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Borrego Springs, CA

Monday, July 8, 2013

As the bird songs begin to ebb, the butterflies blossom

Rachel and I were off to survey the Booth Lake block this morning.  The cacophony of bird songs has certainly begun to ebb over the last two weeks.  Summer doesn’t last that long up north, so the birds have to hurry to raise the next generation.  Once the young ones hatch, the males don’t sing on their territories quite as much.  We’re down to the nitty-gritty of hoping to find adult birds with food in their mouths that they don’t eat.  That proves that they have nested and have young in the area.  For example, we are no longer hearing any black-billed cuckoos or golden-winged warblers at all.  It will only be a few weeks before these neo-tropical migrants begin their journey south for the winter.

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                                                                         Atlantis Fritillary

In contrast, the butterflies are now coming into their own.  We didn’t see quite the swarms that we saw yesterday, but the numbers of butterflies flitting around us is still rather mind boggling.

Milbert's Tortoiseshell IMG_3766

                                                      Milbert’s Tortoiseshell

I had to check my field guide to identify this new to me species.  Milbert’s Tortoiseshell is a true northern butterfly.  They overwinter as adults by hibernating in old logs, under bark, or in old out buildings.

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I must say that Rachel has been a very apt student.  She has gone from being a very beginning birder to quite knowledgeable about birds in this area in the span of under two months.  She still mixes up some of the bird songs we hear, but my goodness, I’ve been at this for over 35 years and do the same thing at times.

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We were able to add about four new species to the list for this block, and confirmed about the same number of breeding birds.  We found the nest of an American redstart, and documented adults with food for young for common yellowthroats, yellow warblers, and song sparrows in the block. 

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We felt pretty good about this while battling the deer flies.  Don’t know why I had a respite from ticks yesterday, but they were back today.  Not as bad as last week, but they made their presence known.

73 Tamarac NWR, 20139

The highlight of the day for me came as the sun was sinking in the western sky.  I haven’t seen this porcupine in several weeks, and it was the first time I was able to get pictures of it.  It likes to climb a particular tree out beyond our front yard.  Emma, of course, was going ballistic over it being nearby.  Little does she know what havoc it could cause to her tender nose! Disappointed smile

IMG_3775                                                                              THE END!!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

28 comments:

  1. The butterflies are beautiful!

    It's so hard to think about the birds beginning to fly south for the winter...my how time flies!

    Rachel has certainly had a great teacher! She is one lucky girl to have been your shadow the past few weeks.

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  2. Judy, you thought about making a calendar with your photography? these are really gorgeous! love the colors and well, a porcupine? love the duck? tip toeing ... naw eings too long to be a duck ... what is it? I know you think I should know ... but I don't. too short legs to be a crane or heron ...

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  3. OMG, I think your butterfly pictures are even better than your bird pictures. They are so fantastic.

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  4. You must have a lot of patience to get so many great butterfly shots:)

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  5. I think the tortoiseshell butterfly is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen pictures of.

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  6. I have always enjoyed seeing butterflies. We don't seem to have as many kinds here in Ca as we did in Wisconsin. Not as many bugs in general.

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  7. Beautiful butterflies. Starting to see more up here these days.

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  8. The summers really are short up there. Hard to believe the peak has come and gone already. The butterflies are pretty. Your photos are amazing.

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  9. Wow. I lived in the Upper Peninsula for a few years and I remember the short summers...but still...it was startling to read that some birds would be heading south so soon. Sigh. Summer everywhere seems too short.

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  10. How do you check your butterfly guide? Do you look up the main color of the butterfly or some sort of marking?

    I have never seen a porcupine in the wild. Great photo shot.

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  11. Love your new header photo... I can almost hear the call of the loon just looking at it.

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  12. Your new header is fantastic. I can't believe its almost time for some birds to begin their journey south. With all the remodeling, we haven't even taken the pontoon out of the garage. Shooting for Wednesday!!!

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  13. Superb photos. Thanks for risking the ticks for the service that you do.

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  14. Great porcupine photos - another animal I've never seen in person. You see such interesting things while you're volunteering. I'll bet you're going to miss all the bird activity.

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  15. No wonder Rachel has learned so much, you're the best naturalist teacher there is. And to think you wasted all that talent teaching math! ;c)

    I don't know how you do it, I'm lucky to see a bird, let alone if it has food in its mouth for youngsters. Maybe I need some of your teaching, too (as long as it isn't math!).

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  16. Beautiful butterfly pics! Glad to see you are also getting your fair share of ticks, no see ums, and horseflies!:)

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  17. Never knew porcs climbed trees, well you learn something new every day.
    p.s. tyler above..we got the exact same message

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  18. Everytime I read your posts I just want to be there to hear all the birds, to see these beautiful butterflys of which you've taken terrific pictures, to see a real live porcupine in person. Sure glad I get to go along with you at least this way.

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  19. WOW! Your pictures are incredible - :-)

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  20. Birds and butterflies and porcupines -- you have a great social entourage.

    Our dog in Montana sure learned about porcupines! He apparently tried to bite one, got 300 quills in his mouth and a trip to the vet. Didn't learn much, though, as he tried it again.

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  21. You came to my mind about two weeks ago. I saw a loon on a blog--maybe it was yours, and I had a longing to watch "On Golden Pond", I downloaded it from Amazon and enjoyed it as much as the first time I saw it.

    I can't get over how you spot all of these creatures. I must be a dunce or be walking right by without seeing them. Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.

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  22. I see all sorts of signs we're in mid summer...yet I feel like summer just began. It goes by so fast.

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  23. beautiful butterfly shots!! I hope some make their way over here..but the spray from the fields would probably kill them:(

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  24. More super photo's. Don't let Emma get near that procupine

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  26. Great photos! You took some amazing shots you get amazing angles.

    Keith
    Stoltzfus-Rec

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  27. Great photos! You took some amazing shots you get amazing angles.

    Keith
    Stoltzfus-Rec

    ReplyDelete