Latest Posts by northerlyy - Page 5

Leafhopper (Genus Gyponana), nymph, taken March 25, 2025, in Georgia, US

Sometimes life is just a leafhopper dancing... This guy was tiiiiny, probably only 1st or 2nd instar, and he was not a fan of me, as is evident by his defensive dancing! When threatened, leafhopper nymphs (and sometimes adults) will sway back and forth like this to both mimic windblown debris and skew a potential predator's perception of their form. Obviously, this has little effect on humans, but it can save their life if a smaller predator takes interest. Leafhoppers are wonderful animals, and this is one of the many reasons why they're some of my favorites!

Probably already been added by someone but I'm making this addition for the pair in my backyard specifically.

Northern Mockingbird, 9/10

I have allowed 1 point for the times they are nice, but 90% of the time this mf spends the whole day bullying everyone else off the feeders and not eating anything himself. WHAT is the POINT if you don't EAT.

Rating the birds in my backyard by tendency toward violence

Northern Cardinal, 4/10

I'm sometimes worried the male is sexually harassing the female but I'm pretty sure they're just doing some elaborate public pickup roleplay. The rest of us didn't agree to participate in your kink, guys.

American Robin, 1/10

Literally just some dude hanging out. Never bothered anyone but worms. Big fan of the way you just stand there in the middle of the grass like you forgot what you were supposed to be doing.

House Sparrow, 10/10

You're a gang. You're participating in gang violence. There's ten billion of you living in a single wood pile and it's been civil war for three years now. When will the bloodshed end?

Tufted Titmouse, 1/10

A shy baby. A pretty little guy. I saw you on the neighbor's garage roof and time stopped. There were anime sparkles around you. Come back.

European Starling, 9/10

Why is it always you? Listen, I know, I KNOW the sparrows are the problem, and YET. When the fighting starts, it's always you in the middle of it, provoking them and then screaming like you're an innocent bystander defending yourself. I'm onto you.

Carolina Wren, 3/10

This rating is not for physical violence, which you don't engage in, but for your role as an incurable narc. A tattle tale. I know they're fighting again, okay? I see it. Our yard has been a warzone for years, you don't have to make a big announcement every time someone misbehaves.

Eastern Wood-Peewee, 0/10

If this were "birds who think they're better than everyone else," you'd get 10/10.

Red-bellied Woodpecker, 6/10

It's a utility pole. It's not a tree. You're surrounded by trees that are full of bugs. But there you are, on the utility pole. Committing vandalism.

American Crow, unrated

For who am I to cast judgment on the actions of La Famiglia? I assume you are doing what is best for the neighborhood. If I could, though, without criticism, make a single observation. That when large numbers of you gather in the ominous dead cottonwood - no? No, you're right. None of my business.

Great Crested Flycatcher, 5/10

Frankly, I think you could be doing more. I think your name implies a great potential. I think you should massacre the insects. I think your beak should drip with viscera.

Stay tuned for more criminal activity!

woke up this morning to ABSOLUTELY NO BIRDS WHATSOEVER when we always have a couple dozen every morning

Waited half an hour and still none

No squirrels either, no woodpeckers, no chickadees, not a single junco

What the fuck is going on

False Mealworm Beetle (Alobates pensylvanicus), taken March 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

A little beetle, as a treat. Look at this wonderful individual! I found him sheltering under pine bark I was peeling up, and I must have woken him up because he was very slow to start. It took me poking at him a few times (to check for life) before he decided he hated that, actually, and slowly lumbered underneath the log!

My beloveds... a whole row of some of my favorite native inverts and, of course, robins.

iNaturalist reblog game: post your top 5 most observed species. i'll go first

Snake-headed Flatworm (Rhynchodemus sylvaticus), taken March 21, 2025, in Georgia, US

Takes your worm on a string and makes it SLIMY and BALD!!!!

Look at him. I love him. I showed him to my friend and was told he is pathetic, but that is just not the case. This is the ideal life form. With this, "would you love me if I was a worm" takes on a whole new meaning. Of course I would love you if you became this. With your stupid long nose and little light-sensing eyes. Perfect!!

if you do not live in the uk or north america it is your legal obligation to download inaturalist and start uploading. please everyone who uses it is in north america or the uk we need obs that arent here

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), taken March 21, 2025, in Georgia, US

A lovely dove cooing into the evening sun. Someone was on the other end of their song, likely a partner, and I could hear them calling back. Not only is this dove's call very calming, but—when you can find them—they're interesting to watch while calling! You can see in the second photo this dove puffing its neck feathers up and tucking its head in to call. It was both holding a conversation and keeping an eye on me in case I got any closer—professional multitasking!

Longhorn Beetles (Euderces pini), taken March 22, 2025, in Georgia, US

This guy is clearly having trouble keeping up with his lady. I originally thought these guys were carpenter ants and got closer to see why there were so many just hanging about and instead discovered half a dozen of these beetles all gathered around. The female must have sent out pheromones because she was surrounded by interested males. However, she was clearly taken, even if her suitor was struggling to keep up with her while she wandered!

Eastern Calligrapher (Toxomerus geminatus), male, taken March 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

A lovely hover fly perching on a dandelion! Pollinators are out full force now, and that means that hover flies have more competition. Most hover flies have adopted a bee-mimicking appearance, likely to reduce competition and predation. This works a charm, as even most people can't tell the difference!

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea), male, taken March 21, 2025, in Georgia, US

A fun new birding lifer for me! This guy was a pain to photograph, though that's only partially because he was flitting around constantly and mostly because the sun was making it hard to see if my camera was in focus or not :'). I got some nice pictures, though, and a video of him singing I have to review. This bird's song is so quiet that I'm not even sure my camera picked it up over the ambiance. It's like a whisper!

Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), males, taken April 30, 2024, in Georgia, US

These cardinals dressed appropriately for the scenery! The japanese maple is exactly the same color as them, which comes out looking very cool in shots like these. Soon, the maple will be filled back out, and I'll have a nice red background to take pictures on again!

Globular Springtails (Order Symphypleona), taken March 20, 2025, in Georgia, US

In order of appearance: Ptenothrix curvilineata (1), undescribed Dicyrtoma sp. (2), Ptenothrix marmorata (3), undescribed/unknown Ptenothrix sp. (4)

I've been in a globular springtail phase for a couple months now, and the past few days I've been doubling down in my efforts to find as many as possible. I spent a couple hours yesterday digging through dead wood and found and photographed 40 individuals! I love the diversity of patterning in this group—they're absolutely tiny, but so so gorgeous.

P. marmorata is definitely the most common customer in my part of the woods, but I found lots of the 4th individual as well. That guy is a bit of a strange situation, since it might actually be a regional color morph variant of P. marmorata! It doesn't look much like it, but animals are weird and this stuff happens sometimes. Hopefully we find out what it is soon!

Freshwater Planarian (Family Planariidae), taken March 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

Who is this silly little guy!!! He was in a little puddle in the woods, living his best life. When out of water like this, planarians move in an inching motion, pulling themselves along like a worm. It seems as though his epidermal layer is transparent, allowing you to see his stomach and some mystery white stuff (probably patterning)!

Tube-dwelling Spider (Ariadna bicolor), female, taken March 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

Well, good news is that she definitely is living in a tube! Bad news is that it is no longer inside the log she was in, but instead on the chunk of wood I ripped off the log. This provides and excellent view of the nest structure, but doesn't serve very well as a home anymore. I put the wood chunk back as well as I could, but whether it was good enough is still up in the air!

I'm also in Georgia and my university has a herpetology club that does nature walks, I love seeing your renditions of the species we usually see!!

I'm glad you enjoy the little guys I find!! There are so many wonderful species here that don't get much attention because they're easy to miss. I'd love to include more herps in my selection, but I have horrible luck finding anything that isn't a toad!

Have an anole for the road, one of the few non-toad herps that I see somewhat regularly:

Jumping Spider (Pelegrina proterva), male, taken March 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

My first angry face of the year! Regardless of his grumpy appearance, I missed him dearly this winter. These guys are quite common in my area, especially the males which like to climb the posts of my boardwalk to hunt. They're quite hard to distinguish from some other species in the genus unless you compare them side-by-side, but luckily this is the only species of this genus that appears in my normal hunting grounds, so I'd notice if they looked off. The females are a different story entirely, as is the case for most in Dendryphantina...

Taurus Mason Bee (Osmia taurus), taken March 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

Hard at work...admiring a rock? I'm honestly not sure what these guys are doing, possibly removing fine sediment from the rocks? There are dozens flying along the stones on the edge of my creek banks. The best guess I have is that they're collecting fine sand or dirt to do their "mason" work with. They're quite shy, but if I sit still enough, they'll come check out the rocks near me!

Ichneumon Wasp (Limonethe maurator), taken August 17, 2024, in Georgia, US

A lithe wasp for the wasp-likers! I can't wait for it to be wasp season again... The paper wasps are back out, and I swear I saw a spider or great black digger wasp in the leaves the other day, but it flew away before I could get a good look. I also found and lost a damselfly I've never seen before, but I can stop being salty about that when I find another one (hopefully). Regardless, the wasps are coming back, and here is one I look forward to seeing again!

Green Stink Bug (Chinavia hilaris), nymph, taken September 9, 2024, in Georgia, US

He is the exact same color as this leaf and I love it... A lot of the colorful insects I see aren't on their preferred substrate, so it's hard to get an idea of how well their camouflage works until you see them in their element. If I didn't know what to look for, this guy might just look like a spot of discoloration on a leaf caused by a fungus or parasitic insect, and that's super neat!

Spotted Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus conanti), taken September 10, 2024, in Georgia, US

Enjoying the sun! It's pretty unusual to see salamanders sitting out in the open like this, so I initially thought this guy was dead. I ended up freaking him out when i put my hand near him to see, and I feel kind of bad about it, but I also really needed to know if he was alive lol... He was in close proximity to a large banded fishing spider that was also enjoying the sunshine, so I think this was just a nice spot! I hope he came back later and caught some more rays!

Oh!!! I love!! Hehe admiring his reflection..

Treehoppers are so hard to come by, for me at least. I have lots of 2 species in my area, and likely more, but they're just so rare as adults lol! Interestingly enough, when I don't have a camera on me, they come and land on me. They know what I want, and how to not give it to me :(

Oak Treehopper (Platycotis vittata), taken October 23, 2024, in Georgia, US

A beautiful, freshly-peeled treehopper! This was my first time seeing one of these guys in person, and their colors are just magnificent. This species has two main morphs: one with a horn on the pronotum (one of the segments on the back) and one without. It would have been nice to see a horn-morph individual, but this one is nice as well!

Oak Treehopper (Platycotis vittata), taken October 23, 2024, in Georgia, US

A beautiful, freshly-peeled treehopper! This was my first time seeing one of these guys in person, and their colors are just magnificent. This species has two main morphs: one with a horn on the pronotum (one of the segments on the back) and one without. It would have been nice to see a horn-morph individual, but this one is nice as well!

Eastern Calligrapher (Toxomerus geminatus), male, taken March 9, 2025, in Georgia, US

Gloomy days that are just slightly cold and a tad misty make for good days to hunt down sleepy flying insects! Although there are less around, those you find are much easier to photograph since they're all bedded down. This guy didn't even flinch when I got all up in his face. He kindly allowed me some side profiles, which show off his cool leg anatomy!

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata), female, taken March 11, 2025, in Georgia, US

What a lovely lady! In terms of warblers, these guys are pretty skittish compared to others that visit. They prefer to dart quickly in and out, which makes photographing them difficult but all the more rewarding! The males of this species have started gaining their yellow crowns, as I've been seeing them appear in some individuals.

White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), taken March 11, 2025, in Georgia, US

A little sparrow frolicking in the moss and newly-sprouted grass. I could watch these guys for hours—they're just so charismatic! I especially like the dappled light of this spot, as it accentuates their camouflage. Rooting through the leaflitter under dappled sunlight, you'd be hard-pressed to find these guys!

Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina), female, taken September 20, 2024, in Georgia, US

What a strange looking stick! Praying mantises are wonderful insects, and they make the most perfect photo subjects. Some will even walk right on your hand if you hold it out for them. That's fun for about 3 minutes until they're clinging to your sleeve or on your back and wont leave lol!

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), taken March 12, 2025, in Georgia, US

The bloodroot is finally showing its pretty face! There's tons of flowers blooming out of the leaflitter. This is my first time catching them in full bloom, and they're gorgeous! This plant is named after its red roots, which can sometimes resemble the color of blood. Its flowers can also take many different shapes, some having shorter petals with round edges similar to a daisy, and others like these, though they also exist in every form between those two extremes!

Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis), taken March 11, 2025, in Georgia, US

A small friend enjoying an equally small seed. The buds on the japanese maple make pictures in it look much more lively! Once it has leaves, the birds will be much harder to find within the sea of red. For now, however, I get to enjoy them in plain sight!

Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis), female, taken March 11, 2025, in Georgia, US

This warm day brought out not only a big wave of pollinators, but also my first reptile of the year! I turned my back to go inside and switch lenses for pollinator pictures and happened to hear leaves brush against each other. When I turned around, I saw the moving leaves where this little lady landed and was able to get some nice pictures before she decided she wanted back on the tree she was originally on!