Weekday Moth Week event! Stephenville, TX
[UPDATE: links to observations made Wednesday]
Here's the bounding box for Lance's place to view observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2021-07-21&d2=2021-07-22&nelat=32.31862448135538&nelng=-98.16126481360601&place_id=any&swlat=32.308650439472004&swlng=-98.17169324225591
And here's the link for the identification modal (the filter is set to show research grade also): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=needs_id%2Cresearch&nelat=32.31862448135538&nelng=-98.16126481360601&subview=map&swlat=32.308650439472004&swlng=-98.17169324225591&d1=2021-07-21&d2=2021-07-22
We're hosting a weekday mini-bioblitz during Moth Week, Wednesday, July 21st. The location is a gem of a place on the headwaters of the South Paluxy River north of Stephenville. Lance's property is about 30 acres and includes some limestone upland area and some really nice heavily wooded bottomland along the river (which, at this location, is a very small, but deep channel, stream).
The hillsides are clothed in native grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, juniper, and oak. The river (more like a babbling brook) is flowing and full of water beetles and other aquatic life. Lance, the landowner, has been allowing the land to restore itself from it's former state for the past 20 years and it's looking pretty spectacular.
Here's the location:
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.3130113,-98.1684813,728m/data=!3m1!1e3
The gate to the property is recognizable by being constructed of black pipe. The narrow driveway winds downhill through the property to the rock house. Find a place to park in the mowed grass near the house (Google map pinpointing house).
Here's a photo looking down on the house from the log cabin.
There will be electricity for lights, but you should bring extension cords if you have your own light setup.
Folks can start arriving anytime after 1 pm--feel free to explore the property before the mothing event that evening. The amount of life and diversity on this place is pretty amazing.
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I would love to come out and moth there. Since we have the John Bunker Sand event on the 22nd, 21st would work better. However, if you decide on 22nd I'm up for that.
Oh, yeah....I missed the Thur scheduled event. I changed the options to Monday or Wednesday.
Then either day is fine with me. :-)
Ooooooooo! Dang that looks cool. I won't be able to make this one, but I hope hope hope you plan to do this again at that spot. :)
I might be able to make it. Either day would work for me.
I could do either one, but Weds would be easier for me since I work nights on the 18th!
Never mind, mothing... at night - I can do both or either!
I'm interested! But as usual, don't plan around me. If I can be there, I'll let you know when I'm on my way. 🤣
I spent the evening yesterday at the property with the landowner and it's pretty spectacular. I updated the journal post with some additional details.
Sounds fun! But it's my mother's birthday. :) Have fun.
I'll likely give it a go, too, unless the rains come. Is it still cool to get in as early as 1 PM? Do we need to sign in? Thanks for arranging!
Folks can arrive anytime after 1 pm. It's very informal and there's no sign-in. If you don't see anyone when you arrive, we're just out walking around--so make yourself at home and explore the place. My cell is 254-485-1485 if you want to track me down. There's a 20% chance of showers, but not the kind that settle in to spoil the day. And there's a nice covered porch to relax on if a shower does pop up. The property boundaries are fenced, so as long as you don't climb over a fence, you're good to go anywhere you wish. Restroom facilities are in the house.
I'll be there AGAIN. Go buy a lottery ticket or look for unicorns. It will probably be around 6pm, but if my teenager can get a ride home from work, I'll leave earlier.
The turnoff from the highway will sneak up on you! It's just a gravel road and there aren't any landmarks. Google Maps will get you there--you can get directions to Rockin' RJ Ranch Arena and then just keep driving a few hundred yards down the road past the turnoff from that facility.
What a great day, evening, and night! Thanks again to Lance for providing this opportunity and welcoming us to his property.
Here's the bounding box for Lance's place to view observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2021-07-21&d2=2021-07-22&nelat=32.31862448135538&nelng=-98.16126481360601&place_id=any&swlat=32.308650439472004&swlng=-98.17169324225591
And here's the link for the identification modal (the filter is set to show research grade also): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=needs_id%2Cresearch&nelat=32.31862448135538&nelng=-98.16126481360601&subview=map&swlat=32.308650439472004&swlng=-98.17169324225591&d1=2021-07-21&d2=2021-07-22
Had a great time! Just finished loading all my observations. Still have some IDs to run down, but at least they are all posted! I saw lots of good stuff and nearly 20 new species!
I meant to write this earlier, but National Moth Week got in the way. Taking all those photos of cool moths seems like a wonderful idea until I get back to the house and realize I have to process and post them! Anyway, I had a great time, so many thanks Russell for the invite and visit. I enjoyed seeing familiar faces and meeting new people. Russell, I hope you can pass on my thanks to Lance again for hosting us, too. What a fantastic place he is "cultivating" there.
I'm sure you all must realize this, but if you look at your Observations you'll likely see that many of them are firsts in iNat for Erath County. It seems like it is not covered very well yet, as regards bugs, anyway. Here are a few of mine (and I only included one moth; there have to be numerous "firsts" in that group):
Ospriocerus (robber fly)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88219338
Dasymutilla bioculata (velvet ant)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88216276
Pardosa mercurialis (wolf spider)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88216272
Gnaphosa sericata (ground spider)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88214938
Great Spreadwing (damselfly)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88210853
Four-striped Leaftail (dragonfly)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88183615
Checkered Setwing (dragonfly): Be sure and check out the mites on this one.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88183618
Sciota subfuscella (moth)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88162731
Please let me know if you see any errors on my part.
Thanks @jcochran! I amazes me that 5 people, in half of a day, can document >338 species on 30 acres. And like you say, many of them are county records, but also many of them are not commonly documented state-wide. Over the past 5 years, I've posted 5,700 observations from Erath county, and many of what we saw during this one event were firsts for me.
I'm so sorry, I just started uploading my pictures from that lovely place. The moth week generated so many pictures I don't know where to start. Will try to get all of them up before the end of the week.
I think everyone has their observations posted, so here's a summary. There were 5 of us making observations, and 415 "species" were documented. Over half of those (240) were documented only once (represented by a single observation)!
265 different kinds of insects
113 different kinds of plants
14 vertebrates
11 fungi
8 arachnids
Great results!!
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