Sounds like something my dog would do, lol.
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A wasp carrying a katydid nearly as big as it was back to its lair. The wasp could barely fly from how big its prey was haha
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Most of what I observe is on my balcony, so I found it quite a treat to watch a jumping spider jump at a diptera caught in a web.
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I was looking at a dead millipede when a harvestman came up and tasted the body decided it didn’t like it and walked away https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/170963454
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I wouldn’t say it’s the most interesting thing I’ve seen, but Latrodectus hesperus and Psilochorus hesperus co-habitate and live together constantly where I am, to the point where they share the same web
aww! so happy to see couples sharing housework
Years ago, on a spring walk in a wooded area along Lake Ontario we found a nest of garter snakes. It took us a few minutes to figure out what was going on… one of the garter snakes (slithering within a group) was in the midst of eating a toad. By the time we took the photo, only the legs were showing.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/24799421
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Disagreement between a Diamondback Rattlesnake and a water mocassin
Not mine, but Obs. 108784656 shows what I think is a cat learning why it’s a bad idea to try to eat alligator lizards.
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Probably the most interesting one I captured: a cellophane bee on a male carpenter bee. Multiple cellophane bees were bothering the carpenter bees while I was watching. Nobody’s been able to answer me about what they were trying to accomplish.
Not that crazy since they’re both just documenting something normal each species does, but I thought they were cool: Rhyssella nitida in the process of laying her eggs; talitrid with a parasitic infection turning it orange. I learned a lot from that one because I didn’t even know amphipods were a thing at that time, and it’s an interesting case of host manipulation - it becomes neon and stops hiding as much, making it much more likely to get eaten by a bird, the parasite’s next host.
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I remember being just flabbergasted at the disparity in size (Jagged Ambush Bug nymph feasting on Dingy Purplewing).
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This is quite a show! I watched something similar go down with a different species of spider wasp: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/169772452. I watched her work for hours trying to size up the spider, expand the burrow, and drag the oversized wolf spider inside, until a group of ants rolled in and captured the spider from her. I’ve never felt so bad for a wasp in my life and had a hard time repressing my urge to help her out. You got some beautiful picture out of it though.
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Thanks! At the time, I was disappointed that I didn’t have my good camera and we were too far from home to get it before she dragged the spider under a rock.
I hope your wasp had better luck the next time. Maybe she learned to pick smaller spiders.
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The development: emergence - pupating - hatching of the parasitic wasp Cotesia glomerata from a caterpillar of Pieris brassicae. I wrote a journal post about it: https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/susanne-kasimir/32917-observation-on-pieris-brassicae-with-parasite-cotesia-glomerata-during-lockdown
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Two different types of slippers trying to mate. Had no idea that was a thing until I photographed it and uploaded it to inat.
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apparently male cellophane bees may roost together at the end of the day, as shown here: https://gardenecology.pdx.edu/pollinators/silk-or-cellophane-lining-bees/index.html. so if it was near the end of the day, maybe they were just trying to snuggle up with other bees for the night.
otherwise, maybe carpenter bees look like really big females to male cellophane bees? i think i’ve seen something like that among butterflies: https://youtu.be/pMq0cUrI-QM.
every time i’ve seen a spider wasp with a spider, the wasp does seem to take a really long time to get things done. i once watched a wasp with a spider start a hole, abandon it to start another, abandon the second one to start a third… and then it started to rain: https://youtu.be/YD3Zlru-Alo.
are those garter snakes mating, too?
watching snakes eat frogs can be fascinating, but one of the episodes that i witnessed ended up taking a very long time and was somewhat gruesome: https://youtu.be/CaRb-LsSxwE. but the most unexpected thing that i’ve seen a snake eat was a leech. i didn’t see exactly how the snake discovered the leech, but i suspect the leech tried to feed on the snake and ended up as food for the snake instead: https://youtu.be/ifKXJeK3auc.
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Attempted mating, I suspect, though the size disparity is a bit unusual. Was this early in the season for the species? Males of many species emerge a week or two before the females; I don’t know if they are more likely to try to mate with other bees when females of their own species aren’t available yet, but my impression is that they are often particularly restless when waiting for the females to appear.
Some male bees are also quite territorial, but that usually looks a bit different (chasing/dive-bombing/wrestling rather than landing on other bees).
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An American Kestrel chasing a Black-Chested Buzzard-Eagle in Ecuador – the latter is about twenty times as heavy as the former.
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Attempted mating is also my best guess. It was right in the middle of the season though (Apr 13) and not all that close to sunset as someone else suggested (5:20pm). Trevor Sless said on Discord that it’s been seen before with other groups of male bees landing on X. virginica males and his guess was it’s some kind of pheromonal thing… male carpenter bee smell brings all the boys to the yard I guess??
The carpenter bees were able to fly (although noticeably encumbered) with the cellophane bee on, so at the time I was wondering if they were getting impressed into taxi service, which is the funniest if not very realistic possibility.
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