I learned squirrels nests are called dreys. They have some for sleeping and others for food storage. Sometimes there will be one squirrel, sometimes several, mostly for warmth.
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The cinnamon hummingbirds here are so noisy in flight that that is how I realize they are nearby; they are so small and so well camouflaged and move so swiftly that otherwise I might be completely unaware. The parrots as well are quite squawky in flight. My knowledge of birds is extremely limited but could this be the difference between âsongbirdsâ and other birds?
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@cthawley Thanks for bringing this back to life. I like this thread.
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i learned that some ticks are indeed active in winter when i had to remove one from my pants after an off-trail detour
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USA pants or UK pants?
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Last week I found dozens of Drinker moth caterpillars Euthrix potatoria apparently frozen on the snow, but not dead - they curled up when I picked them up, so I helpfully moved them to grass tussocks where there was a break in the snow cover. I posted the observation on iSpot and was shown a link that says they deliberately lie on the snow for its health benefits:
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!
US pants
i didnât think to check my UK pantsâŠ
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Just a heads-up for future reference, you can message forum_moderators and ask for a closed topic to be reopened and weâll take a look.
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I know. Iâve done it once, but I donât want to ask too much. I figure there is a reason this forum has the time out feature, and donât want to maybe breach forum etiquette or something.
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Todayâs topic was Australian Amblypelta species (fruit spotting bugs).
Nymphs have 2 big dots on their back. If the dots have white rings they are A. lutescens. If no rings then it is probably A. nĂtida. Nobody know what brevicornis nymphs look like.
In the NT where I live, the adults are lutescens and brevicornis. The easiest way to identify brevicornis is to look for sternal dots which lutescens does not have. Otherwise it is checking differences in antennae segments.
Practical lesson: get side shots if possible and some good antenna shots.
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On the island of Hispaniola, there is a cave with an interesting paelontological find. In it are bee nests, inside skull cavities, from the prey of large owls. Apparently, there wasnât enough top soil for them to nest in, so they improvised.
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Good to know, I think lehelind has looked at all of my nymph pics but Iâm going to check now armed with that info.
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Today, I learned that Western Wallflower blooms in pink, pinky-purple, and brilliant red as well as hues of orange and yellow. I had no idea.
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How to sex the grey wall jumping spider Menemerus bivittatus. Boys are black with cream trim and girls are cream with black trim. No looking at spider genitalia required.
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Fantastic! I copied it to my only one observation and tagged it with IDcomment. Thanks https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/70054299
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Many species of Birds of Paradise are bioluminescent. They glow in the dark!
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This weekâs annotation deep dive was Mictis profana aka Crusader bug or Holy Cross bug. I got interested because the nymph form has two button like dots on the dorsal abdomen which is similar to Amblypelta species which also has dots on the nymph. Both are in my area and Amblypelta is in my garden!
Crusader bug dots are orange whereas the Banana Spotting bug (Amblypelta lutescens) are black with white rings. The dots are where scent gland openings are. The earlier nymph stages lack the dots but the abdo has a white outline that reminds me of a socket as it is not circular.
Crusader bugs are found on Mainland Australia, not in Tasmania and they like Mimosa pigra which is a huge pest species.
I just finished annotating all life stages in the NT, Australia but I found the below article and it tells me: âMales can be distinguished from females by their longer hind femora and spines on the hind tibiaâ . Looking at the adults that have been sexed, the males have legs like Arnie and look like bodybuilders while the females have legs that are all very similar and on the skinny side.
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Hmm, they are definitely in Tasmania. Admittedly in the North. Introduced accidentally?
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Having little formal scientific training, I appreciate this easy to visualize description so much. I am fully capable of looking things up and often do, but this was bananas simple for me. Thanks. :)
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This week while visiting a governmental building I came across an informational poster about the five native wild cats on the Peninsula. It mentioned that the jaguar (Panthera onca) is the largest felid in the Americas. Of course this made me immediately wonder what was the smallest.
I learned it is Leopardus guigna, found in Chile, commonly known as the gĂŒiña. Sadly many of the Observations of this charming feline appear to be due to road death. (We have a similar issue here with many of our nocturnal cats.)
I lost myself in a deep Chilean info dive and when I came up sometime later, it was with the following: Chile has a soccer team named Colo-Colo and a cat called the Colocolo (Leopardus colocolo). Are they related? I do not know. What I do know: Here is a recent, wonderful observation of a Colocolo.
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