I’ve learned so much from participating in iNaturalist. Highly recommend. Also,
Citizen Science!
Glenda
Sent from my iPhone
On May 28, 2020, at 6:10 PM, Lena Zappia <lzappia@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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insects are often inaccurate and/or outdated and does not include the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>
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 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
--
Kassie
