הזיהויים של mchlfx

This was the find of the day for us. John and Kendra Abbott and I were driving slowly along a forest road in the SE corner of Oklahoma in the Ouachita National Forest when we saw a large blue and black butterfly nectaring on some sunflowers a short way off the road. It was a huge butterfly and I thought at first it was a large female Tiger Swallowtail, but when we got the vehicle stopped we saw it was not a swallowtail and realized it was a female Diana Fritillary! We only had it in view a few moments before it took off back into the forest, but we obtained a few shots. I had seen a couple of males at a distance in Arkansas last year but was not able to take any shots, so this was the first time I've ever photographed the species. A very exciting record for us of this very local and often hard to find butterfly. I'll post 4 shots.

Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)

22 January 2016: Observed several Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) both in the water at the Elm Fork Trinity River and flying overhead. These pics are of one individual who happened to have flown overhead while we visited the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA) in Lewisville, Texas. Double-crested Cormorant is a North American cormorant wherein it claims permanent, wintering, and breeding range from Canada (and Alaska) down to Mexico and the Caribbean. The Double-crested Cormorant does not have range that extends beyond these points on the map into Central America or South America. Because of its range in North America, the Double-crested Cormorant is an authentic resident of the Western Hemisphere. LLELA is administered in partnership by the US Army Corps of Engineers, City of Lewisville, Texas, Lewisville Independent School District, and the University of North Texas.

Sources:

"Double-crested Cormorant," All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, range map, photographs, description, resource links, accessed 1.23.16, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Double-crested_Cormorant/id

Sohl, Terry, "Double-crested Cormorant," South Dakota Birds, range map, accessed 1.23.16, http://sdakotabirds.com/species/maps/double_crested_cormorant_map.htm