This last week: I found this very dark little moth, Stericta carbonalis, in the house yesterday. I’ve never seen a moth so dark!
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Added a whole new phylum (Platyhelminthes; flatworms) to my life list with this observation:
A member of Bipaliinae (Hammerhead Worms) and possibly Bipalium monolineatum.
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Here in the Northeast, we are experiencing very cold temperatures and even colder wind chills, so I haven’t felt particularly motivated to go outside for some casual observing this week. So I turned to the microscope to try to find some life to observe, and was successful in finding a species of diatom I have never seen before. Caloneis Lewisii.
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My favorite lifer is this lichen, Hypotrachyna revoluta, which I saw on an oak twig on the snowy ground at my daily train stop:
Also, while photographing a different lichen, this tiny springtail photobombed my picture - apparently some animals don’t care about below-freezing temperatures:
And I still only have a macro camera - but while taking pictures of lichen growing on a tree trunk this bird crept up on me and let me take an identifiable shot, fittingly it was identified as a “Treecreeper”:
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Saw my first Wood Thrush!
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Very excited to get a camera trap photo of my first wolverine! (From a few weeks ago but only retrieved recently.)
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Okay, I’m still going through my backlog (I didn’t think I’d been that shutter-happy last year), so even though I took the photos in early fall, I just posted the observation today.
(EDITED: hit the wrong ‘reply’ button.)
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Finally getting to my backlog of photos from September. Thought I had a new lifer with this Corgatha nitens moth but it turned out to be my second observation of the species, with the first from five years ago:
Did get another lifer though with this observation of Hadjina chinensis, which is a life list addition for me from subfamily (Condicinae) down to species:
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None, because lifers are so freaking difficult to come by now since I have so many species!!!
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I saw my first lifer bird in over a year (I think) today. I’ve been focused on invertebrates and haven’t prioritized looking for birds or chasing lifers. Anyway, saw a flock of redpolls while skiing! No photo, but I might be able to record some calls for iNat another day.
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A new lifer and the first snake I’ve ever caught and handled (It calmed down fairly quickly after it figured out I wasn’t going to eat it and curled right around my hand). A California red-sided garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis). Incredibly pretty coloration. Note: the one in the bush is a separate individual, but it was a slightly better picture for seeing the detail. The one I caught was hanging out in the middle of the trail. I actually saw five snakes (including one other species) during that hike!
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A northern seahorse (Hippocampus erectus)! This little guy was caught in a shrimp net along with a few other fish which were lifers for me. This one was definitely my favorite though. It was returned to the water after the picture was taken.
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Been getting plenty of new moths recently, but my fave for this week is something that probably wont get past family, but another super small test for the 5x macro.
Crotonidae
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Went looking for glow worms, missed a turn, found a mountain dragon
And an blue triangle that also qualifies for worst picture uploaded
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With most vegetation still dormant, I have been noticing the diversity of wood-dwelling fungi. This one startled me though:
With brackets that big, I would have expected it to be Fomes, Fomitopsis, or something similar. Nope. Trametes aesculi or one of its close relatives. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/198221852. When I think of Trametes, I think of little turkeytails, but these are huge – a good 5 inches across!
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I am pretty surprised to be observing an insect lifer in the first week of February in Ontario, Canada.
Spotted what I think is Scathophaga furcata, a dung fly, on a very cold outside windowsill on a building by the park on Lake Ontario in my neighbourhood.
I’m still trying to think of a response to curious passerby’s reactions to my response, “I’m photographing insects” when they ask.
And what about the blue foreleg? Can insects get frostbite, and can it make their skin turn blue too?
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This week was a phenomenal week at the local Mass Audubon sanctuary.
I first found this Great Horned Owl
Then, I found a trio of Northern Harriers
Second Norther Harrier
Third Northern Harrier
Finally, I found this Hermit Thrush
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For this year I have decided to get interested in beasts on thistles, so I look closely at every thistle. One plant with a very big basal tuft had a lot of “specks of dirt” - until I saw one of them moving! They are beetle larvae disguised with their excrements.
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Wow! I used to see the odd blue triangle in my backyard growing up in suburban Sydney, but that was a long time ago!