I’ve made a lot of observations last week, but if i have to pick only one it will be this lovely fly from Stratiomyidae family, he wasn’t shy at all so it was a great pleasure to observe his pollinating work.
Stratiomys potamida:https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/173641576
Have a great week everyone, and get some wonderful findings on your journeys 
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/173656935
I found this Reddish Stag Beetle dead on the side of the road on the way home from work
New state, new national park, new lifers. 106 “life firsts” and counting from today.
Ha! I haven’t heard that one before, and it’s a good one.
Yesterday I was looking for dragonflies and checked out some ponds in Málaga. Not very successful, but instead I found this purple heron.
I enjoy “after-the-fact” lifers, like this stilt sandpiper I photographed pretty well but called an immature short-billed dowitcher in the field.
Recently got a macro lens for my birthday, and it is making my invert photos so much better looking. here is a pic of my first blinded sphinx!
My first windscorpion!! I held it too, and it did pinch/bite me, whatever the technical term is 
I was very happy
I found a tersa sphinx this morning (Xylophanes tersa) - such a stunning moth! Every new sphinx moth lifer is a significant life event for me.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176100012
Whenever it rains it rains…
Slime molds from heaven.
We had our first real rainstorm recently and on the following day, I ran out to the darkest corner of my local park and started looking around the massive logs there.
It was the best of slimes!
Fantastic!
Here it’s just hot and dry, not much survives - including me. :-(
Awesome! Solfugids are so cool! Their chelicerae are crazy-looking, hopefully the bite didn’t do too much damage.
I was so excited when I found this guy - there are gobs of weirdo little entolomoid mushrooms that are hard to find and sometimes harder to ID - but check out the dark edge on the gills here! Distinctive, tiny, and very neat
Man, we’ve been hearing that a lot from friends and family living away from us.
I am starting to realize in a way that I’ve never have before, the gift of the moderated climate that comes from living in a zone between two great lakes.
no it didn’t!! i was actually very happy to be able to say i’ve been but it didn’t bother me at all. i’ve also been bit by snakes so i’m proud of that too 
Wow, those slime molds are so beautiful!
Getting bitten by harmless snakes is commonplace for those of us with a particular interest in herpetology. As long as you haven’t been bitten by venomous snakes it’s all good. Being proud of that would be really dumb.
Green sea turtle! I didn’t have my camera (was knee deep in the gulf around the east end of Galveston). But I put it in as a casual observation because WOOHOO!
lollll, yea no venomous snakes altho i would probably find the experience fascinating, i would not use the word proud for it
Catching up a bit:
For the week which started on July 3rd, I went to Cunningham Park in Queens on Thursday July 6th, and found 20 new lifers. Among the new ones were:
I heard a lot of Grey Treefrogs:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/171550918
And saw a little baby Wood Frog
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/171557903
And a Dotted Renia moth:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/171549855
…
For the week which started on July 10th, I went to Cunningham Park in Queens again on Tuesday July 11th, and found another 16 new lifers. Among the new ones were:
Crown-tipped Coral Fungus:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172500831
A Broad-necked Root Borer beetle
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172501282
A Lynx Paw Oyster mushroom:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172503116
