A Few Butterflies from Spain

On my previous trip to Spain, I ended up seeing about 60 species of butterflies. I was surprised to find that I was still able to recognize a few. Once Paul arrived, we spent 20-30 minutes or so at both Monfrague and the Sierra de Gredos to photograph cooperative butterflies.

Two-tailed Pasha (by Paul Thompson)

At Monfrague, the main highlights were Two-tailed Pashas and an abundance of hairstreaks. We also saw a number of Spanish Gatekeepers and a couple of Cleopatras, although the later eluded the camera. Unfortunately, on closer inspection, the hairstreaks all seemed to be just the same two species.

Spanish Purple Hairstreak (by Paul Thompson)

False Ilex Hairstreak (by Paul Thompson)

Southern Gatekeeper (by Paul Thompson)

I then found another butterfly that looked rather like a Common Snout, a species that occurs in America. We saw several of these and they turned out to be Nettle Tree Butterfly, which is in the same sub-family as the Common Snout.

Nettle Tree Butterfly (by Paul Thompson)

In the Sierra de Gredos, a brief birding spot at a somewhat lower altitude morphed into a butterfly photography session. Unfortunately a boleria (e.g. Pearl-bordered or similar) fritillary eluded the camera and we didn't bother with the Clouded Yellow-types, given how hard identification is, even from photographs.

Long-tailed Blue (by Paul Thompson)

Glanville Fritillary (by Paul Thompson)

Sooty Copper (by Paul Thompson)

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Belated Alaska: Interior Alaska and Kenai Fjords

After returning to Anchorage from Utqiagvik, we embarked on the final leg of our Alaska birding trip. This started with visiting the interior around the eastern end of the Denali Highway, traveling via the Glenn Highway. Following that, we would head back south via Anchorage to Seward, where we were taking a cruise out into the Kenai Fjords. After a night in Anchorage, we headed out early on the Glenn Highway. The key target for the interior part of the trip was Hawk Owl. Once we reached the spruce forest areas, we did most of driving at 45 miles an hour or so to allow easier scanning of the roadside treetops for the owl. We also looked for side roads that allowed good views of spruce forest to check along these as well. Short-eared Owl The first side road we tried was near the Eureka Roadhouse. The small lakes and marshes here held a decent variety of wildfowl, including Trumpeter Swan and Barrow’s Goldeneye. Noisy Lesser Yellowlegs teed up for photo opportunities on the top o...

Belated Alaska: Nome Interlude

I am finally catching up with the last couple of posts from our amazing Alaska trip back in June. This first one covers one of our 'schedule padding' days between Gambell and Anchorage. After returning from Gambell, we had an evening and most of the next day to bird before catching a late flight to Anchorage. The evening session was a dud and the next day we decided to head up the Kougarok to find a Wandering Tattler in some breeding habitat as well as check out Salmon Lake again. The tattler search proved futile and activities devolved largely into photographing some common species we had yet to see very well. Golden-crowned Sparrow The first of these were American Tree Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow. We also had very nice looks at singing Arctic Warblers, which were abundant in the roadside willows. Arctic Warbler Ruddy Turnstone We then checked out a different part of Salmon Lake for ducks and other waterbirds. A flock of Common Goldeneye was our first of the trip and th...

Recognizing Adult and Juvenile Dowitcher Plumages

Dowitchers occur in three distinct plumages – alternate (breeding), basic (winter or non-breeding) and juvenile (young of the year). Being able to determine the plumage of a particular dowitcher is essential as plumage features that apply to a juvenile, for example, may not be relevant for an adult. Dowitchers change between plumages by going through a molt. Molt is a process that takes some time and it should therefore come as no surprise that birds on migration are often in active molt from one plumage to another. Since these transitional plumages resulting from active molt can cause identification pitfalls, I will also give some examples of them and how to recognize them. The photographs on this post and the next were kindly provided by Peter Schneekloth (PS), Brad Hacker (BH) and Lynn Scarlett (LS). Basic Plumage Dowitchers can be in in basic plumage starting from as early as August through to April/May. Note that young birds may retain basic plumage through the ...

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