Flying into Brownsville at dusk look different from parakeets.
Shorter tails.
Different colors.
Different sizes.
It’s a happening.
Shorter tails. Different colors. Different sizes. It’s a happening. Green parakeets
They come flying in to roost in McAllen right at twilight. I did what I could with the light.
Imagine a joyful noise.
Imagine a joyful noise.Black witch moth
Two of them.
Perched on a plastic storage bin high in a neighbor’s outdoor storage. They’re good size. The bigger one is larger than the spread of my hand. Two different sizes, but I think they’re both male.
A female would have a long wavy white line from wing to wing like this (not my photo).
Perched on a plastic storage bin high in a neighbor’s outdoor storage. They’re good size. The bigger one is larger than the spread of my hand. Two different sizes, but I think they’re both male. A female would have a long wavy white line from wing to wing like this (not my photo). A hawk
Off in the distance. Standing on a treetop. I can’t tell what it is with the binoculars, so I put the camera on it, set the zoom to maximum, and try to get a couple good photos through the roadside brush to take home and figure out on the computer.
Here are the I.D. photos I come up with.
It’s brown and streaky, so it’s a juvenile. That doesn’t narrow it down at all though. There are a lot of hawks in the area this could be. There are red-tailed hawks around. If it was a red-tailed hawk, the wingtips would be about as long as the tail, so it’s not a red-tail. There are a lot of white-tailed hawks out around the agricultural fields, but if it was a white-tailed, the wingtips would be even a little longer than the tail, so it’s not a white-tailed hawk. There have been swainson’s hawks passing through on migration. There may still be a few around, but swainson’s all have at least a little bit of a bib on their chest, so this isn’t a swainson’s. The wingtip to tail length looks about right for a broad-winged hawk, but the streaking on the chest doesn’t look quite right. If it were broad-winged, the chest would look more barred than streaked. It’s not a kite, so I’ll exclude all of those. It could be a northern harrier, sharp-shinned, cooper’s, harris’s, or red-shouldered. The tail looks a little long for a northern harrier and the head isn’t shaped right. It’s too small to be a sharp-shinned. If it were a cooper’s, the tail would be much longer. Harris’s hawk juveniles aren’t brown and streaky like this. The tail might be a little short for a gray hawk and the chest streaks should change to spots by the time they get to the belly. It’s pretty close for a gray hawk, but I’ll exclude that too. There are red-shouldered hawks all over the country, and their appearance varies geographically, but eastern red-shouldered, that’s got potential. The tail length is about right for a juvenile. The tail from the top side should have broad bars on it and I can see that a little. The chest should be evenly streaked. Okay, that’s it. I’m going with juvenile red-shouldered hawk. The funny thing is though, with all my careful analysis, I’m still not sure I’m right. There is a lot about juvenile hawks that makes them all just kind of look alike!
Here are the I.D. photos I come up with. It’s brown and streaky, so it’s a juvenile. That doesn’t narrow it down at all though. There are a lot of hawks in the area this could be. There are red-tailed hawks around. If it was a red-tailed hawk, the wingtips would be about as long as the tail, so it’s not a red-tail. There are a lot of white-tailed hawks out around the agricultural fields, but if it was a white-tailed, the wingtips would be even a little longer than the tail, so it’s not a white-tailed hawk. There have been swainson’s hawks passing through on migration. There may still be a few around, but swainson’s all have at least a little bit of a bib on their chest, so this isn’t a swainson’s. The wingtip to tail length looks about right for a broad-winged hawk, but the streaking on the chest doesn’t look quite right. If it were broad-winged, the chest would look more barred than streaked. It’s not a kite, so I’ll exclude all of those. It could be a northern harrier, sharp-shinned, cooper’s, harris’s, or red-shouldered. The tail looks a little long for a northern harrier and the head isn’t shaped right. It’s too small to be a sharp-shinned. If it were a cooper’s, the tail would be much longer. Harris’s hawk juveniles aren’t brown and streaky like this. The tail might be a little short for a gray hawk and the chest streaks should change to spots by the time they get to the belly. It’s pretty close for a gray hawk, but I’ll exclude that too. There are red-shouldered hawks all over the country, and their appearance varies geographically, but eastern red-shouldered, that’s got potential. The tail length is about right for a juvenile. The tail from the top side should have broad bars on it and I can see that a little. The chest should be evenly streaked. Okay, that’s it. I’m going with juvenile red-shouldered hawk. The funny thing is though, with all my careful analysis, I’m still not sure I’m right. There is a lot about juvenile hawks that makes them all just kind of look alike! We got our first hurricane relief check from FEMA
That’s nice, but we didn’t apply for hurricane relief. We contacted FEMA and they referred us to the fraud unit. Someone using my social security number filed a claim. They tried to get a direct deposit to their bank account, but FEMA mailed us a paper check instead. If FEMA had made a direct deposit, we would never have been alerted and the fraud might have worked. Good on FEMA for knowing not to direct deposit to a bank account for this claim. (Although if we had accepted the first check, there was plenty more to follow…) I doubt anyone will actually get caught for this, but at least we short-circuited one instance of fraud. It sucks that someone is using my social security number, but there have been so many personal information breaches, it’s probably impossible to ever secure that number again. It’s just out there now (everybody’s social security number is probably out there now), and we have to hope the next level of security catches all the ways it might be misused.