Ah Fall is here and it is a time for things to start changing in nature. It is the time to get all the insect photos I can before the cold gets here. It is a time for migration and a time for the colors of Fall to start to show. For the beginning of October it has been one heck of an experience. My mom had to have surgery after her Chemo and it has been kind of gloomy around here without her. She is fine and is recovering so I have been spending a lot of time out in nature to keep my mind occupied and to keep the stress levels low. I have found so much and most of what I have found was quite unexpected. I have been hanging out at the usual haunts; River Legacy, Oliver Nature Park, Lake Arlington, Pappy Elkins Park, and a few other places around the DFW area on the Arlington side. This month has been very good to my life list numbers. I have got to see a few new things mostly of the bird, insect, and plant categories. I have seen a few old timers to the life list but for the rest they have been new editions I am very proud of. Some of my favorites this month have been the (yellow shafted) Northern Flicker, Golden Tortoise Beetle, Eastern Giant Swallowtail, ect. I have noticed the American Widgeons starting to fly back down; so are the Lincoln Sparrows. The Winter Migration will be in full flight soon this is the season when things start to move around. I just love this time of year it still has an abundance but it is harder to search for insects; it gets cold in the morning and then warms up by mid afternoon. I find more insects later in the day than in the morning things haven't quite woke up in the morning. I just love this fall season it is a time for wildlife to put on winter pounds and for things to start hunting and gathering for the coming freeze. It is a time for friends and a time for family. It is a wonderful time of year for us. I just love looking for the migrating birds. You can sure bet that I will be hitting the lakes to see what shorebirds old man winter will bring in. I just love birding in the Fall and Winter. If it is cold I get my favorite vest or coat and grab my fourth Doctor Doctor Who Scarf and grab my hat and my camera and head out on the trail just listening to the sound of the wind rustling the last of the fall leaves. I listen to the calm waters of the near by streams or if I am by a lake on a gray morning I watch and take pictures while I look out at the scene and let the sound of the lake waves crash on to the bank. Fall and Winter and a great times to remember the past. I find that when I am quiet and listen to the sounds of nature I am transported to the past. I think of past observations old friends from my childhood and other things that come to mind. But most of all it is a time to get observations. I have to say that every day I am out it is a bioblitz for me. This year had been my biggest year yet for my page. I have found so many different things this year it has been one heck of a ride. I just love all the species I have uncovered with each upload and each click of the shutter. Sure some have escaped me but a lot of stuff doesn't get to far with me around. This was a great year for my observations. I have found almost 1,500 observations; I am currently at 1,482 possibly 1,483 I think I missed uploading a recent one I have to check later on. I am burning the midnight oil just to think about what is next on my agenda. @sambiology wants me to tag along on a hunt for damselflies at LLELA this weekend so I might do that depending. I do have that Odonata chip on my shoulder they are one of my all time favorite groups of insects. All this summer I have been looking for different species. So far I have 40 odes total. I am also looking forward to going back to the Master Naturalist meetings. Since my mom has been sick I have been unable to go. I miss @brentano @charley @lulubelle @eangler and the rest of the Cross Timbers crew. I think now that my mom is feeling a lot better she will be getting stronger and I will hopefully be doing more in the near future in terms of volunteering and all. I am also looking forward to that Oliver Nature Park BioBlitz that is happening on the 21st of October. I have been sharpening my skills and I have been noticing some interesting stuff at Oliver Nature Park that I am defiantly going to try to get if they are there once the BioBlitz rolls around. The big challenge will be coming up in April the City Nature Challenge is the challenge I am really anticipating. Last year's City Nature Challenge was a big to do and I had a lot of fun. April this year was my busiest month because I spent most of the first weeks training for the Nature Challenge. I will be doing the same thing but doing it more often way in advance in January, February, and March. I am keeping my skills sharpened so that way nothing slips past me. I have a lot to do and want to do. My little brother is going to Missouri for a school trip but my whole family might be going and for me I want to go and bird, look for insects, and even see Lake Superior if I am able to. My mom will be feeling much better by Spring Break when the trip will be around so I am hoping we can all go while my brother is up there and do some wildlife watching and go see the sites and just tear it up. I for one have not been up north in a while and I think it would be fun to get another state marked off the list of states I have been to. I just love the north I was up in Colorado back in 2007 way before I was an iNatter and way before I had a good camera and a smart phone. I wish it had all of that stuff and knew about iNaturalist because I really wanted to log a few species away we found up there. I am hoping if I do go back up north I can find a few of those species and then some. I am totally an addict to this site. It is the only site I have really stayed consistent with. I love nature and science and I just love learning the names of all the animals and plants and fungus I come across. I am wanting to go to so many places in the future and really love to photograph stuff at new and interesting places that I have never been too to get even more species and make even more wonderful memories. This year has been great and it is not over yet. I still have a chance to get 2,000 observations. We are going to just had to see what happens. Well it is getting late and the night is here. Goodnight all and have a great rest of your October. This is Zachary "bugman" Chapman AKA galactic_bug_man signing off. Live Long and Prosper y'all.
Not sure what kind of snake this is. It doesn't look like a plain bellied water snake to me but it may be. It was just resting at the bottom of this pond just watching us as I took pictures. I see a lot of snakes out there from time to time.
This thing is one of my newest little snout beetles. This dude was just crawling in the mud just minding his own. It was not one I am familiar with and it was one of the more brightly colored beetles I have ever seen in the Texas area. This one was black with a little peachy pink color or something like that. This guy was very interesting. @sambiology @borisb what do you think about this one?
Not sure what kind of Yellow Jacket this is. This guy was about an inch or so long and was giving me the run around. This dude would not sit still for long and I was only able to get only a few photos of the creature.
Possibly found the thing that the nymph I found last week turns into. My mother is the one who found this sucker. It looked like it was made out of solid gold. This is one insect I have never seen before. @kimberlietx @sambiology what do you think about this one? It had the very interesting dots on its back. It didn't really move at all. This was one of my favorite observations from today. This dude was so fascinating. This is a very nice looking insect. It reminds me of some kind of lost Artifact that Indiana Jones would go after if this thing was a little bit bigger. This one was about the size of a Number Two Pencil Eraser. I just can't get over the beautiful color of this beetle. It reminds me of something from the Prehistoric era. This is one is really awesome! Sorry kind of went on a nerd out rant but I couldn't help myself this is one cool insect! @borisb anything from your end? That clear membrane or whatever that is around the beetle is something else. It makes it look kind of like a flying saucer or something. It is really wild!
This was the third Weevil I have found this week. This one as a little bit differnent from the other two I have found in recent days. This one was dark with some red lines which is very interesting. This one was very interesting and was one of two species I found today. @sambiology @kimberlietx @borisb what do you guys make of this one?
@borisb @sambiology @kimberlietx I think this one might interest you. There were a bunch of these Tiger Beetles in the muck at the side of the lake I was on. This was one of the largest Tiger Beetles I have ever seen. I couldn't get too close because it was a very skittish insect. This thing was a very interesting and differs from the other Tiger Beetles I have seen out and about my adventures. This one had a massive set of mandibles and was more of a dark green and more weirder colors on its back. It was hard to make out which kind this one is. Maybe you guys could give me a hand with this one?
This guy whipped out right in front of me when I was on my hike today. I had not encountered one of these in a while. This is the second species of snake that I have photographed at Oliver Nature Park. This dude was so cool. I did handle it for a little bit just to get a better look but didn't handle it too much. We let him go after we got a few shots of him. He was an absolute beauty. I thing he was about a foot in a half in full length. I just love these guys. My first one in the wild to photograph was during the City Nature Challenge 2017 back at OS Gray. I just love these guys. He was a very cooperative snake and wasn't very skittish or quick to escape us.
I know these are blues but I forget which kind they are? These guys were out by the front pollinator garden at the main entrance.
This is the first Wolf Spider I have encountered at Elmer W. Oliver. I have not seen any at this place before. This was a very interesting spider for it had a little different coloration than I am used too. This was a very fascinating spider.
This thing was very interesting little Damselfly. This thing had different coloration. I am defiantly not familiar with anything like this one. It was fairly small but very pretty. I think it might be one I have encounter before but I am not sure. @greglasley @sambiology @brentano @briang could yall kind of point me in the right direction.
This one is one of the prettiest flies I have ever photographed. This thing was so full of color and was one of most interesting things I have observed in recent days. This thing was very small and hard to get in focus but luckily I was able to get it in focus before it flew off. It would hover and then land and then repeat. These guys are cool but they can be a pain to get into focus. These things are just so cool. This one was black, yellow, and red, and brown. It was just super interesting. I have never seen one like this before.
This was a very interesting little scene. This was a hunt and I am not sure what it was they were eating. They were sitting on the side of the road without a care trying to get every last scarp down as they could. This thing was very interesting I have never photographed this kind of scene involving vultures and their meal.
Now that I have looked up the fungus hunting ethics for iNaturalist on Facebook I am now understanding the importance of this practice of uprooting. My mother and I found this fungus at Lake Arlington. This stuff looks like little donuts or something. It has gills and is very dry. It was growing on one of the fallen logs by the bank. It was very interesting. There are a whole bunch of these things growing. They reminded me of dried up giant cheerios.
This one was a very interesting Butterfly. It was almost the same size as a Pearl Crescent. This one had a little bit more darker tones to it. It was a very interesting little butterfly. I am not sure if I have encountered this one before or not. This one was very pretty though.
Not too sure what this species is it was growing out by the main pond on Saturday. This one was very beautiful. Some kind of Aster Maybe?
This one I am not too familiar with. This one was a very pretty yellow one. Each flower looked kind of crinkled and looked like it had five petals on it. They were mustard yellow with red centers. Not sure what this one is? @suz what say you.
This guy was plenty interesting. @kimberlietx @sambiology maybe you guys can shed some light on this one. This one was a very small waspy looking thing. It was yellow and black and very tiny. It was found in the overgrown section of the Lake where that old boat yacht club used to be. I have been keeping tabs on that place since stuff has begun to regenerate out there and it is now accessible to the public. The place has become overgrown and is now teaming with insect life.
I hate it when these things get stuck on my shoe laces. Anything like this is so tedious to handle and hurts to get off your shoes or clothing. Any type of grass bur, cocklebur, beggartick is a mess to get off of one's self. Yet they are interesting but man don't you hate it when they get in your laundry. These suckers are huge. This is not even the stage when they are most tedious to work with. Anytime that a bur dries out that is when it becomes a gigantic pain in the hind quarters. These are thick this side of the Lake although I have tracked them at Bowman Springs park near the lake shore there. You have to be extremely careful with these especially if you have kids. My mom wouldn't let me enter the car with out de-burring my socks and shoes. These guys are a mess to deal with and are not one of my friends how interesting they might be they maybe important to a plant's defense but take my advice and watch where you tread.
This is for the one in the purple circle. It was some kind of black bee. I think I may have seen one of those before but I am not sure what it was. I couldn't make out any other colors on the bee I am not sure if there was yellow or anything on it.
Okay I got a four-fer on this observation so I am just going to take things one at a time here. This first one I am trying to ID the creature in the red circle. @sambiology @kimberlietx @brentano what say you on this one? This guy was black with white stripes and was very very small. All of the creatures on this were small and hard to get individual pictures of. So that is why I have circles on these. I really hate to do this but it does help sometimes.
This if for the green circle; the insect in the center of the plant. This guy was a very green beetle and very tiny. It may have had some bronze to it but I didn't want to get the camera too close or it might have scared off the other insects that I was photographing. This was a very interesting beetle I have not seen one like this yet.
This is just for plant ID don't mind the insects I have those already posted individually. This post was a busy one. I have not had a four-fer before. I need to check Goldnerods more often to see just how many insects I can nab in one sitting. You get bonus points with these and Marsh Flea bane.
It thought that this was in the same family as Eumenes but I was wrong about that assumption dude to the shape difference. This wasp was a black and white one that was about an inch long or so. At closer examination it does appear to have just a hint of yellow on it. This thing was really interesting I am not sure if I have seen this one before or not.
Finally got a decent American Crow for iNaturalist. Every time I would attempt to get a crow photo it wouldn't look right and it would look like a grackle or something hard to make out. This guy was sitting on the condo next to the lake. These guys are all over place down at the lake constantly squawking and cawing.
These are some very interesting flies. They seem to scoop up sand with their front legs to filter out the particles. I may have seen these before but I was unable to get a good photo until now. These guys are very interesting.
This moth was out this morning at my house. This dude was pretty interesting. He was long and skinny (possible leaf-roller moth not sure though) this guy had an orange bar on its back with some dollie pattern on the base of its wings. It was so docile I was able to touch him. He must have been cold because it is a chilly day but he took of and flew around my porch light. This guy is very interesting. Haven't seen one like this before. @sambiology @kimberlietx @brentano @lulubelle do you guys know which this one is?
Yesterday at school these guys were hanging out around school. The storm had stopped them from their migration. It was a horrible event to see some of these birds attack their reflections and hit the windows. Some killed their selves right in front of me which was horrible. These are one I am not too familiar with. I did manage to these two live ones that I managed to save by shooing them away from the windows. There were dozens of these birds just dropping left and right out there. I am telling you we need bird tape out by that school so that way incidents like this don't happen often. Yesterday was a bummer for the birds on campus.
I am not sure what kind this one is it is rather pretty though.
This dude wound up in the Student Union building at school. This was a huge sucker and was handing around where the wall met the ceiling it was kind of a strange place of this guy he went the whole day not being noticed. Forgive me for the poor quality bad lighting.
This guy was sitting on the bank of the lake when I found him. It was with another of the same species of tiger beetle. Not sure what this one is it doesn't have a pattern I am familiar with. And it was not like the one I saw last week. @borisb @sambiology what do you guys suppose this one is?
This was growing on the sandy bank. It had vine like leaves and also had a little white flower that had a similar shape to that of a Tievine but it was not the same color. Have not seen a plant like this before that was growing where the water had receded. The flower had a slight purple center and was not that tall. The plant stood up about six or seven inches from the ground.
This guy I understand made today's Observation of the day with another user. Funny thing I found the exact same type of insect at River Legacy Park's science center in the lantana. This guy is totally weird. I thought at first it was some kind of weird ant but to my surprise it was not an ant. These things are so odd looking it was one of the coolest and most unusual finds I have ever seen. @sambiology what the heck is this thing besides a Broad-headed Bug?
This guy was on the other side of snider creek. this is the first Northern Flicker I have ever seen. I have been trying to nail this sucker for years now. This one was a male and was a Yellow-shafted. You can't tell here but when he flew of you could see the colors. Now I just have to find a red shafted one. I love woodpeckers and to note that this one loves ants is kind of cool. I mean I like ants but I find this Woodpecker to be one of my favorite Woodpeckers in the whole world. It is a very nice addition to the old life list. I will be updating the life list I have made on Excel later on today and I will be updating the old ABA Lifer list. Such an Awesome day today. I was not at all disappointed with my catch. I never am disappointed with my old catches either I am always happy with my finds even if they are old favorites. It is however very exciting to find a new one every now and then. This one is cool and one of the best so far. I totally when crazy over this little guy. Such a pretty bird.
Check out the second photo to see the stinger. I have never got this close to one of these before. These are some pretty strange insects. I found my first one here a couple of years back but these are much better photos. This was a very cool encounter. These guys look so much like a moth, mosquito, and a scorpion combine. These things are something out of the pages of a comic book or a science fiction movie; they are so odd.
This guy was really small but not too small like a Gall Wasp. This guy was black and white and was really interesting. I have never seen one of these guys before. I have been noticing a lot of new bugs recently. This was a very fascinating.
This guy looked like a Texas Spiny Lizard but I am not sure if it was. I have seen baby Texas Spinys but this thing was a different in terms of it's scales so I may have another species I have not added to my life list. This little bugger was right by my foot. Thing was on the ground and I was on the step above it. It thought I was going to scare it but I didn't. his thing was very interesting. A very neat little lizard.
This guy was huge and I thought he was not going to land but he did and he was beautiful. This is one I have not seen before. This thing was deeper into the woods near the science center. This guy was just so cool to observe. I just love the pattern and the size. This day was a great day to observe new species. I was not disappointed with any of my finds today. This was a very special day.
This guy looked like one of the species I saw when I was in Arkansas. I am so sure I am betting my bottom dollar on it. It had the same stripes and stuff and did the same rear end bobbing motion. These are wild looking. That is some ovipositor it has on its rear. This thing was really cool. I am not sure what species this is because the last photo I took didn't really turn out. This thing was very interesting. It was a very pretty wasp but I am sure what this one was.
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I've enjoyed following your observations this year and all the great pics. Glad your mom is doing better. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Ed; I will.
Many of your photographs are stunning. What camera are you using to take them?
I use that Nikon Coolpix I had with me on our field trips. I also edit the photos using Photoscape @eangler
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