Personally I didn’t get to go out much, but I saw a bunch of planarians in my local creek which is pretty neat since where I’m at we don’t get a ton of water.
What was that one (or more than one) cool thing that you saw during the CNC that just had you excited for the rest of the day?
we aren’t in a CnC area but since it’s during the correct time period…
we saw a weasel! While out on a walk and also of course I was adding things to iNat.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/23668110
It ran across the road and i expected it to vanish and hide but instead we got to watch it hunt for a minute or two. It even came closer to us while hunting, got maybe 20 feet away at some point and was not worried about us. Eventually decided to climb a tree and we lost our view and left it to do its thing. So cool. I have never seen one before, only their sign.
I saw a garter snake and when I caught it to take photos, it regurgitated a marbled salamander. Two herps in one! That was a pleasant surprise considering I wasn’t likely to find them out and about this time of year. I tried giving it back to the snake, but all the snake wanted to do was get away from me. But hey, at least the salamander has a second shot at life now. I watched it walk away and dig into the leaf litter
Hm, it’s hard to say. So far I enjoyed seeing the dark form of Uloborus diversus; I’d never seen one before, I always see the pale forms.
Here’s the dark form:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/23862339
Here’s the pale form:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/23860022
Not the most exciting thing, and I’ll probably think of something else later, but it was the first thing to come to mind.
I saw a huge adult female Schistocerca americana. I did not know there were any adults in NC yet. Unfortunately, adults have wings, and this one knew how to use them. Therefore, I did not get an observation.
I saw a monitor lizard inside the building at work.
P.S. I work in Kerala, India
Also multiple moths and dung beetles
California Giant Salamander hunting in a shallow rocky stream full of fishfly larvae.
Many coolest things. Daphnia in a puddle on Staten Island. Ribbed mussels almost at the end of Newtown Creek at Plank Road in Brooklyn. Possible seals on Swinburne Island off Staten Island. Two types of invasive knotweed (Japanese and Bohemian).
I got to see Viola Rust for the first time. And Hollyhock Rust on Dwarf Mallow. And Flixweed appearing for the first time in NYC and the northeast in general – it’s poisonous to livestock. Oh, and more Forsythia Stem Galls than I had ever seen before. And cute little baby Striped Bass in the Harlem River.
I saw my first Zebra Swallowtail (and several more).
I actually got a lifer bird, which is pretty impressive since I’ve birded this area a lot.
And I also had unexpected close encounters with this lizard and this bird.
An excellent weekend, altogether.
Highlight for me has to be a Storeria dekayi (common yes, but I don’t herp much) as it marks the first time I have seen a live snake in the USA. If I hadn’t intervened my cat likely would have killed it. And its also the first time I have smelt a snake musk. So yes, many experiences in one. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/23838421
I saw a Black-bellied Whistling Duck fly over my yard four times and missed getting photos every single one of them, but it was a new yard bird for me so I’m still excited about it (really low flyover, too, with some squeaks!)
Things that I did get photos of:
Finally managed to get non-blurry photos of the Golden Tortoise Beetle being both golden and turning red/black spotted to convince me not to eat them
Chirping frog vs Crab Spider (the stand-off). The spider looked like it was about to pounce on the frog, and the frog looked like it was about to go after the spider. Eventually the spider rappelled down (possibly was a little smarter than the frog).
Gorgeous Tetragnatha I accidentally drifted into after I stopped paddling a kayak to photograph liverwort growing on a riverbank
LIFE MOTH!!! Straight-lined Cydosia Moth
I was the only observer in our state to photograph bacteria. I also found a medicinal leech and an 8-pound piece of natural gypsum. I’m getting a $100 gift certificate!
Only on iNat would getting throw up on be exciting lol. Amazing that the salamander was still alive, albeit probably seriously confused!
I was pretty excited to find some jewelflower in flower yesterday in an amazing serpentine area.
Moved this to General because it is not directly related to using iNaturalist and CNC.
Luckily I’ve been in Mazatlan for the CNC and, well, pretty much everything is new to me! All very exciting stuff. :-)
i was looking at a small wasp and noticed at tiny creature with pincers (a pseudoscorpion, apparently) clamped onto the wasp’s leg: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/23977478. also saw lots of other new and unusual (for me) organisms.
While I certainly enjoyed getting outside and seeing what has sprouted (Spring is quite delayed here this year), I didn’t see anything particularly noteworthy, other than the distressing number of invasives in one of the local parks.
BUT! I have been living vicariously through others and really enjoying some of the amazing pix that have been posted! And trying to console myself that I had my amazing-lots-of-new-species experience 4 or so weeks ago in the Anza Borrego desert in California :-)
