Rattlesnakes, White Box Photography, & Happy Easter!

There is an unpaved county road by the name of Longfellow Road that traverses through varied habitat on its route from US Hwy 90 west of Sanderson to US 385 north of Marathon, Texas. I have traveled this a few times, but my wife and stepsons had never got to see this stretch. We started the day loaded with equipment to photograph and capture insects and reptiles for white box photography. Our first stop along US 90 resulted in some fun antics watching the boys try their hand at capturing insects and butterflies with nets for the first time. However, it didn’t take long before they were getting the hand of it and they snagged a couple of the southwestern population of Northern Cloudywings (Thorybes pylades albosuffusa), grasshoppers, crescent butterflies, Dainty Sulphur (dry/winter form), Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) and my first ever Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis)with a pair in copula.

Birds were plentiful along the route and we had a nine (9) sparrow species day! This included Cassin’s, Chipping, Vesper, White-crowned, Lark, Rufous-crowned, Black-throated, Canyon Towhee, and Brewer’s Sparrows (3 large flocks totaling over 90 birds). Swainson’s and Red-tailed Hawks patrolled the skies and a lone American Kestrel near the intersection with US 90 was nice. I had a pair of Western Scrub-Jays near the eastern end of the road just barely in Pecos County, this pair is the closest pair to Sanderson I have seen thus far.

Nevertheless, the most exciting find for me bird wise was a nesting pair of Bushtits! This species has had some serious population declines in the past few decades and finding an active nest was very rewarding. I was unable to photograph the birds, but here is an image of the nest. I didn’t linger too long as I didn’t want to disturb the birds. The birds were carrying what appeared to be cottonwood seeds and other plant material to add to the nest. The nest was a long, hanging structure with the entrance at the top. Quite an amazing feat of engineering! [Image below right.]