Keeping Your Eyes Open

Allen E. Rhodes

I've found that there are many opportunities to expand personal knowledge of the fauna in my hometown of Seguin, Texas, and on the ranch where I hunt in La Salle County in South Texas.

In the past year, I have contributed a number of photographs to The Citizen Scientist of animals photographed both in my back yard and on the ranch. I have also found a couple of species of moths that have not previously been reported from La Salle County according to the following site: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/moths/tx/947.htm

The first moth, which is shown in Fig. 1, was an Agapema solita, which has no common name listed. I described this moth in "A Rare Texas Moth," The Citizen Scientist (24 February 2006). The second find was an Io moth (Autometris io), which is also shown as having not previously been reported from La Salle County: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/moths/tx/957.htm

I was not specifically looking for new finds but was merely on the ranch hunting or doing chores in preparation for the upcoming season. The moths, both of which are rather common on the ranch, were interesting specimens, and I was able to get good photographs of each, which I submitted to "Gallery."

Identification was relatively simple. I searched the internet, and this led to the web sites listed above, where I was able to identify both specimens and learn that the range maps for each do not show a previous report for La Salle County.

The third find occurred in Seguin on 19 April 2006. I had finished a workout at a local fitness center, and, when I walked outside into the parking lot, I heard a bird call which was new to me. I then spotted three doves engaged in a courting ritual. One was perched atop a utility pole, and two others were flying around and calling with a distinctive 3-note call.

I had no binoculars or camera, but I got a reasonably good look at the birds. Back home, I did some preliminary research and found that the birds were most likely Eurasian collared-doves (Streptopelia decaocto). A trip to the Cornel University website www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Eurasian_Collared-Dove confirmed this identification, for the link on the site to an audio recording of their calls was a near-perfect match for what I had heard. Later that same week, I returned with binoculars and got a good look at one dove perched on the same pole.

I may have seen this bird in past years along the highway while driving to the fitness center but had not been able to confirm the identification. However, this spring I have confirmed a pair of them in the same area. The pair is currently nesting in a small oak tree in front of a restaurant across the highway from where I had spotted a single specimen in previous years. They are quite tame and readily approachable. I often observe one or both of the pair perched on the utility wire that runs above the tree in which they are nesting.

In addition to these sightings in Seguin, on 27 April, I was traveling to the ranch and stopped for coffee at a convenience store in Pleasanton, Texas, in Atascosa County about 60 km south of San Antonio. After returning to my truck, I noticed a Eurasian collared-dove in the driveway collecting nesting materials.

While this dove is not a new find for either Guadalupe or Atascosa County , I was able to add it to my life list of birds I have personally observed, and it reinforces the principle that you should be actively observant and not merely a casual watcher, as you may find new species in your own home town.

For more about Allen E. Rhodes, see the Editorial in this issue of The Citizen Scientist. Editor.