baxter-slye's Favourites

Smooth Arizona Cypress (Hesperocyparis glabra)

23 June 2024
Quakertown Park
Denton, Denton County, Texas

Here's a close up shot of that tree you identified earlier: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/222340240

@ekarlogist

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.