Beautiful twig mimic caterpillar had been feeding on Malosma laurina leaf. Great camouflage.
Every year, in mid-July, large numbers of humans, of both sexes and multiple age classes, congregate at select river mouths in the Upper Cook Inlet, Kenai Peninsula. The species is in pursuit of readily available protein in the form of hundreds of thousands of sockeye salmon. Experts label this annual congregation, the PU Fishery, and it is associated with several other species, including members of the Larus genus (gulls) and Diptera order (flies and mosquitos). Increasingly, this concentration of people represents a seasonal migration from the Anchorage metro area to the Central Peninsula. Local monitors of human behavior (i.e., newspaper journalists) have suggested the migration represents a doubling of the resident population, and subsidizes the amount of biological waste and other refuse present in local habitats. Resident humans have been observed complaining about displacement on movement corridors and practicing avoidance behavior during peak migration times. Other residents appear to mix readily with immigrant humans, although the extent to which genetic intermixing occurs during this period is currently unknown.
I was honored to spend a fair amount of time with Roger Tory Peterson between 1985 and 1995. He passed away in 1996. This image shows Roger on a private ranch in Kenedy Co., Texas where we were photographing birds in Sept., 1995. This image scanned from a slide.
I was honored to spend a fair amount of time with Roger Tory Peterson between 1985 and 1995. He passed away in 1996. This image shows Roger and Victor Emanuel on May 1, 1985 on a birding trip on the Texas coast. This image scanned from a slide.
Dude was found mobbin around the brush totally close to the marsh. Little dude got hectic and laid one right on my arms, I was like woooah. It was a mellow day, overcast yet warm. Found alongside the epic HSU herp class.
Keonehe'ehe'e / Sliding Sands Trail.
Found in the middle of the trail, I think dead. Moved it off to the plants on the side.
Hosts clinging to undersides of Rhus integrifolia leaves in coastal sage scrub.
Swept from mixed grasses and low growing herbs in open field with diffuse Pinus jeffreyi.
I need help to ID this little guy. Found in saltwater and seen under microscope. Can’t tell what kind of arthropod it is.
AI was 'pretty sure' this was genus Holcopasites but none recorded in California.
Found on trail.
A lucky find when I saw down to photograph the Diplacus fremontii here!
Ca. 60 plants in creosote scrub. Aphids (?) observed underneath several plants.
A little pupa?? Attached to stem of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), shiny and smooth, seemed lightweight, no exit hole observed
The sample was collected for DNA barcoding from a washing machines rubber gasket at the JMU Weaver Hall.
Spotted at Caspers wilderness Park on 7/4/21 on a mountain bike ride. The coyote was standing at attention and I was photographing it when the badger crossed interview and the coyote moved off. Presumably this was a symbiotic feeding behavior
Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Third Crossing of Coyote Creek.
Male Toe Biter (Abedus indentatus) with eggs on his back, central San Diego County, California
Beneath asphalt slab beside trail in Baccharis Artemisia scrub.
Many adults in copula skimming and crawling over surface of algae-covered, upper intertidal rocks.
Interestingly, the large males appeared to grasp the females wings using the terminal claspers, standing over the female while it oviposited. Mating, or attempted mating, occurred with this pair once while the male was guarding(?) the female.
Might be analogous to the mate guarding behavior of male odonates.
This observation is for the pathogen. The host plant is Berberis nervosa.
Freshwater aquatic insects in running creek. This insect was living in a tube with 5 prongs, connected by a web of mucus/silk which it used to catch particles in the water. I watch it actively eat the webbing and create new webbing. There were about 5 active ones on a rock, they were about 1cm tall.
Found on a few small broken branches near lake. Mostly willow trees in vicinity but also one large poplar tree (Fremont). Largest of approx. 1 cm across. Inner layer rubbery and outer layer white with texture. Shriveled when dry. Identified on CA Mushroom ID Forum (Facebook) by Damon Tighe and Christian Schwarz.
Collected gall from Ceanothus verrucosus on 4/11/21.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73583630
Gall cut open to find larvae inside on 4/21/21 and placed in container with a cup of soil.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/74768171
7 midges emerged today.
mold growing on rotten citrus. Mold even grew when citrus was washed and placed into cold storage
Many individuals under stones on bryophyte covered soil, in Baccharis Artemisia scrub.