I’d love to see what your favorite observations that you’ve made so far are, whether it’s because of a particularly good photo, or simply an organism you favor! :)
There’s a long-running conversation on What is your Favorite Lifer from this week? with lots of these photos.
My count of species is up to 2,804. Trying to pick a favorite out of all of these lifers (or even adding into the consideration all of my non-lifers) seems like a waste of time to me. Let’s just say that my favorite is…the very next one I see! ![]()
Hard to pick, but mine might be an observation Pterospora andromedea (pinedrops) that I saw on a walk around my neighborhood quite close to my backyard.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/298357504
I like it not only because it’s an oddly beautiful plant that looks like it belongs in a carnival of some sort, but because it’s a mycoheterotroph. Although it’s a plant, it completely lacks chlorophyll and doesn’t do photosynthesis. Instead, it gets its energy and nutrients by parasitizing a particular genus of fungi (and indirectly parasitizing the pine trees that are symbiotic with the fungi). I had never even heard of parasitic plants prior to this Spring, but I then saw three different species of them on a single half-hour walk around my neighborhood.
Actually, I just remembered the observation in my profile pic: this pseudo-timelapse I took of the slime mold Leocarpus fragilis, revisiting it a few times over the course of a day and night:



