For Kassie, and anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of anything
nature-related: There is a wonderful program called iNaturalist that's great
for learning about local biota. You upload a photo, log its location, and the
program even has an AI feature that helps with the identification. It's not
perfect, but it does help point people in the right direction with respect to
IDs. Several LEAS members are on it and find amazing things almost daily. There
is an iNaturalist app, but I personally find the online version more powerful.
Think of it as eBird on serious steroids. https://www.inaturalist.org/home
We manage a Lepidoptera of Lubbock County project through iNaturalist and have
logged 360 species to date:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/lepidoptera-of-lubbock-county?tab=species
Ellen Hildebrandt (former Lubbock resident, naturalist, and birder) started a
Llano Estacado plant project before moving away:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?project_id=5451&place_id=any&verifiable=any&captive=any&view=species
Barry Keith is a wizard at iNat and can help with the advanced features
involving creating and managing a project.
In my secret fantasy world, Anthony adds his leps to iNaturalist and Drew adds
his herps (a small plea to those who are busy). It is an ongoing battle to
convince people in other parts of Texas that our area is not a vast wasteland
of nothingness. We also realize that range data for plants and insects are
often inaccurate and/or outdated and does not include the Panhandle or the
South Plains. We've got some updating and educating to do.
I'd love to see anyone's moth, beetle, plant, or insect photos if you find
something interesting. Happy to help with the ID.
Lena
________________________________
From: leasbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <leasbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf
of Kassie Moore <kasbang55@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2020 11:53 AM
To: leasbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <leasbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [leasbirds] Re: Playa Run
Hello everyone,
I am so surprised the playas were dry. Seems like so much rain lately. I
definitely love moths, butterflies and insects too, however I have not spent
time really studying them. So that being said, great suggestion by all to
focus on these beautiful creatures. Will need to get me a field guide!
Have a great day! Kassie
On Thu, May 28, 2020 at 12:01 AM Jennifer Miller
<foundnatureblog@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:foundnatureblog@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi All,
With all the rain recently, I decided to visit some of our playas that have
been good for shorebirds in the past. Was I off the mark!
I started with the Bison Rd Playa near Levelland. There was a little water in
the front area and there were 2 Avocets and 1 Grackle at the playa. That's it.
They've installed something new at the playa's edge, it looks like a pump to
me, and they were spraying water straight up out of a pipe a little ways away.
They were also working on the pivot, so who knows, but this may be a less
reliable location from now on. Time will tell.
I decided to stop at Reese Playa across from the golf course on the way back.
There was some water at the north end, but it was mostly covered by vegetation.
A few Mallards, a Black-crowned Night Heron, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Western
Kingbirds, and Barn Swallows were about all that was around.
Since I now had some time on my hands, I decided to head up to the playa just
east of Abernathy at the intersection of CR 5200 x CR 2800. This one was dry
except for a couple yards of the inlet. The highlights were my first wood-pewee
of the season and a singing Ring-necked Pheasant that I tried hard to turn into
a rail :) Then Brad's description of a bicycle brake barking popped into my
head and it was a rail no more!
I had never been to the playas where the American Golden Plovers were last
fall, so I decided to head a little further east and see if they had any water.
The playa near the intersection of Vetch Ave/CR 400 x CR
5200<https://eur05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fmaps%2Fsearch%2FVetch%2BAve%252FCR%2B400%2Bx%2BCR%2B5200%3Fentry%3Dgmail%26source%3Dg&data=02%7C01%7C%7C586b738040264f4737d908d80327c46c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637262816612548932&sdata=MfHJbjKbqslJ7OOwxpC8W3q2S1h3%2FPXW15egkLqvwqc%3D&reserved=0>
was also dry, but there was a singing Dickcissel on the wires above :) I
wanted to record it, but the first truck to come up behind me this entire trip
suddenly appeared and there was no where to pull over, so onward I went.
The playa near Vetch Ave/CR 400 x CR 5300 was also dry and there were only two
Western Kingbirds here. I almost headed home at this point but then looked at
my map and realized that the Becton Playa was only a minute away. Why not?!
On to the Becton Playa at CR 3600 x CR 5300. I have not enjoyed my visits here
in the past because I was unable to see over the vegetation into the playa. I
hadn't thought about it until I arrived, but those trips must have been in the
fall or during a wetter spring because I had great views of the playa this
time! This was by far the best stop. It was almost dry except for a line of
water in the middle only a few feet long, but the rest was still mud and had a
handful of shorebirds! Here I had the Baird's Sandpipers (I really looked for a
White-rump among them, but to no avail), Semipalmated Sandpipers, Wilson's
Phalarope, Stilt Sandpiper (these last two took off when grackles harassed the
flock soon after I arrived and never came back. They both appeared to head
south), a Lark Sparrow, several Horned Larks (thanks, Brad!), a Swainson's
Hawk, Cattle Egrets, Avocets, and a vocal Bobwhite. A scope was definitely
needed here and, even with one, it took lots of study to ID a little bird
because of the distance, wind, and heat shimmer.
All in all, it was a long 5 hours with very few birds, but I did enjoy several
of the birds and probably got my last fix of shorebirds before they start their
return migration (which can be as early as June!).
Back home, I checked the Rayless Greenthread flowers in the front yard and all
was quiet except for a stunning genus Villa fly (yep, it looks like a bee!).
These are one of my favorites. As Anthony noted in his email earlier, when the
birds start quieting down it's time to enjoy our gorgeous insects, butterflies,
and moths!
Jennifer
--
Jennifer Miller
Lubbock, TX
(o,o)
/)_)
" "
Blog -
http://foundnature.weebly.com/index.html<https://eur05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffoundnature.weebly.com%2Findex.html&data=02%7C01%7C%7C586b738040264f4737d908d80327c46c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637262816612548932&sdata=CCVBw8T6qHheT5ql2i0C2OqgtLAhJpS2j3fT5XwJ9HA%3D&reserved=0>
--
Kassie
