did the raccoon survive? Escape?
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@DianaStuder Someone came to the house and put a pole with food and bait down and managed to pull the raccoon out easily.
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It’s nothing exciting or rare, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised how beautiful common brown anoles can be up close. I’m also very happily discovering how good and willing they are to pose for photos. A lot of the time, they’ll even look directly at the camera!
This guy looked pure jet black from far away. When I got close enough to take the picture, that golden crown suddenly appeared and really stood out!
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I live in a small town in south-central PA; the borough has a total area of 1.9 square miles (4.9 km2), all of it land…with no water source running directly through it.
Nonetheless, one February morning my son looked out into our backyard and alas, grazing on grass…a muskrat!
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This one was found IN my residence. It’s not a house centipede and I haven’t seen any other myriapods around here, so I suspect it hitchhiked home with me after a hike.
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A few days ago, I heard some sounds, like someone was hitting something, but it was actually a bird banging against the windows on the stairs of the building I live in, then I ran to my apartment and took out a pillowcase, after catching it I finally released him on the toproof. I’m surprised it wasn’t hurt after all the blows it took. It was the first time that I saw that bird, it is also the first record in the city and in the surrounding areas.
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I’m glad you were able to rescue the cowbird. :)
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So, when I started this thread, I never thought I’d have a black bear to add to discoveries in the garden, but last week, we had a surprise (and surprised) visitor:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52526831
I’m going to have to be more careful about wandering around the garden in the evening. 
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Whoa! How very cool to discover your very own neighborhood bear. :)
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Apparently humans, flies, and dogs share some reproductive methods.
That was an interesting discovery to make yesterday.
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I’ve declared that Common Red Soldier Beetles are more Vulgar than just Common for similar reasons…
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Probably my favorite observation I have taken at my home - two Victorian huntsmans (Isopedella victoriallis) mating on my garage wall. First noticed the female alone on the wall and took some neat photos. Few days later I noticed a male wander in and over the course of a few days attempted to mate with the female.
Image 1: The Male (Top) and Female (Bottom)
Image 2: The Male “inflating” a balloon like structure in the epigyne
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Hmmm… since joining iNaturalist I’ve found out that there are a ton of unique and cool spiders living in my yard, perhaps my favorites would be these Jumping Spiders in these observations (Apologies for linking a ton of observations, but I really can’t pick a favorite!):
Portia sp. with it’s unique camouflage:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52438907
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54130313
(I’m pretty sure they are the same individual)
This Siler sp. with its arms dancing around that I unfortunately have not seen again:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52428485
This jumping spider that has been suggested to be a Carrhotus viduus, which might be the biggest jumping spider I’ve found:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/53344276
This wonderfully colored Cosmophasis:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52444275
And finally, not a jumping spider, but for some reason I like the “roundness” of this Nihonhimea I found:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54035829
My dream would be to find some obscure terrestrial native orchid growing somewhere near me, but that’s pretty unlikely.
There’s also a snake in my tree that I haven’t been able to get a good picture of yet…
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LOL, I don’t know them but I believe it.
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Another interesting find is this, which appeared to be some kind of feces, I don’t know what it is but the bright purple color surprised me in my own backyard
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Looks like a berry-lover bird.
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My “best find” in my garden was this one.
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Whoa! Those are some cool pictures!
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Great shots and nice find.:)
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How about the gorgeous Jersey Tiger Moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria)? And not just one, but two:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54048603
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54242218
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