Chomping on our garden plants...
Almost 5" long!
Habitat: hardwood bottomland forest, 5mi E of the MS river near Memphis, TN.
This must be the strangest creature I have ever seen! Only about 1 inch long, it seemed to have far too many legs, but was moving rapidly toward my shoe as I stood looking at the twilight colors of the sky. When I moved away, it stopped and just remained completely still. When I placed a small twig next to it, it raised its pedipalps up (but otherwise just stayed still). Here is some amazing info on this creature (from iNat): Eremobates is a genus of arachnids of the order Solifugae.[1] About 2 inches long, this fast-moving arachnid has the largest jaw size to body ratio of any animal[citation needed]. It is not venomous, but has a remarkably powerful bite. Often hunting at night, it has poor eyesight and navigates mostly by use of a pair of pedipalps.
They are solitary creatures, coming together only to mate, the male using his pedipalps to transfer seminal fluid to the female, who buries between 50 and 200 eggs in the ground. The female stays with the young until they are mature enough to hunt and defend themselves, feeding and caring for them.
On Antennaria near creek. In montane forest, elevation 1,700 m (based on Google Earth).
Looks like a yoga pose!
Found up on a high altitude ridge (9600 ft asl) in fairly rocky terrain in the Desatoya Mountains.
NOTE: - This observation refers to the smaller skull in 6 additional photos.
24 Aug. - I added 6 photos to compare this skull to another (LARGER) skull I found in another location. This larger skull was ID'ed by several folks as Marmota flaviventris. See: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54930328
Not sure what is going on but this is the fourth birder that I know of who has had a phoebe perch on their binoculars or on their person at Commons Ford.
(NOTE: My ID is a rough guess based on characteristics shown in species' photos. Body = approx 1.75-2" long)
On an evening walk in sagebrush scrubland, I came across this pair clasping each other's claws, head-to-head. As I observed them at length, I realized that they were not engaged in a territorial struggle, but rather - a courtship waltz. It seemingly lasted forever! At one point, the much slimmer male, who was leading the female around, had to stop to rest for a brief spell. This is the first time I have ever seen a scorpion, and to view their armored little bodies close up is impressive.
It's worth looking at 2 of these photos that show the scorpion's "Pectines" the it can use to detect ground vibrations -
"These peculiar paired structures are present on the ventral side of second mesosomatic segment. Each pectine is formed of a three-segmented shaft carrying at the free posterior end a row of 4-36 movable processes like the teeth of a comb. Pectines are tactile sense organs and are probably olfactory too. Pectines are larger in males than in females." (from https://www.biologydiscussion.com/invertebrate-zoology/phylum-arthropoda/scorpions-with-diagram-phylum-arthropoda/33501)
At Snively Springs on a warm spring /early summer day.
At a natural spring in the Willow Canyon in the mountains called Battle Mtn complex, up at 6,453 ft asl. The vegetation in of the area, incl. the riparian, has been disturbed by free-ranging cattle.
A very small (tiny) bee (about ¼ inch long) -- flying fast between the tiny flowers on this garden plant.
This beautiful guy was hunting up in the mountains at approx 6500 ft, above a spring pond surrounded by willow trees.
A truly beautiful butterfly, and small (only about an inch or so tall).
It calmly harvested nectar from a dandelion in the yard.
In photo 2, the butterfly stopped feeding, and lifted its antennae up, and started slowly rotating its wings -- just the back, smaller set. It looked really funny, like someone warming up their shoulders before a workout! I saw no other butterfly nearby, so its not clear if this behavior was meant to attract a mate. After a while it stopped the wing-rotating, and went back to feeding.
PS - Dandelions can be a source of many interesting pollinator observations!
The first photo is taken on 03 July and last photo was taken earlier, 21 June- the exact same plant. The leaves have matured a bit and it is done blooming.
I found this large beetle on our deck which overlooks a small yard that borders onto dense bottomland hardwood (deciduous) forest. We have an amazing variety of insects. I saw a much smaller individual of this same species as well, perhaps not fully grown, while this is an adult. It even made hissing noises when disturbed!
This is the craziest caterpillar I have ever seen. I found this about 3 in long bright yellow hairy caterpillar walking along the forest floor in dense hardwood bottomlands near the Mississippi. When I picked it up with a stick, I could see that the ends of its legs were pink - it almost looked like it had pink tennis shoes! Check it out on the second photo. What in the world is this and what did it turn into? (I resisted the impulse to take it home to a terrarium!)
Not sure what subspecies this might be. High desert (4,600 ft asl) in Northern Nevada.
The front limbs on this 7-8" long lizard are sci-fi surreal ! Moving very fast this midday, but I got lucky with the photos.
Juvenile... one of three in the nest platform about 40-50 ft up on the top of a fir tree. It had fallen to the ground, and the rest of the gang was far away in the tree top. It was rescued by the Security Forces on base; they helped place the juvie back in the nest.
2nd photo - Plan A - raise up to a branch 10ft off the ground to avoid coyote predation...
3rd photo - Plan B - far better. Electric shop came to the rescue, and we lifted the juvie back up to the platform. Three weeks later, all three chicks were out of the nest and nearly fledged. :-)
Blue-faced Ringtail
Erpetogomphus eutainia
female - with prey item
Guadalupe River, Independence Park near U.S. 183 bridge over the river.
Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas
26 August 2003