More butterfly garden success: Red-banded Hairstreak

Red-banded Hairstreak Calycopis cecrops, Maryland, July 2011.

I was pleased to find a couple of Red-banded Hairstreaks Calycopis cecrops in the yard this past weekend. Neither were seen actively feeding – just resting close to the ground, like this one.

Also a first for the yard were a couple of male Zabulon Skippers Poanes zabulon:

Zabulon Skipper Poanes zabulon, male, Maryland, July 2011.

I find the skippers mostly very difficult (and frustrating!) to identify, but the patchwork of gold and brown on the underside of the hindwing make male Zabulons pretty distinctive. The female Zabulon is a much darker and very different-looking butterfly – here’s an image from early June this year, taken at Patuxent River Park in Maryland:

Zabulon Skipper Poanes zabulon, female, Maryland, June 2011.

Snowberry Clearwing

Snowberry Clearwing Hemaris diffinis, Maryland, July 2011.

The other day, I was delighted to find my attempts at “butterfly” gardening had attracted this Snowberry Clearwing moth, Hemaris diffinis, to the front yard. This beautiful diurnal moth spent several minutes feeding at the Buddleja bushes. Not a butterfly, but definitely glad it paid a visit! Like hummingbirds, clearwings feed by hovering in front of flowers, steadying themselves with the front pair of legs while insert the proboscis into the flower. It never alighted or stopped moving, so all I could manage was this blurry photo. Around the same time last year, I remember seeing and photographing several Hummingbird Clearwings H. thysbe in the area, and even posted a blog entry about them. Here’s a photo of a Hummingbird Clearwing from last year:

Hummingbird Clearwing Hemaris thysbe, District of Columbia, August 2010.

These two species are the most common clearwing moths on the East Coast. An obvious difference between the two is the reddish tones to the wing margins and abdomen of H. thysbe. Not obvious from the photographs is that H. diffinis is also smaller. Notice also the dark stripe through the eye of the Snowberry Clearwing. There is another eastern species, Slender Clearwing H. gracilis, which is very similar to H. thysbe, but has a pale band across the top of the abdomen. A fourth species, the Rocky Mountain Clearwing, occurs in the western U.S.

Slender Spreadwing

Slender Spreadwing Lestes rectangularis, Maryland, June 2011.

Well, it’s mid-July and hotter than the Devil’s testicles here in the DC area… ….so a perfect time to stay indoors and look over some recent photos. These are of a Slender Spreadwing damselfly, Lestes rectangularis, taken last month. Ed Lam’s “Damselflies of the Northeast” (a fantastic and beautiful little book, by the way), illustrates ten species of spreadwing damselfly for eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, of which Slender Spreadwing is perhaps the most common and widespread. Grouped in the family Lestidae, the spreadwings are named for the unusual spread position in which they hold their wings when at rest. With wide-set googly blue eyes and pale mouthparts that look like buck teeth, this damsel is one dorky-looking bug.

Slender Spreadwing Lestes rectangularis, Maryland, June 2011.

Some of the distinguishing features of Slender Spreadwing include the whitish margins to the tips of the wings, visible in these images against the dark backdrop of the water behind, and the lack of a pale tip to the abdomen (at least in male specimens).

New Year’s Day Gulls in Delaware

New Year’s Day was remarkably mild on the Delaware shore, despite the recent snow. A real thaw had set in, with chunks of ice floating down the Indian River and out to sea at the Indian River Inlet. So despite the mild weather, this Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus looked at home, floating just offshore amongst the mini-icebergs! It appears to be a first cycle bird, judging by the lack of any gray in the mantle and the dark eye, but it remained far enough away for me to be absolutely certain about those points. I always enjoy seeing these big frosty giants from the Frozen North! Despite its distance, its size and whiteness made it easy to pick out with the naked eye from the south jetty. Here’s another shot of it with a Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus, illustrating the similarity in size between these two large gull species:

Other highlights at the Indian River Inlet included a good selection of sea ducks, with many Long-tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis and all three species of scoter. I was especially pleased to see good numbers of White-winged Scoters Melanitta fusca which, on this occasion, was the second most abundant scoter species after Surf Scoter M. perspicillata.  Here’s an image of a group of White-winged, with a single Surf mixed in, taken from the jetty on the south side of the inlet:

After leaving the Inlet we headed north, checking various spots around Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. We ended the day with two adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the ice along Prime Hook Beach Road. Here’s a photo of one of them – the other was too far away to make a photo worthwhile:

 

Nice way to start 2011. Happy New Year everyone.

King Rail on New Year’s Eve

We headed to the Atlantic coast of Maryland and Delaware for a quiet New Year. On New Year’s Eve, we visited the Ocean City Inlet and points south. One of my favorite locations is Truitt’s Landing, on Sinepuxent Bay south of Snow Hill, MD. First, we found a small group of Rusty Blackbirds (above) in the moist woods bordering the marsh. Then, patience in the mostly frozen marsh itself paid off with decent views of a King Rail:

A poor photo, but note the lack of gray on the ear coverts and the strongly marked mantle and back, distinguishing it from Virginia Rail and Clapper Rail, respectively. For comparison, here’s an image of a Virginia Rail from the same location earlier this year:

Though we didn’t see two together, I’m pretty sure we heard two calling quietly to each other. Doubtless the lack of open water worked to our advantage, forcing these otherwise secretive birds into the open in the few places where holes in the ice persisted.