This (young?) Eastern Phoebe would not leave me alone for 10 minutes. It landed on my phone and made many attempts to land on my straw hat.
Video of it on the railing, singing for/at me:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W1KhB_LhUKh2aWWsl0m_OuzIfSZVmx7-/view?usp=share_link
Video of it trying to land on my hat:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18yQiNH1Bwyn7ckK-n4l2q0NbPJHLbuhx/view?usp=share_link
Maybe this bird was raised under the eaves of a house and it got used to humans?? I've never had an interaction like this. Phoebe-bombed!
What is this?! I found it in a rainwater bucket, it appears to be some sort of jelly with specks inside. When I poked it with a stick it stuck to it with a string of mucus. Not sure if it was ever even alive but thought iNat could help.
rooivlerkspreeu/red-winged starling/onychognathus morio on Klipspringer [Oreotragus oreotragus]
Peculiar behaviour. Got a few quick photos before they (presumably) woke up and flew off.
I had to share this unique photo. It appears a young fox with a black-tailed rattlesnake.
Host feeding on a grape leaf.
I've seen this species on campus several times. In all cases, I've observed individuals on an oak leaf horizontal with respect to the ground, performing some sort of coordinated "dance" movement.
Sneaking in some observations at a 5-year-old's birthday party ^_^
On Carya glabra
Late season. Note large larva.
Note yellow line near top of capsule. Does the capsule split here when the critter emerges?
Update:
I found several of these at Cedar Bog again this year. The last one might be Hexatoma brevicornis, so if you have expertise, please D.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172420801
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172420799
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172420798
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175243975
Note: I have photographed this Hexatomini at Cedar Bog in Champaign County, Ohio for at least 17 years. Always in the same area.
I've added two other observations; one from back in 2004.
Links to those observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88273567
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/84762884
Here's an observation this year (2022) with better pics of wing venation. Same location.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124010854
Sat on my hand for an hour! Great color!
I saw an Eastern Bumblebee on a Rattlesnake Master flower reared up on its hind legs and holding very still. There was a tiny beetle, likely a Silken Fungus Beetle, firmly clamped onto the bee's proboscis with its mandibles. These beetles practice phoresy: they live on flowers but attach to a leg, antenna, or mouthpart of a bumblebees and hold on until they are transported back to the bee's nest. There they lay eggs and the resulting larvae feed on organic debris in the nest. The bee held still for the entire 5 minutes or so that I observed it. I cross posted this under Eastern Bumblebee here:https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/128056037
On a planted elm. Confirmed in Berkshire and Hampden counties last fall, but this is apparently the first Massachusetts record on iNaturalist (and certainly the first time I've seen this species in person).
Infantizidal cannibal
Some individuals
Freshwater aquatic insects in running creek. This insect was living in a tube with 5 prongs, connected by a web of mucus/silk which it used to catch particles in the water. I watch it actively eat the webbing and create new webbing. There were about 5 active ones on a rock, they were about 1cm tall.
Lots of fruiting bodies at various stages on one log
Is it a fish? Is it a slug? Is it a fishy anemone? I do not have a clue what this is!
It is about 30mm long and there were a few of them in the sand - outgoing tide nearly on the turn. Most were buried and only the "fan fin" was showing.
Resting on the wet sand, when the sand collapsed it arched it's face upwards (2nd and third photos) and seem to spawn capsule from somewhere - there are 2 floating in the 4th pic.
Totally hypnotic, by the time my sister-in-law and I carried on the brother had walked 2kms away from us!
Video of The Incident™: https://imgur.com/a/JKSQLZE
(16 baby geese total!)
I was looking for holes in trees, hoping for owls. Couldn't tell what was going on here. Then I saw a paw. Definitely not an owl! Squirrel, maybe? But when I downloaded from the camera, it became obvious :D
Went back to where I'd found sawfly larvae (185488439) being parasitized by wasps (185488442) on Interior Sandbar Willow (185488436) 4 days prior.
Fewer sawflies - and a lot more wasps! I was just astounded to see at least 4 wasps on a single larva. Some were clearly ovipositing. There was some variation in size though; I wondered whether there was >1 species present, or whether male(s) were hanging out on the larva waiting for females to arrive.
Had to feel a bit sorry for the larva, actually. Not only was it covered in parasitic wasps, there was a tiny mite crawling on it. (I was definitely having an off day and struggling to get any decent shots of the wasps - didn't even try on the mite.)
One leucistic fledgling appeared among the nest mates.
I find same bee in end of August in same place, same flower almost every year.
japanese name: ルリモンハナバチ.
may parasite to Amegilla florea florea(スジボソコシブトハナバチ).
Found on American Sycamore (182127709).
Originally seen 3 days prior (182127713), still holding onto the remnants of its spider host. Revisited 2 days ago (182127718); then it was spinning its cocoon and I could still see the larva moving inside. One day ago (182278132) I could still see some movement, but it seemed more compressed and less active - possibly a pupa?
Now it seems still.
Beautiful and mysterious species
Emerged from mud nest on 8/10/2023
Best guess is a predatory wasp paralyzed and collected the caterpillar into its mud nest. The wasp egg wasn't viable for some reason and never hatched to eat the stored food. So the paralyzation wore off and the caterpillar just pupated in the wasp nest. Not sure how else a caterpillar would have ended up in a mud nest like that. Other explanations are welcome.
Found inside of a spongy oak apple gall
Carrying dried leaves to its burrow under some rocks
Bilateral gynandromorph, observed at a 400 watt mercury vapor light set up in a densely wooded area with Quercus spp.
D. maculata emerging from it's cell
ID tentative; improvement welcomed.
This was weird. The temperature had fallen and dusk was gathering when I noticed something waterskiing to shore. And another - and another! I assumed that some species with an aquatic juvenile form was molting into adults. But why do that in chilly weather at a colder time of day?!
It was hard to spot them where they stopped, and harder to get to them for photos because they remained in debris offshore. The low light didn't help, either.
I saw a lot of what appeared to be failed molts, but couldn't be certain that they weren't still working on it. Couldn't read the wing venation well, either - possibly because they are tenerals?
I filmed one coming in, slowed it down and made a GIF.
In montane coniferous forest
Rocky creek bed
At small creek in shaded montane forest
under 1cm, metallic aqua abdomen, metallic bronze thorax with light striping
Ants of SA p96. These ants look like quicksilver. Quite amazing to see.
A large infestation on Salix interior on banks of the Red Deer River. The infestation was highly localized to a small area. There were many willows growing along the river bank in many places but I only saw the beetles in this one spot. I collected a series for the Royal Alberta Museum under a research permit.
The last image shows the characteristic feeding damage. I also have a nearby observation of the host plant: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/139076833
Largest tree in CT
A pair of wrens were working on a nest somewhere in our eaves, often carrying bundles of moss nearly as big as themselves.
Ants harvesting sap on a tree cut after Hurricane Michael
Lam Tsuen Valley, Tai Po, Hong Kong
These solitary bees are thieves - they steal nectar from the base of the flower by stabbing through the nectary, rather than using the conventional method of collecting nectar (and getting a dusting of pollen), so are no good for pollinating flowers.
update (see comments)
"These bees also collect pollen, so they are important pollinators, in fact quite important because of their abundance"
Arethusana arethusa, Coenonympha pamphilus, Boloria dia, Lysandra coridon, Plebejus argyrognomon (aberration :))
Feeding on fox scat full of blackthorn berries. :)
Update: observations for each species are
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129558373
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129558454
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129558537
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129558585
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129558618
On trembling aspen. The infestation in this area was so bad that nearly every leaf of every tree was infested.
Leucistic mockingbird fledglings?
Male (bifurcated antennae) Observed on, yes, purslane.
Calligrapha philadelphica (Dogwood Leaf Beetle). Photographed at Chutes Provincial Park, Sudbury District, Ontario on 21 June 2022.
04 Jun 2021.
Buckingham Springs, Bucks Co, PA.
12.7 mm wing length.
Quarter inch white balls, some puckered and loose, some slightly attached to soil