I went down to the beach on Monday during a -4.9 tide and saw a bunch of new species. My favorite is without a doubt this beautiful amphipod. It turns out it’s only the third observation of this species on the site (unless there’s more that haven’t been ID’d).
Such a fantastic find! Hopefully this inspires others to search for and document mistletoes (as well as their hosts, important for ID!). These plants are fascinating and beautiful, in their own way.
For those in the Tucson area: this rare species of dwarf mistletoe (A. gillii) is in bloom right now! Go look for it in the mountains on Chihuahua pine!!
I use the OM System OM-5 (because it’s cheaper than the newer OM-1 MK II) with the M.Zuiko 60mm macro lens and Godox V350o flash. I used to use a homemade diffuser which was better in some aspects to the one I have now but it was bulky and extremely fragile so I ended up just paying for a custom Cygnustech diffuser. Diffusers are a wholeee thing though and require a lot of research. For closer photos I tend to use the Raynox msn-202 clip-on lens which causes some distortion but has significantly higher magnification than the DCR-250 most commonly used.
I just got back from a trip out to Spokane, Washington, where I got two new lifers! The first was Townsend’s Solitaire and the second was Mountain Bluebird!
Ophrys rhodia, endemic to Rhodes, we thought it looks like a little ladybug. Ophrys regis-ferdinandii, near endemic, and so unique. Ophrys reinholdii, also very unique, with the black lower petal, the big red horns, and the furry scarf. Or Ophrys lucis, just a big red blob, with two reflective metal marks (and we crawled through the underbrush of seemingly the entire island for days before finally spotting one single plant)!
That said, I am rather smitten with this wee plant that popped up in the new garden. CV suggested Cleome and I am not sure that seems right (above my skillset) but I do think it likely to be a member of Cleomaceae so have stuck it there for now. Things languish higher as there are few identifiers here.
There is a bud (poorly photographed) so I will watch to see if it comes to flower (looks like I missed two such opportunities), with hopes that a flower might offer more assistance. Any new Observation will be linked using similar Observation set.
