I’d have to say it’s this Lookdown…beautiful fish I’ve only ever seen in aquariums before!
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Saw my first (three) stick insects since joining iNat. That’s a long time with no stick friends! https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/238190402
141 observations on Sunday with 72 “life list firsts” in Calendar mode.
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On Sunday I finally found a big moth again on my nightly moth-walk.
I think the CV is right with Furcula bifida, but it still needs confirmation.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/237970728
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Lol, love the description notes on the observation. Congrats! Ptarmigan can be challenging to actually see, even when right in front of you!
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I know there can be multiple firsts from one observation (species, genus, family, etc.) but that’s still an incredible percentage! Were you observing in a different habitat than usual?
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The stick insect accounted for 9, from Order through Species! There’s a fair amount of overlap between my usual area in central New Mexico and the flora of the Guadalupe Mountains, so it’s largely due to the presence of trans-pecos and Chihuahuan desert flora that I don’t normally see, plus some common plants I have seen, but never bothered to upload.
Earlier this year, I hiked in the mid-high elevations of Sequoia NP for the first time and that day is 131 observations to 113 calendar firsts.
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Sydney has an explosion of dragon/damselflies:
Australian Emperor (Anax papuensis) in the CBD
And two Tau Emerald (Hemicordulia tau) mating at North Head. Side note, no matter how many times I go to North Head, I always find a lifer :)
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Banded wing dragonet doing gymnastics!
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Last week I saw my first nudibranch which I knew was a nudibranch. Technically my second obs of one, but the first was a blob I didnt know what it was. This one was pretty clear. Was a pretty exciting find for me.
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Awesome! Congrats!
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I had 9 lifers the week of August 11-17 (7 moths, 1 beetle, 1 sawfly)
My favorite was the Ailanthus Webworm Moth
I had a huge number of lifers for the week of August 18-24. All insects except one spider and two plants. I’m not done posting everything from the night of August 22nd. Hard to choose one favorite, but I think it might be the White-crossed Seed Bug
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I’ve got two new favorites to share! The first is last weeks great lifer, Liatris lancifolia which is only known from 2 counties in the state! It also was a state first for iNat! The second is this weeks already, Gentiana andrewsii which is only known from one county in the state! Both great plants, not to mention plenty of other lifers to go alongside them!!
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What a cute face! Sawfly larvae look like they are from a Studio Ghibli film!
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Nice finds! Hopefully I will eventually get to see the very similar Gentiana saponaria which is rare here in southeast Texas.
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Interesting! Although its Wikipedia page says this species is native to the prairies of central and western North America, there’s quite a distance between this observations and other iNat observations in eastern Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota. Looks like a significant elevation difference, too. Are observers in the western parts of these states just not noticing this plant?
There are a lot more observations of this plant, but again there’s a lot of distance between the small cluster of these in Colorado and the rest of them.
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I’ve had a couple of cool lifers from the past couple weeks:
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Maybe Neotermes jouteli:
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First Bald Eagle from pretty far away:
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Chondromorpha xanthotricha, maybe newly introduced to the area:
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And lots of baby lemon sharks:
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I love those slime molds! They’re so pretty 