wildlife photography – Page 48 – A Thousand Acres of Silphiums

Birds of the Texas Gulf Coast

birds, Texas Gulf Coast Birding, wildlife, wildlife photography

A few birds from our birding trip to the Texas gulf coast during May 2016.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Tyrannidae - Tyrannus forficatus. East End Lagoon Preserve, Galveston TX. — Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – Tyrannidae – Tyrannus forficatus. East End Lagoon Preserve, Galveston TX.

Swainsons Hawk - Accipitridae - Buteo swainsoni. Anahuac NWR, TX. — Swainsons Hawk – Accipitridae – Buteo swainsoni. Anahuac NWR, TX.

Purple Gallinule - Rallidae - Porphyrio martinica. Anahuac NWR, TX. — Purple Gallinule – Rallidae – Porphyrio martinica. Anahuac NWR, TX.

Meet the Slugs – Stinging Rose Caterpillar

macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Stinging Rose Caterpillar -Limacodidae - Parasa Intermedia (4699). Cuivre River State Park, Lincoln Co, MO. — Stinging Rose Caterpillar -Limacodidae – Parasa intermedia (4699). Cuivre River State Park, Lincoln Co, MO.

Arguably the most stunning of Missouri’s slug moth caterpillars, the Stinging Rose Caterpillar can most often be found on oak and hickory saplings. However, a number of other woody species (including those in the rose family) will also be used as host plants.

stinging-rose-caterpillar-limacodidae-parasa-intermedia-4699-img_8884 — Stinging Rose Caterpillar -Limacodidae – Parasa intermedia (4699). Horseshoe Bend Natural Area – Washington SP, Texas Co, MO.

This is one of the species I voluntarily allowed to sting me – it wasn’t that bad, perhaps a mild ‘stinging-nettle’ type of experience that was gone in 30 minutes or so.

stinging-rose-caterpillar-limacodidae-parasa-intermedia-4699-img_7609 — Stinging Rose Caterpillar -Limacodidae – Parasa intermedia (4699). Horseshoe Bend Natural Area – Washington SP, Texas Co, MO.

The image below shows a little of the variety of color and patterns that can be found in this species, this one showing more of a yellow/orange background. Some animals can be found that are completely yellow.

stinging-rose-caterpillar-limacodidae-parasa-intermedia-4699-img_8877 — Stinging Rose Caterpillar -Limacodidae – Parasa intermedia (4699). Horseshoe Bend Natural Area – Washington SP, Texas Co, MO.

-OZB

Location Spotlight – Return to Mingo NWR and Wilderness

birds, herps, mammals

Mingo - Monopoly Marsh — Mingo – Monopoly Marsh

Way back in April, Steve and I grabbed the canoe and took another adventure into Mingo. We believe we were a bit too early in a long spring to catch a lot of wildlife activity, but we did catch a few sites worth remembering. For instance, this single Coot allowed us to get pretty close as we were just getting inside Monopoly Marsh.

American Coot - Mingo Wilderness — American Coot – Mingo Wilderness

Along with water-loving avifauna, certain reptiles can usually be a sure thing to find at Mingo. I heard the expected usual whimpering from the back of the canoe as I attempted to get a steady shot of this Cottonmouth that was trying to absorb some sun on this cool April morning. 😉

cottonmouth-520a9462 — American Coot – Mingo Wilderness

One of the more destructive and unfortunate of invasive species to be found in Missouri, the Feral Hog has a strong foothold at Mingo. Polluting water, destroying vegetation, negatively altering natural communities and competing with native wildlife for acorns and other food sources are the major examples of the damages caused by this invasive. The Missouri Department of Conservation has recently announced new policy that should make significant improvements in reducing the numbers of Feral Hogs in the Missouri Ozarks.

520a9259 — Not as Cute as they Seem! – Feral Hogs, Mingo Wilderness

Finally, we have one of the expected and desired of Mingo’s mammals – the Virginia Opossum. This nicely colored possum didn’t mind that Steve and I watch as it had a mid-day snack.

Virginia Opossum - Mingo NWR — Virginia Opossum – Mingo NWR

-OZB

Spring Birding at Greer Spring

birds, wildlife photography

Hidden along the Eleven Point River in the south-eastern Missouri Ozarks lies Greer Spring (the 2nd largest spring in the state). This location and surrounding areas of bottomland and riverfront forest are widely heralded among birders in Missouri as being prime for easily picking up a number of forest species. Cerulean, Swainson’s, Worm-eating, Kentucky, and Hooded Warblers, to name a few, are documented as nesting in this area. These clips were recorded during a trip that Steve and I made this past May.

GHOW at Wild Acres

birds, wildlife photography

Great-horned Owl Pair - Wild Acres Park, MO — Great-horned Owl Pair – Wild Acres Park, MO

Just a few of the resident pair of Great-horned Owls at Wild Acres Park.

Great-horned Owl - 520A4301 — Great-horned Owl Pair – Wild Acres Park, MO

Great-horned Owl - 520A4284 — Great-horned Owl Pair – Wild Acres Park, MO

The northernmost breeding blackbird of North America, the Rusty Blackbird unfortunately has the distinction of being in one of the steepest population declines of all N.A. bird species.

Rusty Blackbird - Female — Rusty Blackbird – Female

Rusty Blackbirds nest throughout the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska, but winters throughout the eastern United States in areas including wet forests near permanent bodies of water. They will also utilize agricultural environments. Among the protected areas considered important for overwintering habitat is Mingo NWR, located in south-eastern MO.

Rusty Blackbird - Male — Rusty Blackbird – Male

Rusties exhibit an interesting variability in plumage throughout winter and spring, as can be observed in the different birds photographed in this post. Males are dressed with varying amounts of the rusty warm color that gives this species its name. This coloration is located on the tips of newly emerged feathers during the molt. As these fine feather tips wear and break off, the males will become primarily black and luminescent in summer breeding plumage. Female Rusties are even more interestingly plumaged, with tans, browns and blues.

Different survey methods, such as the Breeding Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Count all suggest that the Rusty Blackbird population has declined by more than 90% over the past three decades. Reasons for this decline are not well understood, but are likely to include the acidification of wetlands, loss of wetland habitat in general, loss of forested wetland habitat on wintering grounds and poisoning of mixed-species wintering blackbird flocks in south-eastern United States, where they are considered as agricultural pests.

In his book Birder’s Conservation Handbook – 100 North American Birds at Risk, where much of the information in this post was collected, Jeffry Wells suggests the following actions to address the population decline of the Rusty Blackbird:

Limit global warming pollution and acid deposition via air pollution.
Implement protections and management plans across the boreal forest of North America.
Stop deforestation of wintering habitat and implement habitat restoration.

-OZB

Tag: wildlife photography

Birds of the Texas Gulf Coast

Meet the Slugs – Stinging Rose Caterpillar

Location Spotlight – Return to Mingo NWR and Wilderness

Spring Birding at Greer Spring

GHOW at Wild Acres

The Grassland’s Cutie – Bell’s Vireo – Again

A Couple of Eagles

The Turkey Vulture

Bird Species of Conservation Concern – Rusty Blackbird Revisited

A Few From Wild Acres Park