American Pelecinid Wasp (Pelecinus Polyturator), Taken July 29, 2024, In Georgia, US

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus), male, taken April 27, 2024, in Georgia, US

I have one pair of red-bellieds that visit the feeders year-round, but the male is much bolder and always poses so well! He always makes such nice photographs, but I don't get him often because of how shy he and his mate are. These are some of the first pictures I got of him with my current camera!

Conifer Bark Beetles (Boros unicolor), larvae, taken February 26, 2025, in Georgia, US

I spent like two hours running around peeling the bark off of fallen pine trunks and found tons of these bad boys. I had no idea that they existed or what they were until I found them, but they're kind of epic! They remind me of if a beetle and an earwig had a child, but a termite became involved somewhere along the way. Just a weird mixture of morphological traits, though they're perfectly adapted for life under pine bark!

You can see the individual in the video almost snag the smaller insect as a snack. I came across one shortly after this eating a potworm!

Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus), taken January 23, 2025, in Georgia, US

Very small, and very very round. Some days the wrens here look more sphere than bird. That's part of their charm!

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...

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), male, taken January 23, 2025, in Georgia, US

There are currently several pairs of bluebirds sharing the feeders, but come spring there will only be one! They're quite territorial nesters with their own species, but they're easily beaten out by more aggressive species like starlings and house sparrows, which, along with several other factors, drove them to concerningly low numbers in the mid-1900's, going so far as to be listed as endangered in some states. Conservation efforts by professionals and the general public in the mid-late 1900's quickly caused a rebound in the population, and we are now seeing their increase slow, indicating they are almost at maximum population capacity!

Orchard Orbweaver (Leucauge venusta), female, taken April 28, 2024, in Georgia, US

A lovely young lady! I believe she's still subadult because she isn't very dark yet, but she's still beautiful! Orchard Orbweavers can be identified by the orange smiley face on the ventral (under) side of their abdomen, which you can see a bit of in this image. They're one of the most common orbweavers in my area—absolutely all over grasses and shrubs during the spring!

does iNaturalist really help research? Or it's just for fun and to help U feel love for the wildlife around U?

Yep! Research Grade observations are called that for a reason, they be and are used by plenty of researchers! There have been papers written on iNaturalist data, species have been described via iNaturalist, and so on. I personally have collected and sent specimens to multiple researchers who have contacted me because of my iNaturalist observations even

Though it is also fun :>

Rufous-backed Cellophane Bee (Colletes thoracicus), female, taken April 19, 2025, in Georgia, US

The best photo I've gotten so far of one of the most frustrating subjects. There are currently hundreds of cellophane bees swarming in an area of my woods. New adults are emerging and in the process of recreating all of their parents' nest holes. Many would disagree, but there's something calming about sitting in the center of hundreds of buzzing bees, especially when you know they won't hurt you! The only bad thing about these guys is that they hate to sit still. Any time they land to inspect a prospective nest site, they do so fleetingly. There are so many bees that many are willing to fight for good spots, and males are simultaneously trying to mate with females that land for too long. It's chaos, but the welcome kind!

They stopped after I took this photo, I embarrassed them

🪲ID Guess: I-Mark Leaf Beetle (Calomela crassicornis) 🌿Date: 25/01/2025

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!