S107925313

[bmathison1972]

Lecturing in Minnesota today and went birding. The eBird list is below. The following six are lifers:

least flycatcher
gray catbird
Swainson's thrush
Nashville warbler
common yellowthroat
American redstart

keep in mind, this is my first time birding in the East in the spring

https://ebird.org/checklist/S110368647

I forgot to mention last week I got a lifer in Utah, Cordillaran flycatcher

[Isidro]

Yesterday I saw a kingfisher. Rarely I see more than once a year, so I has been lucky. It was hovering for long in the middle of the river.
Also I saw a reed warbler. Reed warblers are very easy to hear in adequate habitats, but very difficult to see, as they remain hidden in reeds. This one singed from a very exposed spot during about 5 seconds. Sadly I didn't bear my camera.
Also in my home appeared a meal moth Pyralis farinalis - first of the year and much earlier than those seen in other years.

[Isidro]

Couple days ago I did a field trip, the first in the year. It had some remarkable species, worth mentioning:

-Saturnia pyri. My first alive one in nature. I've seen previously roadkilled one, and alive one brought from another place. This was a female and in very poor condition, with a broken wing, a broken tarsi, and some snail slime over the broken wing, it only had strenght enoug for move the wings slowly once while being handled.

-Bearded vulture, Gypaetus barbatus. The 5th in my life, the last previous one was in 2017.

-Golden oriole, Oriolus oriolus. Only heard, as almost always.

-Zebrina detrita. Not a very usual snail here, last previous one was seen in 2015.

-Empusa pennata. Common, but very spectacular. An adult female first, and an adult male later in the day.

-Macroplax fasciata. A tiny seed bug not very noteworthy. Being in a group, I had little time for photograph it, and I finally passed despite being abundant. However, once at home I checked I don't have this species in my photo archive. Grrr.

-Tachycixius venustulus. A nice tiger-striped planthopper that I knew previously from photos but never seen alive until now. But it hopped out of reach even before having the chance of focus the camera on it.

-Lachnus roboris. A relatively common mega-aphid of oaks but this is the first time I saw the winged ones. They have beautifully patterned wings.

-Libelloides hispanicus. As an unconditional lover of my most megafavourite group of insects in the world, the larger neuropterans, this owlfly was a stunner for me. And it's just the third time in my life I see this exact species. I pursued it while it flied relatively low during some time until it finally landed and I was able to capture it for show it to the other members of the group, that was leaving already. The specimen was a male. After the photo session it was, of course, released.

-Some nice butterflies that are common, but not present or just rare in the area where I live, as is too arid and low. These included a lot of Iphiclides feisthamelii, some Anthocharis cardamines, abundant Gonepteryx cleopatra, one female Colias alfacariensis and some Limenitis reducta, one Satyrium spini and abundant Cupido minimus amongst other less notheworthy species.

-A special mention for one butterfly is for Hamearis lucina. It's a not-so-common species and the only member of the tropical family Riodinidae in Europe.

There is also some remarkable day-flying moths:

-Zygaena lavandulae is abundant in the zone. It's so splendid. Also one Z. trifolii appeared.

-One big geometrid with orangish hindwings and spotted clear-and-dark forewings, flying around me and never stopping. It can only be either Athroolopha pennigeraria or Eurranthis plummistaria. Given the locality, habitat, and abuncance of the foodplant in the zone, I would vote more probably for the latter species, but is not possible to be sure. If it's the latter, I never saw it alive before in my life. Of course, no photo, as often happen with the most interesting species of every trip.

-Second sight in my life (the other was in 2012) of the very spectacular micromoth Ethmia aurifluella, seen in flight with its bright orange abdomen, and then landed quickly in low herbs and admired its slaty wings with black dots.

-The most beautiful moth of the day was undoubtely the Arctia villica. Absolutely spectacular. Flying around the place when the group stopped for lunch. It landed during half a second twice in the low branches of trees around, enough for identify it, but started flight inmediately again and finally left.

-Acmaeodera degener, an always nice to see jewel beetle, black with orange rows of dots. One individual in a rockrose flower. Not seen since 2017.

-Anthaxia croesus, just identified some minutes ago, new species for me.

-Omophlus rufitarsis, two individuals, second sight in my life, first was in 2009.

-Anastrangalia sanguinolenta (one female) and the always interesting Dinoptera collaris (this one not seen since 2010), both sharing the same umbel of Laserpitium gallicum.

-Andrena florea. An oligolectic bee that only pollinates Bryonia. There was one Bryonia full of these bees, but none of them stop for more than a second and finally the group was leaving so I didn't get any decent photo. It would have been new for my photo collection.

-I also got four new plant species for my photo collection.

[Isidro]

Today I went with my partner to the flea market, but to my suprise we decided to go trough nice and quiet natural pathways alongside the river. This gave me the chance to observe some wildlife, including little egrets, Anogcodes seladonius, a long-tailed tit, the sound of a golden oriole, song of a chaffinch, various Anax parthenope dragonflies including tandems, Platycnemis latipes, two enormous carps, a tree sparrow, grey herons. But the best of all was my first plain sight of a PENDULINE TIT!!!!!!!!! It's not actually a lifer, because I also annotated the sounds when I went with birders in the past (last was in 2015), but this is the first time I SEE one and well seen. Shame I had not my camera with me. I was a bit confused because it don't had a black mask, but with reddish back and greyish head and white stripes along tail and wings, it cannot be anything else (Rock buntings have reddish belly rather than back, and striped back, and this one had for sure plain reddish back). It was pecking seeds of reed. The lack of black mask is not a problem as I saw that (I assume, juveniles) can lack this feature, my bird was identical to this one:

https://erbirds.ru/taxons/429/fronpic2.jpg

Besides that, during a second a curious scene happened in my pond where one of my mosquitofish rested with the head in the very border, and a wasp (Sceliphron curvatum) landed to drink just in front of the fish. During about two seconds they had about 1 millimeter of distance head to head and being alinged. Then the fish realized the situation and swimmed back, what caused the wasp to scare too and fly.

[Isidro]

Yesterday I went to a field trip with same group than the previous one. It was very successful entomologically. Some highlights were:
-Tettigetta argentata, a small cicada
-Heriaeus oblongus, a hairy green crab spider I don't see very often
-Idaea mediaria, new species for me
-Anyphaena accentuata, a very fat female
-Segestria florentina, lifer for me, enormous female with nest
-A huge female of the crab spider Misumena vatia eating Hamearis lucina
-A huge female of the crab spider Diaea dorsata eating a hoverfly
-A polydesmid millipede (ID pending) I think new for me
-Two stoneflies, one very big (probably a Perla), other smaller but sulphur yellow (probably a Siphonoperla), neither collaborative for taking pics
-Eurydema cyanea a black-blue shield bug rarely seen.
-Sciocoris cf. microphthalmus if confirmed, would be new species for me.
-Neottiglossa sp. Possibly N. lineata. Second time I see this genus in my life.
-Megalonotus praetextatus. Lifer for me, tough not sure of the ID because I was unable to take a photo and rely only in my visual memory.
-Leptopterna dolabrata. New for me, and there was hundreds of them.
-Centrotus cornutus. Always a joy to see these minimonsters.
-Micromus variegatus. You know my love for neuropterans, and even if brown lacewings are not my most favourite, this species is distinctive, nice and not so common.
-Panorpa communis. A female. Not common in my area, where is mostly replaced by P. meridionalis.
-Anthocharis cardamines. Quite abundant here.
-Inachis io. The most beautiful butterfly of Europe.
-Aglais urticae. One landed on a car in the parking, other landed in my T-shirt.
-Erebia meolans. Always a joy to see any species of mountain ringlet, since I live in lowlands.
-Hamearis lucina. Very common here. The only member of the metalmark family in Europe.
-Lycaena hippothoe. Two individuals and second sight of this species in my life.
-Nematopogon sp. cf. schwarziella. I only saw a Nematopogon once before, and it flied without being photographed. This time is the first I can photograph it. It have whitish frons and weak wing reticulation and I'm basing on these for specific ID but I'm very unsure.
-Xanthorhoe iberica. New species for me.
-Odezia atrata. These quite attractive black geometrids are delightful to see.
-Psodos quadrifaria. For my taste the most attractive of the European geometrid moths.
-Hybomitra aterrima. Black horseflies that are not so common.
-Cheilosia illustrata. A bumblebee-mimic hoverfly, there was many of them.
-Tipula fulvipennis. A large cranefly with coloured wings.
-Cetonia aurata. Extremely abundant. Or at least I suppose they're aurata. Most specimens lacked the white spot in rear part of elytra, but others have, and others have a spot in one elytra and not in the other. Cetonia aurata and the Mediterranean substitute C. carthami can be tricky to distinguish, much more taking in account they overlap in range.
-Anthaxia fulgurans. A female.
-Pachytodes cerambyciformis. Two individuals.
-Clytus arietis. The most famous wasp mimicking beetle.
-Tenthredo mesomela. A large, striking, black and green sawfly.
-Ancistrocerus claripennis. New species for me.


But I left the four best for the end:

-ZYGAENA ROMEO!!! The rarest of the Iberian burnet moths. According to my burnet moth booklet, it should not be present in this region. But I think the ID is right. Sadly as I was in a group I had no time to wait it for landing and photograph in a natural habitat, but at least I caught it in flight and photographed it in my hand.

-SPHINX MAURORUM!!!! It's the second time in my life I see an adult pine hawk moth, and it was spectacular. Resting under some planted larches in the same village.

-ANATIS OCELLATA!!!! My second sight of ocellated ladybird in my life, first one was 22 years ago when I don't had a digital camera. So finally I can substitute my photo of a pinned specimen in the collection I kept in the far past, by a photo of an alive one-

-PLATYCERUS CARABOIDES!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally lifer for me, never saw a Platycerus alive before!!! Found digging in a rotten pine log.


 

[bmathison1972]

I was in Ohio (Toledo and Cleveland) this past weekend for my annual baseball trip. I was able to bird three times. In total I got 38 species with five lifers: ruby-throated hummingbird, herring gull, chimney swift, eastern wood-pewee, and house wren.

Here are the eBird lists with totals and numbers:

Toledo Park:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S114216659

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S114320408

Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserv:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S114387447

among mammals were the usual: white-tailed deer, eastern chipmunks, eastern grey squirrels, eastern cottontail rabbit

[bmathison1972]

Documented my first red-naped sapsucker last weekend birding outside Park City, UT.

Complete eBird list and numbers:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S116392739

[bmathison1972]

With the weather cooling, getting back into birding. Went to Decker Lake today where an immature Sabine's gull has been hanging out. Not a lifer, as I documented one there about this time last year (maybe vagrants getting lost during migration?)

Anyway I saw it!

Here is a link with the complete list and counts: https://ebird.org/checklist/S120709259

[Isidro]

Yesterday I saw my first wild alive Wels catfish (Silurus glanis).

[bmathison1972]

I was in DC for work these last couple days and got in some birding.

Yesterday, I went to the National Botanical Gardens. Documented 20 species with five lifers:
1. white-throated sparrow
2. Tennessee warbler
3. eastern towhee
4. hermit thrush
5. Carolina wren

mammals included eastern grey squirrels and eastern cottontail rabbits

complete eBird list with all species and counts: https://ebird.org/checklist/S121041185

This morning before I had to fly back, I went to the Lower Senate Park, and got 20 species (6 not documented yesterday) with one lifer, the brown thrasher:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S121093933

I saw an albino gray squirrel too! If not a true albino, it was legitimately pure white (not pale grey).

So, in two short trips to urban parks in DC, I saw 26 species of birds with 6 lifers!

[Gwangi]

I don't participate here much anymore but I was very excited to see my lifer black skimmer in Ocean City Maryland a couple days ago. A large flock of them few in and rested on the beach before flying off and skimming the waters. I've wanted to see these birds since I started birding in 1999.

Also, a fellow fishing on the pier caught a 2' spiny dogfish shark and my daughter got to touch it, her first time ever touching a shark.

[bmathison1972]

I don't participate here much anymore but I was very excited to see my lifer black skimmer in Ocean City Maryland a couple days ago. A large flock of them few in and rested on the beach before flying off and skimming the waters. I've wanted to see these birds since I started birding in 1999.

Also, a fellow fishing on the pier caught a 2' spiny dogfish shark and my daughter got to touch it, her first time ever touching a shark.

Glad you got a lifer, if anything to get you back here! LOL

I birded up City Creek Canyon this past Sunday; no lifers, but two rarities: a white-throated sparrow (rare on this side of the Rockies; of course I'd finally get it after seeing it in DC a week earlier) and a northern goshawk!

[Gwangi]

I don't participate here much anymore but I was very excited to see my lifer black skimmer in Ocean City Maryland a couple days ago. A large flock of them few in and rested on the beach before flying off and skimming the waters. I've wanted to see these birds since I started birding in 1999.

Also, a fellow fishing on the pier caught a 2' spiny dogfish shark and my daughter got to touch it, her first time ever touching a shark.

Glad you got a lifer, if anything to get you back here! LOL

I birded up City Creek Canyon this past Sunday; no lifers, but two rarities: a white-throated sparrow (rare on this side of the Rockies; of course I'd finally get it after seeing it in DC a week earlier) and a northern goshawk!

I still visit the thread whenever someone posts in it, so keep on sharing those lifers!

White-throated sparrows are one of my most common feeder birds! I have yet to see a northern goshawk.

[bmathison1972]

I birded up City Creek Canyon again today. The coolest thing I saw was a mink! Second time I saw wild mink in Utah! Other than that the only mammals were mule deer and fox squirrels. I am curious if some of the fox squirrels are American red squirrels?

Anyway, here is the bird list. Nothing out of the ordinary, but lots of turkey activity!

https://ebird.org/checklist/S121991554

[Gwangi]

I birded up City Creek Canyon again today. The coolest thing I saw was a mink! Second time I saw wild mink in Utah! Other than that the only mammals were mule deer and fox squirrels. I am curious if some of the fox squirrels are American red squirrels?

Anyway, here is the bird list. Nothing out of the ordinary, but lots of turkey activity!

https://ebird.org/checklist/S121991554

American red squirrels are tiny. There's no confusing them with fox squirrels.

[bmathison1972]

yeah there were some really small squirrels that also had prominent white around the eyes; wasn't sure if they were young fox squirrels or American reds.