Snow Geese

My friend Rosanne sent me a link to a video of Tundra Swans flying at Pungo Lake in North Carolina today.

It reminded me of a trip to Bosque del Apache Patty and I went on, christmas week 2012. It was our first christmas trip together.

We saw Snow Geese.

 Lots of Snow Geese.

Lots and lots of Snow Geese.

But we almost didn't see any. We landed in El Paso, Texas on christmas day and headed off to New Mexico. And we were told how fortunate we were as this was the first time in twenty-five years that it had snowed on christmas!

Yay! Lucky us.

We didn't go to New Mexico for snow and cold. But that's what we got.

The reason to go to Bosque is for the many many Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes that overwinter there. And to experience the spectacle of thousands of Snow Geese taking off en masse at dawn.

The place to see this is known as "the flight deck". And Patty and I found ourselves there before dawn. Waiting in the cold dark December morning. It was eerily quiet. Geese are normally very loud, honking away. We discovered why when the sky began to brighten. The lake was frozen over. There were no geese!

Fortunately, the lake is long. And we headed north to see if we could find some geese. We did and just in time to see them take flight:

Amazingly, they all decide to go at once. A curtain lifting off and flying away. Magical.

The numbers were quite astounding. Even more so when we learned that since the lake was frozen over, most of the geese were down at the river. A river we could not get to because there roads were blocked by snow and ice. And they have no plows to clear the roads.

In fact, had we been arrived a day earlier, we would not have been able to get into the refuge.  They were using big front loaders to shovel the snow off the road.

We could see the clouds of geese off toward the river.

Steams of birds flying off for a day of bird business.

We spent the day wandering about the refuge  (we saw road runners!) and were back at the lake when the geese came in to roost for the night.

We went back the next morning and were there to see the birds emerge in the dawn twilight.

A white christmas and the magic of nature. Santa was good to us.

More Mothing

In the Mothing post I discussed the relative sizes of of the moths, but images of individual moths aren't very useful for doing comparisons. Here are a couple of images which show multiple moths at the same time.

Hopefully you've identified the moth at the top left as a Luna Moth. The large moth below the clothespin is a Cecropia Moth. These two where the largest of our visitors. Also in the image are three Hebrew Moths. Can you find them?

This image has the moths labeled with numbers for your increased viewing enjoyment (click on the image to bigafy it).

1 - Luna Moth
2 - Cecropia Moth
3 - Azalea Sphinx
4 - Rosy Maple Moth (the left point of the four is pointing to the moth)
5 - Hebrew Moth (the top opening of the five is facing the moth)

One more image, a Cecropia Moth on my shirt, again to give an idea of the size of this creature.

Image Courtesy Terry Schmidt

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Our basic mothing setup, as shown in the first two images, is a white cotton sheet (cotton reflects UV radiation, which attracts moths) and a very bright light. The light attracts moths, and other bugs, from all around. Many of which, as you can see, land on the sheet. Sharp eyed readers may have also noticed the black light behind the sheet in the first image. Both of these lights belong to our friend Bernie, who graciously let us use them. Our light has a shield on it, and it seems an unshielded light brings in more bugs.

Image Courtesy Terry Schmidt

Thanks Bernie!

House Guest

The morning after our Mothing event Patty was out working in the garden when she spotted this.

A Cecropia Moth, inside the house.

After taking a few pictures I gently removed it from the screen while Patty retrieved a small aquarium, where we kept it out of reach of our cat for the day. Once the sun had set we took it outside and set it free.

Bye-bye.

Mothing

There are some 12,000 moth species found in the United States. Last night we set out to see some of them. And we invited some friends over to join us. In all there were eleven of us eating and drinking and chatting and having fun.

And looking at moths. We have interesting friends.

Some we could identify, like this Luna Moth, one of the Giant Silkworm Moths with a wingspan of up to 4.5 inches (alas, the big beetle it is resting on is plastic). We had at least four of these visit this night.

Luna Moth

And several I could not, like this one.

Or this one.

But this one I was able to ID.

One Spot Variant

These three seem like variations on a theme, which leads me to believe they are all Geometers, in the Family Geometridae. But I could not find nor recognize them in the field guide.

Delicate Cycnia

But with so many species there are many themes. And many sizes.

The Hebrew

From small moths like The Hebrew moth.

And even smaller moths like the one above, species unknown. But the above three all have a similar delta shape and way of resting on a surface.

Cecropia Moth

To the very large, like the Cecropia Moth, with its six inch wingspan. It was the hit of the night. And it rests with its wings open, as does the Luna Moth.

The "little" moth above it in the image is a Rosy Maple Moth.

Rosy Maple Moth

The Cecropia and Rosy Maple, along with the Luna, are in the Family Saturniidae, more variations on a theme. The family members tend to be on the larger side for moths. But note that the Rosy Maple rests with its wings closed, the Luna and Cecropia with wings spread.

Another family that tends to have larger moths are the Sphinx Moths, Family Sphinidae.

Azalea Sphinx

This Azalea Sphinx is a "small sphinx moth". And bigger than most of the moths we saw this night.

Robin's Carpenterworm

Robin's Carpenterworm is an "exceptionally large micromoth", as per the Peterson Field Guide to Moths. Most micromoths are less than ten millimeters in length. Whereas Robin's Carpenterworm can be up to forty-five mm long. This one wasn't quite that large. Still, it is a big moth.

Pale Beauty

The Pale Beauty is another Geometer. Note the way the wings are held and the lines across them. Not diagnostic, but definitely a family characteristic.

You would think this next moth would be easy to identify, just look at that nose!

Alas, I was not up to the task and for now it is 'species unknown'.

I was able to figure out the next two, the Pistachio Emerald with some help from Patty.

White-headed Grape Leaffolder 

Pistachio Emerald

These are just some of the moths we saw. It was a very good night. For both for mothing and for sitting outside with friends.

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If you can identify any of these, or correct any mistaken IDs, 

leave a comment or send me an email. Thanks.

Window Frog

Seeking revenge?

Or just trying to beat the heat (it's forecast to hit 90° F today)?

(In either case, the window still needs a bit of washing ...)

Still Life ...

... with eggshell.

A Weekend at the Villas

Friends of ours have a second home in The Villas, a small town in Cape May County, New Jersey.

And Cape May is prime birding territory.

And May is prime birding time. Warbler migration time.

So when they asked if we wanted to come down for the weekend Patty said yes before they finished the question.

The weekend started in disappointing fashion. A DVOC bird banding trip to Rushton Farm in Pennsylvania, with Patty as leader, was rained out at the last minute. Fortunately we had spent the night at my sister's place, eleven minutes from Ruston Farm, rather than the two hours from our place. And thus we didn't need to wake up at o'dark-thirty to bethere on time. So after a cup of coffee we bid my sister and family adieu and headed off to rainy Cape May.

Carolina Wren

There were reports of a Snow Bunting at the Cape May Hawk Watch. A bird that breeds in the high arctic and has no business being in New Jersey in May. We went to look for it.

When we arrived it was still raining. So we stood under the hawk watch platform, along with a few other folks, in an attempt to stay dry. We did not see the snow bunting. Nor stay dry.

We did see a bunch of Mute Swans. And some swallows. And a few ducks and egrets.

After the rain let up and we had walked the trails at Cape May Point State Park, we headed over to the Villas. To an old golf course, Ponderlodge, which has been converted into a wildlife management area.

Red-bellied Turtle

Cox Hall Creek WMA to be specific.

Solitary Sandpiper

It is located just a few blocks from our friends' place.

Lessor Yellowlegs

There we ran into a group of birders from outside of Boston, down for a long birding weekend in Cape May and vicinity. It was their first visit to Cox Hall Creek and we were able to help get them oriented. And they in turn helped get us a nice variety of warblers.

Black and White Warbler

Later, after helping a fellow from Kansas lost on the trails unable to find his way back to his car, we looked for the reported Red-headed Woodpeckers. Again no luck. So we headed off for some pizza. After which a nightcap back at the house. And then off to dreamland.

The next morning we headed off to Higbee Beach WMA in Cape May. Hoping for more warblers.

Blue Grosbeak

We would be disappointed. Even the Bostonians couldn't help. It seems we were at the wrong end of the state. Sandy Hook National Recreation Area was the place to be that morning.

We did see Patty's favorite mammal, after cats that is.

Virginia Opossum 

We spent of few hours at Higbee, and saw some stuff. But nowhere near what we had hoped.

We then went back to the house and had a nice breakfast. And then a walk on the beach. It was a nice weekend despite the rain and the missed birds.

So until next time.

Laughing Gull

Bye!