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Friday, March 15, 2013

New oasis butterfly species

An all around splendid day. I started out enjoying the singing of the Varied Thrush, then as I was trying to sort out sparrows coming to drink at the big tank, a flicker came to drink that the experts think might be an intergrade between a  [Northern] "Yellow-shafted" and "Red-shafted." What I know for sure is that it had strong yellow undersides when it flew. Doesn't show on the photos unfortunately. If I get another chance to photograph it I'll try for a flight shot, even if it's blurry.


Then I spotted 3 Aoudads crossing the road coming into the oasis. They were atop a hill about half a mile away but I got what photos I could. That's Nine Points Mesa in the background.


Before I had recovered from that, the oasis got nice and warm and full of butterflies. I'm not sure if I ever photographed a Texan Crescent before.






















But here is the highlight of the day, a new butterfly species for the oasis. My lepidopterist friend says it's a Coyote Cloudywing.


A really fun day. 

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