Might be the expected Black-bordered Lemon Moth (M. nigrofimbria) but this one has an extra black dot on the FWs. I separated this from another Marimatha documented on the same evening in 2016 which might be M. piscimala.
Tough to sort out these Marimatha's, but I'm going a lot on range and the fact that one of these shows three FW dots and a good PM line.
From a hike at Buescher State Park one muggy early fall day.
From a hike at Buescher State Park one muggy early fall day.
This particular moth was first documented at about 4:30 AM on the same date. This individual has a tear in the middle of the outer edge of the right HW.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/229041853
Medina River Greenway
There are many differences between Vachellia farnesiana (Huisache) and Vachellia schaffneri var. bravoensis (Huisachillo) other than the obvious differences in fruit, although noticing these differences requires some attention to detail.
The most reliable way to distinguish these two taxa besides the fruit is examination of the leaves. V. farnesiana has a petiolar gland that is partway down the petiole from the most basal pair of pinnae, meaning there is a noticeable gap between the lowest pair of pinnae and the gland on the petiole. And the petiolar gland tends to be small, not prominent (raised), and doesn't really stand out in coloration. By comparison, V. schaffneri var. bravoensis has the petiolar gland immediately adjacent to the most basal pair of pinnae (no gap present), the gland is usually also slightly larger, prominent, and is more noticeable due to its red coloration. These traits are visible in the first photo of this observation.
V. schaffneri var. bravoensis also tends to be smaller to much smaller than V. farnesiana at full maturity, the inflorescences tend to be somewhat more yellow (yellowish-orange rather than orange), the twigs tend to have a minor zigzag habit, the nodes tend to be more swollen/enlarged, the leaves tend to have less pairs of pinnae on average and the pinnae sometimes are slightly recurved (bent backwards), the paired spines are slightly different and often noticably sharper to the touch, and the flowers have a slightly different scent than V. farnesiana - more complex and even more pleasant than V. farnesiana. Hopefully you noticed all the "tends to" and "often" in this description rather than speaking in absolutes. It is more reliable to identify these taxa based on the petiolar gland characteristics than all the aforementioned traits put together.
Collected for dissection.
CS24002
Moth night at Godwin Ranch Cave Preserve...
I checked back in on this population I found last year.
@atlasmira went to check out your observation, and I think found more of it...is this it?
Tiny, less than 2" tall, not mowed. See last photo for perspective against the bluebonnet leaf. There were a bunch of these, all small. Prairie.
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=3252
New moth for me.
My Lifer Sabine's Gull. Also documented photographically, same time and place, by Greg Lasley:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151433
Update (1/23/24): Scans of old Ektachrome slides added.
Sabine's Gull
juvenile
Hornsby Bend,
Austin, Texas
2 October 1978
images scanned from slides.
This record provided the 10th Texas record of Sabine's Gull, but now there must be 60 or more records of this species in Texas, mainly during the fall on inland lakes. A shot of the bird in flight is also posted showing the unique wing pattern of this species.
Leaf margins not ciliate, abaxial surfaces glabrous.
First of the season.
Scoured limestone slab with Clematis texensis & Phyllanthopsis phyllanthoides
Accidental capture in a House Sparrow trap; released unharmed. First for Salton Drive.
Central Texas. Dry limestone bluff in Balcones Canyonlands
Emarginate leaflet apices + fewer leaflets per leaf compared to Amorpha fruticosa
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=2659.97
Undescribed species; collected.
This is a volunteer between a planted bed and a path
False Boneset?
Riparian zone
I thought this was giant A.viridis, but people with me are thinking A. latifolia. In WilCo??
It's laying eggs, see second picture for the ID
This Buckeye didn't have a cream colored band on the forewing. It also has more of a bluish sheen to the thorax and leading edge of the forewings. The spots on the forewing are darker on the inside. These are the reasons I believe this to be a Tropical Buckeye. I guess there is a chance that it could be a darker variety of the Common Buckeye.
I have seen some previous discussions on this from @greglasley
@robberfly and
@maractwin
What do yall think?
Someone with much more experience than I suggested this looked like a Tropical, but also that the species are weak and Commons look similar
Orange head with much more vivid, and darker, reddish-orange wing sheaths. Closely resemembles the specimen reported at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26660078. I believe this to be N. lurida and am submitting it to Bugguide.net.
This male woodpecker has been visiting the feeder outside of my office window for a few weeks. He has a nearly complete red crown & nape but has a yellow frontlet, yellow wash on the chin and throat, and yellow wash on the belly. I haven't gotten a look at the central tail feathers which might offer more insight into the ID, but I'm somewhat confident that this is a hybrid because of the extensive yellow in certain spots where a full adult male RBWO would have red.
A vine, not a bush. No seed pods yet. Algorithm wants to call this I. miniata. Maybe, doesn't seem right to me, however.
Mucilage oozing from the pad, indicates moth larva are feeding inside.
AC3
emerged by 3/31/2023
On Texas Mountain Laurel. Found by @k8thegr8.
host plant: Sugar Hackberry :https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/111492725
First time sighting~
Distinct habit, small cone size, few to no pneumatophores, I'm sure some argumentative f*ck-ass will say otherwise but lacking DNA sequencing contradicting it I am going to say mucronatum.
Two different individuals documented here. Neither has a particularly obvious "white blotch" but the pattern of subterminal black marks and the buffy thorax seem to point to this species.
UPDATE (3/31/19): First individual (two images) re-IDed as Heterocampa subrotata and deleted here.
Growing directly from creek bed.
I only see this species here in Austin every other year or even less frequently, but the sightings are almost invariably in the first half of November. I assume this is a species that periodically migrates up from South Texas.
On velvetleaf mallow