Favoritos de centratex

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.