Doug Backlund Travel and Photography

Bosque del Apache NWR

I’m in the Bosque del Apache Birders RV park again. I paid for two nights. I’m doing pretty good on the birds I wanted to get here. I investigated a new place, Water Canyon in the Cibola National Forest about 15 miles west of Socorro. I’ve always wanted to check it out but I’m always towing the camper when I go by and I never want to explore strange Forest Service roads with the Scamp following me. It is actually OK for small campers, there is a campground and there are several dispersed camping sites. Located fairly high in the Magdalena Mountains (almost 7000 ft. elevation), it would be cool place to spend the summer sometime. It is pine forest with some spruce, and lower down juniper and pinyon pine. A small stream runs in the canyon.

Here’s a bird I’ve been hunting for, a Rufous-crowned Sparrow. I found two in The Box Recreation Area, west of Socorro.

I got several Mountain Chickadees in Water Canyon.

Also in The Box, a colorful Greater Earless Lizard. I haven’t seen one this vivid since my trip to Big Bend National Park.

I got a Whimbrel at Bosque del Apache, along with a lot of other birds. Here’s my eBird checklist with more photos. I’ve added 13 species to my year list since arriving here. Now at 245, compared to 154 at this time last year. My best birds were White-tailed Kites and this Whimbrel, both are species I’m not too likely to see again this year.

A 1st spring male Bullock’s Oriole at the visitor center.

Also at the visitor center, a Twin-spotted Spiny Lizard. I saw one of these last spring at Valley of Fire, but this is a much better photo.

I found this female Painted Bunting just across the highway from the visitor center. Not the best photo but good enough for eBird, which declares it rare here.

A flock of Phalaropes, there are two Red-necked Phalarope in the
bunch, can you pick them out? The answer is in my eBird checklist media notes.

Aurora Borealis Birding

Last Day at Granite Gap

I’m getting ready to head north today. I’m not sure how far I will get but I plan to be in South Dakota by the end of the week, or sooner. I suppose everyone reading this has seen the news coverage of the huge solar storm on Friday night and saw the outbreak of Northern Lights. I could even see it here at latitude 32 degrees. I took a few photos, it was not very spectacular but still, to be able to see it here was extraordinary. According to Spaceweather.com, it was one of the greatest solar storms in the last 500 years.

I drove north a few miles, because a mountain blocks my view of the north from camp. The lights on the horizon are from I-10, about 8 miles north. At times a few rays of the aurora were visible but mostly it was just a bright glow. The camera captures far more color than I could see.

Another image, I watched for several hours, but this is about as good as it got.

On my morning hike yesterday, I got quite close to this Olive-sided Flycatcher, in nice light. I really like this one!

I saw quite a few migrating MacGillivray’s Warblers too. All of them were difficult to photograph, this is the best I got.

A Common Ground Dove, the first one I’ve seen in the Granite Gap area. It is not a new bird for the year though, still at 234 species.

Astrophotography Birding

Pinery Canyon, Abell 35 and ?

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date May 10, 2024
1 Comment on Pinery Canyon, Abell 35 and ?

I got up at 4 AM, had my coffee and a sandwich and started the long, slow drive to Pinery Canyon, on the west side of the Chiricahua Mountains. A Crescent-chested Warbler had been seen and photographed yesterday, so I thought I better go look for it. I’ve seen this species before, also in the Chiricahua Mountains so I wasn’t too disappointed not to find it today. I had a great morning! Here’s my eBird checklist. I added seven species to my year list, now at 232 species.

My best bird of the day, a Mexican Spotted Owl. It has been many years since I’ve seen one. It won’t show up on my eBird list because it is considered a sensitive species.

A pretty bad photo of a Hermit Warbler, but I was glad to see it!

I finally caught up to some Red-faced Warblers too. Photography was not very good for most birds, this is the best I could get.

Buff-breasted Flycatcher. Another species I haven’t seen for a long time.

Here’s the astro project I’ve been working on. Abell 35 was thought to be an ancient planetary nebula, located about 500 light years away in the constellation Hydra. It was eventually determined that Abell 35 was formed from a binary pair of stars and that the wind from those stars formed the bow-shock feature that can be seen in this image. Abell 35 is moving through space at 10 times the speed of sound giving rise to a shock wave that created the nebula.

There were several things working against me, it is very faint, it stays low on the horizon, and it is small. The C8 would have worked better for size, but at f6.3 and with no duoband filter for that scope, it would haven take many more hours of exposure and even then I don’t think it would be very good. As it was, with the 500 f4 and the IDAS Nebula Booster filter, I have more then 6 hours on this. I think it turned out quite well.

The night of May 9, I noticed a glow in a place where there should be no glow. In between Arcturus and Spica, I could see it with the unaided eye. I set up a tripod and camera (I wish I had taken the time to set up the tracker too but didn’t) and got this. I posted it on Spaceweather.com and it wasn’t long before other folks were posting it too. It turns out it was probably a satellite fuel dump, illuminated by the sun. If so, this was at very high altitude. Others who saw it reported from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, Missouri, and New York state. The sighting from Chile is pretty incredible, it must have been at a very high altitude.

Flowers and Plants Herps

Texas Horned Lizard

After all the miles of hiking around Granite Gap area, looking for lizards (and especially lifer herps!) I have never found a Texas Horned Lizard. This morning, I went to Lordsburg for groceries and gas and on the return trip took the road to Animas from I-10. About ten miles down the road, there was an odd looking lizard on the road, so I turned around and slowly approached it. It was a Texas Horned Lizard! Fortunately, State Highway 338 has very little traffic and I was able to take photos from the truck. I wanted to take more photos in a natural setting but when I parked the truck on the side of the road and started walking toward it, the lizard scooted off into some thick brush and I lost it.

And here it is. The light stripe down the center of the back is diagnostic, as is the arrangement of the occipital horns. There are also two rows of abdominal fringe scales.

Another angle. Over its range, Texas Horned Lizards are not doing well. The species has disappeared from nearly half of its original range.

Also along that road, I found several of these plants, Davis Mountains Mock Vervain, *Glandularia pubera*. Since the Davis Mountains are in Texas, it seems to fit with a Texas Horned Lizard. I can find no interesting facts about this plant.

Birding Herps Insects

Some More Photos

I’m still at Granite Gap. I’ve been making trips down to Cave Creek and the Paradise area. My bird list for 2024 keeps growing, now at 225, compared to 155 at this time last year. I’ve been doing some astro too, I’m working on a very faint planetary nebula called Abell 35. It is not ready to show just yet.

An Elegant Trogon I found in the South Fork of Cave Creek. I could hear it calling in a grove of oaks but couldn’t see it. Suddenly it flew out and landed right in front of me.

A female Arizona Woodpecker at the George Walker House in Paradise. I also got a Juniper Titmouse and a Band-tailed Pigeon, both of which were new for the year.

An Olive-sided Flycatcher that I got on my walk this morning, also new for the year. This was at Granite Gap.

Also from my walk this morning, a Round-tailed Horned Lizard. I’m still looking for the Texas Horned Lizard. I got pretty excited at first when I found this one, but it turned out to be a Round-tailed.

A Striped Plateau Lizard. These are common in the Chiricahua Mountains and Peloncillo Mountains, but are not found anywhere else in the United States.

Butterflies have been hard to find, other than the usual Checkered Whites and a few other species. This morning I got this Elada Checkerspot, I haven’t seen this species for a long time.

Astrophotography Birding Blacklighting Flowers and Plants

Granite Gap

I’m still here, the weather is great and I’m having a good time. I’ve made a few trips to Cave Creek and one trip up to Rustler Park. At Rustler Park, nearly 10,000 ft. elevation, there is still snow in the gullies. I’ve been picking up birds that I haven’t seen for years, only because I haven’t looked for them. I’m at 220 species now, compared to 151 at this time last year.

Grace’s Warbler. These are fairly common in the pines but difficult to get a photo of.

I found a nice flock of Mexican Chickadees. In the same area, I got two Olive Warblers, but the photos are not worth showing.

On the road down from Rustler Park, I got two Montezuma Quail. Here’s one of them.

I have now seen three Gila Monsters in the Granite Gap area. Here’s the third one, just this morning.

I put out the black light one night while doing astro. I got some interesting insects. This one is *Lineostriastiria hachita*, an owlet moth that is rarely reported and almost nothing is known about it. Records are from southeast Arizona, southern New Mexico, west Texas and down into Mexico.

Theodore Carpenterworm Moth, Givira theodori. Larvae of this interesting looking moth are wood borers. It has a distribution similar to *Lineostriastiria hachita*.

Catclaw Mimosa, very common around Granite Gap and now in flower. This shrub has recurved spines that catch on clothing when walking through it.

Fendler’s Hedgehog Cactus, *Echinocereus fendleri ssp. fendleri*. There are quite a few in flower now.

Caldwell 45, also catalogued as NGC5248. Sixty million light years out there, in the direction of the constellation Bootes.

NGC 4414, 62 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is a flocculent spiral galaxy, without the well-defined spiral arms of a grand design spiral galaxy. I should have spent more time on this one but this is what I have. There are lots of small background galaxies in this image.

Birding Flowers and Plants Herps

On the Road Again

I left Ajo last Monday and drove to the Empire Ranch, also known as Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. It has been several years since I’ve stopped there. I spent 3 days birding in the Empire Gulch, Box Canyon, Madera Canyon, and the Patagonia area. I picked up a lot of birds that I haven’t seen for years, but the photography wasn’t very good. Some of the best birds were Thick-billed Kingbird, Berylline Hummingbird, Violet-crowned Hummingbird, many Gray Hawks, several Zone-tailed Hawks, and an Arizona Woodpecker, among many other species. Here are a few eBird checklists: Box Canyon, Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, Madera Kubo Lodge, Patagonia Blue Haven Rd., Pattons, and Empire Gulch. I’m trying to live up to my New Year’s Resolution, to pick up as many species as I can this year. So far, I’m at 191 species, compared to 145 at this time last year. Now, I’m at Granite Gap. I plan to continue birding in as many places as I can get to for the next few days, then focus on astrophotography.

Just before leaving Ajo, I got this photo of a pair of Western Screech-Owls, one with a Western Banded Gecko.

A Sidewinder I found by my camper one night after returning from owling, still in Ajo.

A male Wilson’s Warbler in Empire Gulch.

A Chihuahuan Meadowlark at Empire Ranch. Formerly considered a race of the Eastern Meadowlark, now it is a full species.

Cliff Fendlerbush, *Fendlera rupicola*. Whole hillsides displayed this shrub in flower in Box Canyon.

I had just drove though the gate into Granite Gap when this Gila Monster crossed the road in front of me. My first one this spring.

Herps

Return of the Long-tailed Brush Lizards

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 20, 2024
4 Comments on Return of the Long-tailed Brush Lizards

Readers may remember my first encounter with a Long-tailed Brush Lizard, about this time last spring. The story is at this LINK. I have been sort of looking around for more the last week or so but could not find any. Yesterday, I decided to take a better look around. After an hour of searching creosote bushes in vain, I switched to looking at some of the larger trees along the washes. Finally, after over two hours of searching I found one in a Cat’s Claw Acacia. It was immobile and perfectly blended into the bark. After taking a bunch of so-so photos (the lizard was almost inaccessible due the thorns), I tried again this morning. With a search image and a better idea of where to look, I started finding more, ending up with four.

My favorite, a displaying male. There was a female nearby. Too bad that one stick got in front of it.

The female, mouth open. To get the entire tail in the image results in this. I rotated it to horizontal.

I took over 100 images this morning! To avoid the effects of the harsh sunlight, I used flash and stopped down to f19.

A good view of the dorsal scales, there are six rows of enlarged scales running down the center of the back, diagnostic of Long-tailed Brush Lizard.

Last one, for now. It is very difficult to get a catchlight in the eye of lizards in general. Flash helps but they have to turn their head just right to get it. A catch light brings the eye to life.

Insects

Blister Beetles

Spring in the Sonoran Desert is a good time for the emergence of blister beetles. In past years, I’ve seen swarms of the species Lytta magister, Master Blister Beetle. These are large colorful blister beetles that can be very abundant locally. Yesterday at Highway Tank, I saw for the first time the Iron Cross Blister Beetle, Tegrodera aloga. Also a large species, they are very colorful and a good example of aposematism, or advertising to potential predators that an organism is not worth eating. Aposematic signals are beneficial for both predator and prey, since both avoid potential harm.

The Iron Cross Blister Beetle. These beetles secret cantharidin, a potent toxin that causes severe blistering. The toxin can be lethal if ingested. It is a problem for farmers in some areas. The beetles get into hay and when eaten by horses, the toxin can kill them. On the beneficial side, cantharidin is used in the medical field as a topical medication in the removal of warts, removal of tattoos, and has been researched for certain cancer treatments.

From what I’ve gathered reading about these beetles, they are usually found locally but abundantly, and only for a short time. That is what I saw at Highway Tank. There were hundreds of them but only in a small area.

This is the other species that is more commonly seen: *Lytta magister*, Master Blister Beetle. Apparently, this species is also toxic. I cannot find any information on whether one or the other is the more toxic. Also a good example of aposematism, but not as pronounced, so maybe this species is not as toxic as the Iron Cross Blister Beetle.

Birding Herps

More Elf Owls and a Mohave Rattlesnake

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 16, 2024
1 Comment on More Elf Owls and a Mohave Rattlesnake

Last night, Vikki and Mark went out looking for owls with me. It sure helps to have someone along who can hear! They can hear Elf Owls far beyond my range of hearing. We ended up hearing four and seeing three. I got perhaps one of my best photos ever of an Elf Owl. Sometimes I think maybe my favorite is simply the most recent, it is hard to pick. At any rate, I’m already thinking about next years photo show here in Ajo!