In some of his books, the butterfly scientist Bob Pyle has started referring to this species as Red Admirable. I seem to recall he explained at one point that this was more etymologically correct than admiral.
Week 06.09-12.09
Nothing to choose from, moth with blank name Tissue, first observations for the region of Brindled Flat-body and braconid from Doryctinae subfamily.
Week 13.09-19.09 Finnish Spruce which I wanted to find for a long time as I grew up in this zone of their hybridization, Amanita with interesting English name (Eurasian) Blusher, and pretty red Salmon-eggs slime mold.
My favorite this week is this Gold-Marked Thread-waisted Wasp. He looks both elegant and sinister at first, but the photos show him using his front legs to manipulate a leaf. I recently got a new camera that helps me see the life around me in at a new level of detail. Such wonders surround us!
I and a few family members were out of down over the weekend and I saw quite a few new things! It’s hard to narrow down just one favorite, but it may have to be this Magnificent Bryozoan just because it absolutely blew my mind when I figured out what it was. I’m not sure how common this sort of knowledge is so forgive me if this is a bit foolish of me, but I wasn’t very familiar with bryozoans before this. You mean to tell me one little creature created an army of clones and then grouped the gang all together in a giant slime ball? Thanks I love them.
I’ve observed the species before, but this is my first audio observation of the local coyotes, who got really excited last night as the moon rose into view. Usually, I only see one or two coyotes, but this sounds like quite a pack to me. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/95621725
I’ve had action on two of my observations this week.
One was a insect I saw back in Aug. It was really cute. I mean ‘cute’! A type of Bee Fly. It got identified this week to genus level : Anastoechus and my obs seem to be the only Minnesota observations (at least that have been identified to genus level - some may be lingering at higher taxons).
Then back in Aug, I took a photo of a plant that was unfamiliar to me. It was initially identified as American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) but someone disagreed saying it was Indian Pokeweed (Phytolacca acinosa). I didn’t get great photos so I went back to the site and refound the plant. The berries were mostly gone but there was enough left to get a definitive identification of P. acinosa. This is not native to North America but hotspots have been found in Wisconsin and southern Ontario. This was the first (as far as I can tell) known instance in Minnesota. They spread quickly and I notified the park department. Meanwhile, two local iNatters (alerted by my observation) have since visited the site and found a second colony of the plant. Hopefully, if it’s considered an invasive that requires intervention, it will receive that intervention.
And I kind of feel like my hobby - which I do almost entirely for my own benefit of amusement and mental health - has benefitted something quite larger than me. That makes me feel personally good but also validates how iNat, as a site, can contribute to ecology.
My first personal enounter with a California slender salamander. It poured rain on Monday up in Redwoods Nat’l Park. Perfect salamander weather. I named this one Slim Smiley :)
That makes so much more sense.
