sheilamp's Favorites

A bunch of these patrolling goldenrod - I did not realize at the time that at least some of them were not andrenoides, and had taken photos just as data vouchers. Upon review I was surprised to find the male I'd captured was something different! I was able to narrow this male down to compositarum or solidaginis on DiscoverLife, and Mitchell's description of coloration on the face and legs seems to match compositarum better. I couldn't find any photos of solidaginis for comparison but it seems to be somewhat more southern. Second opinion much appreciated!

I photographed a female on the same flower patch which is definitely not compositarum, and might be andrenoides but I could not be sure - see other post.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/242419707

This little spider has been in one of my pots for a while. It’s so tiny this was the best I could do, sticking my fingers under its web to make it more visible. The web design seems distinctive, though.

A Great Horned Owl in Warwick City Park. A life bird for me.

The second photo is a followup sighting. It turns out there is a nesting pair with two owlets.

The third photo is of one of the owlets about 2.5 weeks later.

Found it in the woods between my backyard and the water. Estimating body length not including tail feathers at 8inches-ish. I spend a lot of time in those woods and this was a first. Not mauled, so I’m guessing it died of other causes. It’ll be gone after tonight. Dead stuff around here usually is. No neighbors have birds like this.