West Texas Bug Trip, Part 1, 8/15-16/26

One of the things I wanted to do this summer was to make a trip out to the Davis Mountains for a couple of late summer tiger beetle species.  With the dog days of August having set in and every day here in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas over hundred degrees lately it seemed like the time to go.  They also have been getting some rain out there and that was what I had been hoping for.  And maybe I could pick up some good butterflies.

So I took off early Saturday morning.  Traffic was moderate but moving smoothly and I made it up to San Antonio and west on I 10 with no issues.  My only bug stop was at Live Oak Creek in Western Crockett County west of Ozona to look for odes (members of the order Odonata, dragonflies and damselflies).

I arrived and found water over the shallow crossing but soon found that was the only water and the spot down stream where I had found Leonora's Dancers last year was completely dry with all the formerly emergent grass dead.  Apparently they had not had much rain this year.  I did manage to dig out a Leonora's Dancer.

And a couple of Variable Dancers.

But otherwise it was only a few common odes.  I moved on to Fort Stockton where I would stay the next few nights.  I usually stay in Alpine or Fort Davis when visiting the Davis Mountains but I thought I would try Fort Stockton as it is quite a bit cheaper with better dining options though a few miles farther from my bugging destinations.

Sunday morning when I stepped out of the hotel for a quick run out for breakfast I got sidetracked by my lifer Mesquite Girdling Beetle.

The goal for the day was to search Boy Scout Road, FM 1832 on the north side of the Davis Mountains  for Western Red-bellied Tiger Beetle and Black Sky Tiger Beetle.  Nancy Norman and Galen Sewart had seen both species there a few years ago.  And maybe I could pick up a few good butterflies and odes.

One of the nice things about insects is that they are exothermic and don't become active till things warm up.  Birds on the other hand, being warm-blooded, are up at the break of day and you need to be early to enjoy them.  The world of bug watching is more relaxed.  You don't have to get up so early.  So I didn't reach Balmorhea till 9AM and I finally got to FM 1832 about 9:30.  It was looking dry as I drove though the first few miles of ranch land.  Not good.

But at mile 6.0 there was a wash that was still muddy from recent rain.  I pulled over to check it out.  Tiger beetle city!  First was the common Ocellated Tiger Beetle.  There were several.

But it didn't take long till a green one popped up.  Black Sky Tiger Beetle!  I had seen many of these on the Willcox Playa last year in Arizona but this is a rarely reported species for Texas.

As it got warmer more and more tiger beetles popped out including more Black Skys.

And then a small red one with white stripes.  I had hoped for White-striped Tiger Beetle but all of the nearby records were found at night. Quite a few Texas bug watchers survive by black lighting, attracting insects to an ultraviolet light at night. They get a lot of their insects the easy way.   However I had seen them during the day in Arizona and didn't see why they wouldn't be out in the mud here in Texas.  And they were!  I even found a copulating pair which I'm not sure has been photographed in Texas.

I still needed the Western Red-bellied Tiger Beetle.  And a pair soon appeared.  I've seen lots of these in Arizona but these were my first for Texas.

Meanwhile the Black Sky Tiger Beetles were really going at it.  My timing was very fortunate to hit this spot right after a rain.

Proably 95% of the Black Sky Tiger Beetles were of the green morph.  But I also found dark green, black and blue morps.

Well I got three Texas lifer tiger beetles at my first stop.  I saw very few farther up the road.  The next stop at a muddy creek turned up a nice Aztec Dancer.

The next stop yielded Mexican Forktail and Arroyo Bluet.

There were a few common butterflies.  My best for the day were was this Tropical Least Skipper, only my second ever.

I stopped for lunch uder a soapberry grove.  A couple of  migrant Virginia's Warblers were a nice distraction.  I have not seen many of these in Texas.

Near the end of the road before the gate to the Boy Scout ranch I found this cool Tenebrionid beetle, Stenomorpha opaca.

And a bunch of baby Red-spotted Toads.

A couple more good butterflies were Common Streaky Skipper and Acacia Skipper.

On the return trip I picked up this cool Filigree Skimmer.

Pretty goood day!  I returned to Balmorhea and checked out the Cueva de Oso restaurant.  It was really good.  Then I made a late afternoon run over to the Sandia Wetlands.  There was a not a lot going on.  It was really overgrown.  I tried to make this Eastern ringtail into some kid of a good southwestern ringtail species but it was not to be.

Well I cleaned up on tiger beetles.  Tomorrow I will look for butterflies in the high country.