baxter-slye's Favourites

City Nature Challenge 2021 Day 1: Dallas - Fort Worth (DFW). Observing at the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA) on Barn Owl Ridge, a prairie reconstruction site with regular prescribed burns.

Specimen #5 for Entomology Class. If necessary, a Background image (may look irrelevant) was used to establish GPS Coordinates of the location of the animal.

-I could be completely wrong, but I believe this is a Caddisfly since it has a case made up of sand grains and synthetic fibers. I don’t think this is a native species and may have come with the aquatic snails I ordered for my turtles. I am assuming it matured in the aquarium and made a shelter with some sand and carpet string. It then climbed a wall which you can see in the second picture. Remarkably strong and interesting case.

+I was completely wrong, but thank you for everyone's help!

White Rock lake, Reinhart branch
Photo 1:
Highly Unusual Flicker
I was taking shots of flickers eating chinese tallow berries. I didn't realize until processing that this guy was special. We get yellow-shafted versions here normally with an occasional rare sighting of the red-shafted version. This one had a very strange malar that had both red and black showing rather than one or the other.
Photo 2:
He Turned Out To Be An Intergrade
I ran the photos past a friend who is the ebird reviewer for Dallas county and he confirmed this was a Northern Flicker intergrade. Intergrade is when two different subspecies breed. Hybrid is when two different species breed. This bird has dna from both versions. Very rare. Just seeing a red-shafted one is uncommon, I've not found one yet.

Photo 3:
The View From The Back
The only shot I got from the back but clearly shows the red nape which is a yellow-shafted field mark. That red on the malar is a red-shafted field mark.

Photo 4:
I'll Probably Never See One Again
This turned out to be a very rare sighting and probably the only one I'll ever find. Beautiful yellow undertail and dark red malar. And after those chinese tallow berries like all the other birds.
Photo 5:
Finally Got The Other Side
I'm really glad I got a shot of the other side of the bird. It shows that malar was no fluke. On this side too it is a combination of red and black. Such a cool bird.

Day # 4 - ECRTMN Weekly "Let's Get Outside!" activity suggestion: Make at least one iNat observation every day.
Good or bad, this grass population is increasing in the open area between the yard fence and the stock tank.

Soooo many Triodanis observations. They are prizes for @Kimberlietx, who challenged me to find like 100 species. LOL. City Nature Challenge Day 2: Dallas - Fort Worth (DFW). Observing at a residential retention pond with a wooded trail that is adjacent to the Hickory Creek Arm of Lewisville Lake in Denton County, Texas.