I don’t know how you guys are getting such cool finds, my only observations thus far into the year are a couple of weeds and a lichen (which I still don’t know the species of). I did find a lifer dark-eyed junco though, so that’s a start.
1 new species, a bird, which is a class I have wildly neglected, so that makes me happy. I saw another new-to-me yesterday but did not have my phone with me so will hope to see it again.
I was preparing some of my photos for iNaturalist when I noticed a small arthropod in one of the pictures. I hadn’t noticed it when I actually took the shot. I think it’s a springtail, my very first one! If any of you can confirm, that would be great!
For me it would have to be this observation of a pseudoscorpion hitching a ride on a fly. I had no idea phoresy was a thing. The whole concept boggles my mind.
Now that I’ve cleaned out my storage unit (good riddance), I again have access to the Peterson Guide to Eastern Trees, Shrubs, and Vines (Petrides 1972). It isn’t as visually appealing as the Golden Guide to Trees (Brockman 1979), or other Peterson Guides, but its use of botanical keys in a field-guide size format is letting me identify flora that I never could before.
I think it looks like Physcia americana if you mean the white one in the center with no apothecia - but I just started with lichen myself and don’t know how many possibe look-alikes there could be, so not going to suggest an actual id just yet…
I may or may not have seen even more lichens, but not sure if I ided them correctly or if they can even be ided to species from my pictures. I’m glad I got into lichen this winter, otherwise I’d have zero lifers (or observations) this time of year. (The moss and salamander I only found between the lichen so would not have seen those either.)
