What is strange to me is that they are all facing forward. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46720029?fbclid=IwAR1APRsQZhjMihQ6bPg0-qpVyzIUIk6Z_ZkYveecQfXWtqlWMHU6Ym5_VqU

Compare to -- Fremen nriding Sh'ai Hulud in Dune, https://i.pinimg.com/564x/61/fb/96/61fb96ddbd5b1af9b6f05576bda75063.jpg

My plan is to cut off new observations March 1, 2019, and to begin a new project covering the same area, to identify any changes in species present.

Everybody is invited to join in. We might try a series of bioblitzes. "Series" because plants don't get noticed much until they bloom, and flowering dates vary with species.

What I've neglected in my rambles around Dunbar Lake is the wooded parts south of the south road. Only time I've been there it was during the CBC and there are definitely birds there though the only one I identified was a Flicker. Need to work that side, without getting shot by residents who may get upset by a peeping tom with binoculars and camera outside their houses. Had hoped becoming a TMN would give me a badge for protection in that kind of situation; a little dragonfly pin won't stop bullets or fists.

I had neen lumping together some cactus observations, including up to a half dozen individuals in one observation. Didn't do that yesterday for two reasons.

(1) My camera automatically inputs a GPS location for each photo, and lumping observations bypasses that nice labor-saving feature.

(2) iNat observations do not normally imply number, and on city land that may be subject to clearing or repurposing it might be handy to have the weight of numerous cactus observations close to hand.

From what I've seen, Echinocereus and Escobaria are not found just anywhere, and where there is a lot of prickly pear the area is devoid of other kinds of cactus. Too early to say for sure, but it looks like using the land for disk golf for example leads to more prickly pear and less Escobaria and Echinocereus whether the reason is theft or use itself.

Back 25 to 30 years ago I saw a picture of a Wood Duck in Texas Highways magazine and hankered to see one in the flesh. Today I did, at Lubbock's Leroy Elmore Park, thanks to the Llano Estacado Audubon Society and Kayakqueen's online report.

I went late in the day and saw only one male, on the far side of the island, and got distant photos while hiding behind a tree. Will post them, insh'allah, if I can get my computer to work.

We are seeing here on iNat that species range maps are often out of date and on the South Plains / Llano Estacado / Caprock are species not supposed to be here. So it is with my two observations of what turned out to be Red-Shouldered Hawks (seen also by Amzapp recently and perhaps by others), with several plant and insect species, and to a lesser degree with Wood Ducks.