Banded Argiope, Argiope trifasciata
Brookhurst Marsh, Huntington Beach, Orange County, CA,2008-10-04
Today I once again participated in the quarterly bird census for the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy. Breeding season is over so we tramped around in the pickleweed more than previously which turned up a lot of small leafhoppers, various moths, a few butterflies, and a couple of these gorgeous spiders.
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I just checked when Daylight Savings Time begins next year to see if it would be possible to schedule another Birding BoF at SD West 2009 or not. Sadly the answer is no. Daylight Savings Time starts the day before the conference on March 8! It doesn’t end until November!
Let’s face it: “Standard” time is now the odd one out. There’s almost twice as much daylight savings time as standard time in any given year. If all the late risers out there (and candy manufacturers and barbecue vendors) really can’t stand dawn and dusk arriving at a reasonable hour, maybe it’s time to bite the bullet and just eliminate standard time completely.
Tuesday Neil Gilbert posted about a Chestnut-sided Warbler on the Orange County Birds mailing list:
I got October off to a good start with a very nice hatch-year CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER at Irvine Regional Park in Orange. I saw it near the entrance to the park. It was hanging out with an enormous flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Western Bluebirds, House Finches, and Lark Sparrows.
Now Chestnut-sided Warblers are actually reasonably frequent in migration in New York City parks, so this wasn’t a target bird for me. However the Lark Sparrows he mentioned almost in passing are not a common East Coast bird, and I’d never seen one, so Wednesday afternoon after work I hopped in the Prius and headed up Jamboree to Irvine regional Park. I got there about 6:00 and found his flocks of robins, bluebirds, and warblers. There were also lots of House Finches. However I did not find either the Chestnut-sided Warbler or the Lark Sparrows. :-(
Sometimes you have to keep trying though, so the next morning I made a 15-mile detour on the way to work and stopped in the park around 9:00 A.M. This time the flocks of Robins and Bluebirds had vanished, though there were more than usual numbers of Anna’s Hummingbirds. I drove around Sycamore Hill and as I was coming back to the entrance I heard an unusual call I didn’t recognize so I parked and hopped out.
I never did figure out what the call was, but by the baseball backstop I found four Lark Sparrows:
American Bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana
Corn Creek, Clark County, Nevada, 2008-09-28
Burrowing Webworm Moth, Acrolophus sp., perhaps Acrolophus variabilis
San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, 2008-08-10
This moth is one of many I’ve found in the early morning outside the restrooms at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. They leave the outside lights on most nights, so a lot of moths tend to still be roosting there come morning.
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Western Conifer Seed Bug, Leptoglossus occidentalis
Harvard Ave., Irvine, 2008-08-10
