A bit of movement caught my eye as I was stopped at a stop sign that ended up being my first Pileated Woodpecker!
12 Likes
This whitethroat I’ve found after a window collision. Sad to see it injured (the beak looked hit), yet happy to see it recovered and flying away.
Observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/280728808
12 Likes
Have ended up with a few lifers over the past month and I’ve already exceeded my goal of finding five local lifers this year.
Week of April 6th –
Arenaria serpyllifolia | Thyme-leaved Sandwort · 벼룩이자리 | Observation
… This one was a pleasant surprise because I found it growing between some stone steps that I’ve used countless times on my (walking) commute to work.
Week of April 13th –
Prostemma hilgendorffi | 알락날개쐐기노린재 | Observation
… I found four lifers on my walk to work on April 18th, which was an amazing birthday present. My favorite is this damsel bug, which landed on the barrier next to me and then almost immediately took off again, leaving me with just a single photo.
Week of April 20th –
Corydalis lineariloba | 현호색 | Observation
… I thought this might be Corydalis turtschaninovii when I was out walking – which I’ve seen before – so I’m glad that I took a photo anyway, as it was identified as a species which I hadn’t seen before.
14 Likes
My favourite life of this week, completing the genus in central Europe for me (well, yeah there are only two species here)
13 Likes
I dont’ have a photo or ID. But I was at the gathering at timberlake this weekend and while we were walking my oldest found some freshwater shrimp (probably eastern glass but I can’t be sure) in a puddle on the trail. First time I’d seen them, and they got siened out of the Colorado River later, but the excitement certainly made my day.
5 Likes
This is Anacamptis palustris - and finding it was a very special moment for me. It was the last species of orchid native to Austria which I had not seen yet (it grows on the other end of the country from where I live, so was just hard getting to.)
At first I was really happy and proud of the accomplishment, but now I’m also feeling a bit down, as in, what am I going to do next? I spent the past two years using all my free time studying possible orchid locations and hiking to locations for all 70+ species - and now - I’m done. Maybe I’ll just find them all again, or start trying to find hybrids between them (about 70x70 possibilities!) And I still have many species outside of Austria to discover…
17 Likes
You could do lilies. You are missing quite a few. In Gagea alone, there are ten native to Austria and there you are having only made Observations of two within Austria.
(It is quite an accomplishment though. Congratulations, and I hope you are writing something up about it, if only just for yourself.)
5 Likes
11 Likes
It’s a lifer, of course!
My IDs are so useful!
6 Likes
I love these guys. They’re docile and slow-moving, too, so it’s easy to get pictures. The tetrodotoxin probably helps. No need to panic when nothing’s out to eat you.
3 Likes
This Snowberry Clearwing moth!
I have observed Hummingbird Clearwings and they have all been larger .
It was distracting me while photographing a spider/beetle confrontation. The beetle, Valgus Hemiptera, is also a lifer…
This moth is CUTER than the beetle!
19 Likes
Two-way tie this week between Restrepia brachpus, a miniature orchid from the Valle de Cauca, Colombia, measuring maybe 3 cm in length.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/281140399
And Cavendishia adenophora from Calima, Colombia. I did not appreciate its beauty until I got very close. My photo managed to capture much of the lovely detail.
17 Likes
I can scientifically confirm that is a fbish.
1 Like
Another first I’ve seen, photographed, and posted on iNat.
Common Yellowthroat
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/281371977
13 Likes
It is a fibsh. Idk what kind.
15 Likes
Yesterday I found a beautiful caterpillar. Because of its very distinctive pattern it was IDed pretty fast as Apopestes spectrum.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/281581223.
I could imagine this as textile pattern, maybe for a curtain…
15 Likes
I am late to last weeks party but I am so happy about this lifer that I cannot resist posting it this morning, instead of sunday evening.I always thought that the camo of this guy was so smart, that I wouldn’t even find it when searching. And there he was, on a wall (15.05.2025) :
13 Likes
First Collared Aracaris today! Saw one of them catch a carpenter bee in midair, and could get extremely close to them.
8 Likes