October 6, 2022
I have not posted in a few weeks. There has been nothing extraordinary since the last post on August 12. The birds going through have been the usual fall migrants. Good numbers of Lucy’s, MacGillivray’s and Nashville Warblers. Low numbers of Black-throated Grey, Townsends and few Hermits. Painted Buntings have been in better than usual numbers, while Lazuli Buntings have been abundant – but not like last year’s truly large number that lingered on to February! Last year’s monsoon, a near record, produced 16.2′ of rain here at Rancho Malaire. This year’s total (to 9-30-2022) was 17.3″. It is notable that other areas got less than usual. Tucson International(!) Airport, about 20 miles away across a broad valley, got less than 5″. Go figure.
Gilded Flicker Clark Crossing 9-27-2022
I’ve been birding with a butterfly-type watcher. So. I’ve included a couple of photos of butterfly and a bug. Butterfly ID is like parsing empids, but harder. So the IDs that I’ve provided are not guaranteed. The main ID source is “Southeastern Arizona Butterflies” 2022 (Bailowitz and Brock)
And a fly, too.