Αρχεία Ημερολογίου για Μάιος 2019

Μάιος 05, 2019

Big Day

I spent as much time as possible before eBird's Big Day to practice in the places I monitor. Of course there were birds seen each day that did not show on May 4. There were also a few "other" species that distracted me, particularly turtles moving because of the rains and coming to full stops on the roadways. I couldn't let those be "dead" stops on my watch. So I may have "watched" a few gain safety at the side of the road.

So Big Day was big and showed me that I do not "remember" the numbers of birds accurately. Not trusting myself I just allowed my voice recorder to run when monitoring a specific place. I counted and reported to aloud as the recorder ran. And did I ever ramble. It was incredibly irritating to listen to these recordings. Who did I think I was talking to? describing extraneous stuff for? I hope it will provide guidance for future hikes and classes. Yikes!

A few other things showed up for other projects. So it was a busy few days in spite of the terrible weather.

I'll be on a third formal Amphibian Watch tonight with the experts. The visions of calling Gulf Coast Toads in a swale in Berry Springs Park was something I'd like to see again. I also was fortunate to visit ponds on a prairie restoration site and along my "regular route" to see what was out there. The recent rains have left water in places where I have never seen it and so it has been important to me to listen.

Okay. Time to get going.

Posted on Μάιος 05, 2019 1137 ΜΜ by alflinn329 alflinn329 | 6 παρατηρήσεις | 0σχόλια | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο

Μάιος 06, 2019

Berry Springs Revisit

After finding a frogastic (sorry, couldn't help myself) evening at BSP I headed back last night to join KM and BD to see what we might see. The calls were not quite as cacophonous as Saturday night.

We saw American Bullfrogs, but did not get photos or calls. But we did see/hear 5 other species. The chorus frogs were, as usually, no-shows. We stayed in the area of the flooded ground paralleling the parking areas by the bathrooms and walked back to the ditch/swale in the Pecan orchard. We also stopped briefly at the wet weather pond behind the improved camping area.

Here's the tally:

Blanchard's Cricket frog - Heard all over at a CI - 3. One caught.

Rio Grande Leopard Frog - CI - 1 Caught two lovely specimens.

Green Tree Frog - CI - 3 All over the park.

Gulf Coast Toads - CI - 3 All over the park. We saw them in the flooded area and examined a few.

Western Narrow-mouthed toads - CI - 3 All over the park. We did not see any toads, but they were calling

A dead Redstripe Ribbon Snake was found in the recently mowed grass and a Diamondback Watersnake was seen in the ditch/slough mid-pecan orchard.

A number of birds were still flying around and singing as we started the watch including the resident Mockingbird and 4 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. One Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was wading in the "froggy" area and one (probably same one) observed eating a crayfish.

Whew! It was a great evening "toadally" fantastic.

Posted on Μάιος 06, 2019 0207 ΜΜ by alflinn329 alflinn329 | 17 παρατηρήσεις | 0σχόλια | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο