Pale Green Assassin Bug (Zelus Luridus), Taken April 20, 2025, In Georgia, US

Tube-tailed Thrip (Genus Neurothrips), taken January 30, 2025, in Georgia, US

What a cool tiny beast!! I can't get over the fact that he wagged his little tail at me... So cute! In reality this guy is about 2 1/2mm long, so he's not very ferocious—unless you're a fungus! Most thrips, like this one, feed on fungus, but some are known to cause some damage to crops in large groups. I suspect this individual is N. magnafemoralis, but I don't know enough about thrips to be certain. The genus is certainly distinctive, however! Little boneless dinosaurs!

Still a bit too early in the year for my mothing sheet to be as busy as I'd like, but I've still gotten a handful of interesting visitors

Ichneumonid Wasps(Family Ichneumonidae), Genus Raphia Ornate Tiger Moth(Apantesis ornata), Genus Eteobalea Genus Cameraria, White-lined Sphinx(Hyles lineata) Marbled Oak Dagger(Acronicta marmorata), Leaf Blotch Miner Moths(Family Gracillariidae) Two-spotted Leafhopper(Sophonia orientalis), Zale Moths(Genus Zale)

Turquoise Bluets (Enallagma divagans), teneral (top) and adult (bottom), taken April 13, 2025, in Georgia, US

A couple lifer damselflies from yesterday! I actually initially thought they were different species because I didn't see the black stripe on the top individual immediately. The difference in their coloration is due to the top individual being teneral, a term referring to any arthropod who has recently molted and not had time to harden their exoskeleton. In almost every case, teneral individuals are much paler than more developed ones. In comparison to the fully-formed adult below it, this damselfly is nearly colorless! You can see some blue beginning to develop, but it's mostly metallic brown and lacks black venation on the wings. Soon, its new exoskeleton will dry, and it will be beautiful and blue like the others!

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 :>

Jumping Spider (Admestina wheeleri), male, taken July 17, 2024, in New Hampshire, US

His task? Uncertain, but he's doing something! This genus nests in crevices in tree bark, but I'm not sure if he's trying to create a nest, deposit sperm, or a secret third task.

The picture was taken after the video while I followed him on his journey around this tree for at least 10 minutes before I decided he wasn't of interest any more. He wandered away from where he made this possible nest in a seemingly random direction, kind of just meandering along the tree, and it has me wondering if he decided the spot he chose wasn't suitable for a nest. Regardless, this genus is known to be quite illusive, so I wanted to document the behavior in a video in case it was of interest. Who knows!

Downy Woodpeckers (Dryobates pubescens), juvenile males, taken May 27, 2024, in Georgia, US

Preparing for this spring and staving off the baby bird withdrawals by posting all of my spring 2024 stuff... Downy fledgelings are the cutest! The babies always look lost, slightly to extremely ruffled, and love looking cutely into the camera because they don't know what the fuck that thing pointing at them is!!

Stretch Spiders (Genus Tetragnatha), female (top) and male (bottom), taken July 7, 2024, in New Hampshire, US

This pair was set up under the awning of a dock lamp. It was an extremely effective setup, seeing as I had to hang out over the water on my stomach and put the life of my phone at risk to get pictures lol! In the top photo, there's a good view of the horrifically large fangs of this genus, while the male on the bottom is showing off his lovely gold coloration! He's a catch!

Went out somewhere new yesterday and was lucky enough to bump into both forms of Maevia expansa male! Top images are the "tufted" morph and bottom are the "gray" morph.

They look absolutely nothing alike, and both males even use different courtship rituals to attract females! Like I've said before, the easiest way to differentiate this species from the much more common M. inclemens is to look for the bold white markings around the eyes of M. expansa, which are displayed in the pictures I have provided. The white is very bright and obvious, which makes distinction very easy, especially since jumpers love to look at you head-on!

Jumping Spider (Maevia expansa), female, taken May 8, 2025, in Georgia, US

A curious jumper making her way along a twig! She was not very happy with me but ultimately cooperated enough to get a single good picture. Like the Dimorphic Jumping Spider (Maevia inclemens), this spider's males have two different morphs: a "gray" morph that is gray with black stripes and bright orange palps and a "tufted" morph that is black with white legs and 3 black tufts of hairs above its eyes. The males of the species look nothing alike, which may cause them to be misidentified. This species can be differentiated from M. inclemens by the presence of white patterning on the head of the female and around the eyes of the males. You can also use locality, as they have currently only been found in Georgia and once in Tennessee.

Magnolia Green Jumping Spider (Lyssomanes viridis), juvenile male, taken February 7, 2025, in Georgia, US

This streak of warmer weather has reawoken the magnolia greens, and I am very happy to see them again! I saw two individuals this day, both juvenile males. This one was very nice about jumping at the camera, while the first one proceeded to climb up my phone, onto my arm, and into my hoodie sleeve. I took off and inverted my hoodie, but I never found him so I suppose he dropped to the ground somewhere. His tricks worked for once!

Common Loon (Gavia immer), taken July 19, 2024, in New Hampshire, US

Loons are absolutely fascinating to watch. This specific individual was going about the lake with its mate and another pair of loons, possibly from a neighboring lake. It got close enough for me to run out on the dock and try to get pictures at like 8 in the morning, but sadly the sun was on the wrong side of the lake lol! At least the backlighting looks cool!