Boy, imagine if you didn’t tell them where it was.
I bet they would have been… pi**ed!
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This is my first full spring as an iNatter (just got my ‘Happy Anniversary’ thingy from the forum) so for me, despite getting a huge bagful of lifers (isn’t it great to be a beginner birdwatcher BEFORE the leaves are fully out?) I was also very excited to observe new early life stages with some very familiar species. Like this batch of ‘tomatoe-mimic’ eggs:
Which, although unconfirmed, I believe came from a boxelder bug.
Also, not a lifer (and also unconfirmed), the first female of a species that I’ve only observed in my house! The difference in size (and colour) was astounding.
Habronattus decorus.
But for a genuine lifer, I’m going to go with perhaps the most commonly observed mammal in my area which somehow, has eluded me and my camera for over a year…
I was so shocked to see this one crossing a busy main street right in front of me, in broad daylight, that I fumbled the shot and only managed to get a very blurry ‘tail end’ as it were.
But apparently, it is so well known, that this was enough for an ID!
Now back to the chitin races!
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Another week has gone by and yesterday, Sunday June 4th, I was fortunate enough to be able to go out iNatting with a local iNat star, D.J. Ringer. We met up in Central Park at 106th Street and I suggested that we walk along the eastern edge of the Harlem Meer, where there is a fair amount of rather nice marsh- and water’s-edge vegetation.
Still, I was amazed that I found seven lifers! Partly thanks to David’s sharp eyes.
…
Eurasian Sweet flag
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165606151
Something destroying Mealy Plum Aphids. Caused by a Phaon or a similar braconid wasp.(https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1472202)
Green Arrow Arum
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165607546
Odontomyia cincta, considered to be uncommon.
A great-looking apple-green soldier fly.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165607808
A tiny moth on Bald Cypress Coleotechnites variiella
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165608174
Odontomyia profuscata
A chubby dark Soldier Fly. Considered to be rare.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165608445
Merosargus caerulifrons
A very tame soldier fly with a brilliant green metallic-looking thorax.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165608725
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I made my first trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park last week and found over 100 new lifers and broke a couple personal milestones (2500 total observations and 1000 different species)! Here’s a few highlights:
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Today I encountered what should have been a very exciting lifer for me, Natrix helvetica (confirmation ID pending, but I’m fairly certain). First wild snake I’ve seen in my native Northern France (we’ve got a grand total of 21 snake observations here), colubrids are incredibly cute… but it’s a juvenile run over by a car.
Here’s hoping my first sighting of Vipera berus, our other snake species, goes better…
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I’ve never seen them blue! Is it a genetic mutation?
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I have no idea, this is also a first for me, how gorgeous.
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So another week has gone by, more or less, and this morning, Saturday June 10th, I had an outing to Randall’s Island for the fish count on Fish Migration Day.
Here are the five lifers that I observed:
A very poor photo of a nice-looking, fairly big, Weevil, the Hunting Billbug, * [Sphenophorus venatus]*
(https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/231373)*
Meadowsweet
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/63134-Filipendula-ulmaria
Eastern Glass Shrimp
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/166639054
Atlantic Tomcod
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/105765-Microgadus-tomcod
Skilletfish
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/179586-Gobiesox-strumosus
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I was going to have some boring moth or lame bee as my lifer, but today luck was on my side. Presenting Aliciella subnuda
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A new species of clearwing moth (observation here)! Previously, the only clearwing moths I’d seen were the clearwing sphinxes (genus Hemaris), so this was an entirely new family for me.
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Other than my first sighting of an Acadian flycatcher, I’ve had an arthropod-heavy week:
An adorable Least Skipper
A unique-looking Crane Fly
And a handsome-- and unidentified-- Ichneumonid Wasp
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Similar experience (a couple of weeks ago, but I’m still catching up on the curation and editing): baby prairie puppies!
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Finally found my lifer orchid for this June, Anacamptis pyramidalis!
I had missed this species in several attempts in 2022 - the first spot I went to was two days after multiple people had posted them on inat - but someone must have picked them by the time I arrived, hours of searching turned up nothing. It’s not a very uncommon orchid and I hoped to find it on several more hikes but again, no luck. I also tried to see them at the same spot I finally found them this year, but after travelling all the way and hiking several miles in, about a mile before reaching the spot thunderstorms approached and I made the very difficult decision to turn around.
This year I only could get to this spot during a small time window late in the evening but decided not to turn around no matter what - and made it there shortly before sunset. It was dark when I arrived back at the trailhead and very late when I checked into the hotel with an early train to catch the next morning - but so worth it! Just wish I had had a bit more time to take pictures.
Second picture shows them next to another cool orchid growing on the same meadow (but that wasn’t a lifer for me).
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Great trip to Northern Arizona this week! I got paid and I saw cool plants and animals 
What’s better than a green bee? A yellow one! https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/167474017 This species is exclusively found on the Colorado Plateau (plus a couple questionable records in central New Mexico) and specializes on globemallow (Sphaeralcea).
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Finally found a Bufflehead Mason Bee: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/167701853
I’ve been looking for this species for quite some time now and basically gave up this year since most of the Baptisia and Lupine blooms (the plants they specialize on for pollen) were finishing up. Today, this female just randomly showed up right in front of me while I was photographing a bumblebee. I was incredibly lucky.
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I think I added over 30 lifers this week. If I just had more time…
I guess if I had to pick just one it would be this Purseweb. Closest thing we Canadians can get to a tarantula, I suppose. But I was so lucky to be there when it had decided to leave it’s burrow.
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I’ve seen metallic green bees before. An all yellow bee seems kind of bizarre, though. Like a zebra that lost its stripes.
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