🐦‍⬛¡Es una muy buena noticia que una pareja de mirlos haya decidido anidar en este parque!🐦‍⬛

Si alguien está interesado, he añadido una entrada al diario del proyecto de este parque hablando sobre el evento: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversidad-del-parque-el-paso/journal/92665-pareja-de-mirlos-anida-en-el-parque

Resting on an understorey plant. At a quick glance, I initially thought it was a bird dropping. The white hairs give it the appearance of being infected with an entomopathogenic fungi, maybe as a deterrent to predators...? Definitely the most amazing cerambycid I've ever seen!

Update: this species finally has a name! The paper naming and describing it can be freely downloaded from here: https://doi.org/10.54102/ajt.iv1x5

hunting from nearby tree, about 10:30am, looking intently down at snow, then landed and mantled for a couple of minutes, burying its head into the snow several times before flying off in the opposite direction

A female Giant Ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) oviposits into the side of a tree.

I was honored to have this observation selected as observation of the day for June 11, 2020, and again as observation of the week (week of June 21, 2020). It is covered in this blog post: A Trip to Texas Provides a Long Sought Photographic Opportunity - Observation of the Week, 6/21/20.

The first time I had ever seen this, i videoed the entire event as well from entry to exit. It was as if this species swims all the time. I sent it to a frogmouth expert and she had never seen that before. The bird chose to swim and flew away very easily after its swim. There appeared to be no explanation for the bird swimming as it was not particularly hot or anything unusual.

A scrappy expanse of silky refuges and capture webs littered with body parts of previous victims. When preferred prey is entangled, the female spiders emerge from their 'nests' and overpower it by grabbing its extremities. In this case, a wasp https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319446.
Presumably they inject venom because after a minute or so the prey stops struggling. Then they snip it out of the web and carry it into one of several 'nests' or refuges.
Unwanted prey, often beetles (see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319435 ) are also killed but sometimes left in the web, uneaten. Ants, in this case, Maranoplus ( https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319390 )scavenge around the periphery of the webs, feasting on unwanted beetles or other left-overs.

Experts - What is going on here? This male American Kestrel sure did seem to have the hots for this female Merlin. He kept trying to get close to her and even brought her a few treats (insects?) from the grass beneath the fence. She accepted the treats but didn't seem thrilled with the attention. However, when he flew off, she followed him...

Dia 82, un individuo.

Day 82, one individual.

Relacionado con // Related to:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2667158
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2667199
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2667420