המועדפים של krechols13

On edge of Jack Pine Plantation just outside of Grayling, Mi. Could not locate in either Butterflies of Michigan or Swift Gd to Butterflies. Puddling with a group of Blues and Skippers but lone sighting.

This guy was unusually unbothered by my looking at him; he stayed on his perch for several minutes even after I got out of the car and crossed the road to get a better view. I'm really glad these photos turned out well, considering that I got my car stuck in the snow in the process of taking them!

Found this guy buzzing around a spruce tree after dark and kept him overnight so I could get better photos in the daylight. I've set the time and location to when and where I found him. He was very grumpy about being handled and kept making indignant squeaking/hissing noises at me.

The absolute highlight of my day. I have never seen a mink so unconcerned to have people looking at him. He went about his business swimming and grooming and doing his bouncy little run across the grass, and even came within about 6 feet of me of his own accord. A very pleasant surprise!

Here's also a short phone video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e--bvvspxnM

Finding this was absolutely insane. An iguana had run across the road so I pulled over to try and get a photo of it. When I walked over to the shoulder the iguana was gone, but this (nocturnal?) shovelnose snake was crawling around in broad daylight.

I found this male A. minutus on Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) seemingly feeding on nectar. I thought it was strange based on my knowledge of the adult beetles feeding behavior being on sap flows/tree wounds, but I figured there was likely documentation somewhere on this behavior I just hadn't read yet. After sharing the photos on bugguide and with an entomologist friend with a focus on beetles, I'm learning this may be a more significant find than I realized. Of anyone knows of literature regarding nectarivorous feeding behavior on this species, please share.

a swarm of hundreds of individuals was seen crossing a forest trail; the morphology and swarming behavior agrees with Z. neptunus (see Wesener and Schutte 2010, https://www.ajol.info/index.php/mcd/article/view/63137)

Oh NO he didn't! Munchin' on and sliming up my ORCHIDS? The nerve of some people's Gastropods! haha! Booted this freeloader outside to the free "Slug Buffet" I keep insisting is a vegetable garden. Vicinity of Perth Amboy, NJ.

Weather: Mostly sunny and 52 degrees. Notes: While we were stopped at a pull-off spot in the Poudre Canyon, this beetle flew straight into my father's truck and fell to the ground. It didn't seem significantly injured.