On Tuesday already I had a new addition to my moth list: Acronicta psi
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/242382347
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/242382347
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I just got back from a trip to Montana (Glacier Nat’l Park and several other places around Missoula, MT) and added several lifers to my list. By far the most exciting/terrifying one was the mountain lion! I caught it stalking me while I was out on a trail in a less visited corner of Glacier. Considering I was alone and had seen no other people out on the trail at all that day, it was a bit of a tense situation! I (fortunately) did not get eaten, however, and decided I would call him/her ‘Freddie Cougar’ (because of the great big claws).
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243504344
I was also lucky to find one of the rare amphibians in the Park: a long-toed salamander!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243504391
And this spruce grouse
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243504367
I also saw a pair of common loons. The pictures weren’t great, but I got to hear them make the loon call!
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Whoa! Congratulations on not becoming its meal! What technique did you use to persuade it to leave you alone? Did you shout and “look big”? Were you carrying bear spray? (I rented a can during a hike at my most recent visit to Yellowstone. If you use it before returning it, you’re liable for the full purchase price, but if you have to use it, it’d be worth every penny!)
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This may not technically be a lifer, since I have several older observations at the generic level that are still Needs ID. Since this is the first to reach Research Grade, I’ll give it the honors.
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It was stalking me, but it froze when I heard it and turned around. I did shout at it, I waved my walking stick at it, and I had bear spray which I pointed at it, but it did not continue approaching after I turned around to face it, so I did not spray. It didn’t react much to the shouting, but eventually it got bored and walked away. It wasn’t worth trying anything without the element of surprise, I guess.
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This Musschia wollastonii from Madeira (I hope I will be forgiven, it was observed a bit more than a week ago):
This is a plant in Campanuloideae (so bellflowers); it has multiple colour forms, the red one is probably pollinated by birds (and butterflies), the orange by several types of insects, and the yellow/green one autopollinated.
Its very weird growth form, I think called candelabre, which is common on islands; it also monocarpic, which means this plant will finish flowering, set fruit and then die.
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If I had been aware that this was going to become the first iNat observation of this species of syrphid in Italy (and just the 56th in general), I would definitely have taken greater care – and not just pointed the phone blindly at the unflattering spot where this one was sitting:
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Striped Swampsnake (technically last week but whatever). I had pinned this location using iNat and google earth as a location I could probably get my lifer once the summer rains started. This was my first trip to the spot since then and I found several!
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You may have already seen this, but, in case you didn’t…I noticed when zooming in on your third picture of the Striped Swampsnake (to look at its beautiful eye!), there’s a mayfly in the shot that could be its own observation.
(Also candidate for this topic: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observations-hiding-in-other-observations-share-your-examples/20956)
Yup, I think there are also a few mosquitoes in there. At one point when the snake had finally stopped moving, I was about to click the shutter button and take the picture when a mosquito has the audacity to bite it on the nose, which understandably made it freak out.
Found my first ever cuckoo yesterday!! This particular species is a Fan-tailed Cuckoo. I ALWAYS hear them calling in the distance but I had never actually seen one until yesterday. They’re so loud when you get up close to them though
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My hike yesterday turned out to be good for observing insects. The best was saved for last: a parasitoid wasp of Genus Trogus
So, iNat currently has 1,646 observations of this genus and 75% of these are at Need ID. I’d love to work on those and I found a key for identifying the twelve extant species of the genus, but one glance at that made this amateur’s eyes glaze over.
Add this to my list of things to do when winter sets in. 
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Megachile montivaga, the silver-tailed petalcutter. Unlike the “leafcutter” bees, it utilizes flower petals as its nesting material. As a result, it lacks the cutting edge in its mandibles that most leafcutters possess, even those that belong to the same subgenus. I found the first iNat observation of it for Connecticut. It’s much more common in the western US than it is in the east.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/244533233
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My favorite lifer of this week has to be the Western Conifer Seed Bug they are so cute for some reason :)
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A few weeks ago, I saw a very strange crab I had never seen before, that turned out to be a box crab in the genus Calappa. It was such a weird crab! Its pincers are like the size of their whole body.
That day I also saw my first Atlantic spadefish! As well as my first Cliff Swallows in the Yucatan peninsula.
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And a few days ago, I saw my first Urania fulgens! This is a moth with a very butterfly-like appearance, with tails and bright colors, that seems to be involved into some kind of migration just at this season in my area.
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Today my family and I found a kororā/little penguin (Eudyptula minor) on the high tide line at a nearby beach, unfortunately deceased. Only about the third iNat observation of this species on the (admittedly relatively remote) 150-odd kilometre stretch of coastline between Christchurch and Timaru, New Zealand.
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Mine is probably this crab spider. It isn’t especially interesting but I haven’t seen a lot of these.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/244950356
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