Does INaturalist Really Help Research? Or It's Just For Fun And To Help U Feel Love For The Wildlife

Tersa Sphinx (Xylophanes tersa), taken August 25, 2024, in Georgia, US

This is about the only sphinx moth I can ID from memory, which is kind of sad, but I don't see many of them so I have no reason to become better at ID! I happened to look down while perusing the grasses at the edge of a creek and saw this guy hanging about. This species is gorgeous, and I especially love the orange stripes on its shoulders. Hopefully I find more this year, though larger moths tend to elude me!

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), taken February 10, 2025, in Georgia, US

Very cute and pretty brave, as is the case with most sparrows! This guy has a preferred spot directly underneath the feeder pole. It's a highly contentious seat, but he had it all to himself this time!

Smoky-winged Dancer (Argia fumipennis ssp. fumipennis), teneral female, taken May 6, 2025, in Georgia, US

Here I am again, filling my blog with damselflies... Update on these guys: the males are STILL brown. It's been 3 weeks!!! When will they turn purple?? They look nice brown as well, but they're not even the pretty brown they get when they're mature. When fully adult, females will become a nice golden brown and males become a vibrant violet, both having black patterning as well. It looks gorgeous, but right now all of them are this sad, pale brown. The day I see a purple male I am going to jump for joy and scare it away lol.

Chalcid Wasp (Brasema rhadinosa), female, taken April 12, 2025, in Georgia, US

Feast your eyes on some (okay-ish) pictures of this gorgeous woman!! She was quite the pain to photograph because she would not sit still ever. She did, however, stay wandering around the top of the same boardwalk post for 3 hours. I have no idea why, but she clearly liked that spot. It ended up being helpful because it allowed me to spend as much time as I needed trying to get decent pictures. A wasp as thin and flat as she is sucks to get in focus, but the effort was worth it! The pictures don't do her justice, but you can still see how pretty she is!

Northeastern Hammertails (Efferia aestuans), females, taken July 15, 2024, in New Hampshire, US

I have too many pictures of these things... They were the beginning of my love of robber flies! You can't see in these images, but females of this genus can be distinguished from males by the large blade-like ovipositors on the end of their abdomen, while males have a white strip on the abdomen and a large hammer-shaped bulge on the end, hence their name! Two of these ladies are enjoying tasty moth (left) and plant bug (right) meals, while the third looks to have recently had a meal herself, if her enlarged abdomen is anything to go by!

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), juvenile, taken May 9, 2025, in Georgia, US

A young mockingbird eating like an absolute weirdo from the woodpecker feeder! This newly-independent teen could barely fit on the feeder ledge and kept almost falling off. Apparently the taste was worth it, though, because it kept trying! I can tell this is a juvenile because it's smaller and leaner than its parents, and they also never eat from this feeder due to the inconvenience. They prefer the easy to access barn feeders that are accessible to everyone, but this little guy hasn't figured out the tech yet—or maybe they haven't figured out his!

Handsome Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum pulchellum), female, taken September 28, 2024, in Georgia, US

Handsome, indeed! I have dozens of pictures of these guys, not just because they exist in excess here, but also because they're just too beautiful for me to pass up photographing! This species is differentiable from all others in the genus at almost every life stage by its bright blue eyes, which nobody else shares. It's quite striking to see a katydid with a rainbow of colors, even after having seen them a hundred times!

Zabulon Skipper (Lon zabulon), male, taken May 14, 2025, in Georgia, US

My first skipper of the year, proudly showing his colors in the sunlight! Unlike most butterflies, this species displays very noticeable sexual dimorphism, males having bright orange/yellow blotches on their wings while females are mostly brown with some white spotting. They can often be seen perched on leaves, spreading their wings in the sunlight like little orange flowers!

Four-banded Stink Bug Wasp (Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus), female, taken August 3, 2024, in Georgia, US

Digging a hole in the sand! There were a few different species of sand wasps flying around this area, but most ran before I could get to them. I missed this lady initially storing her prey, but I did get her filling in the hole! She posed very prettily at the end, maybe showing off her hard work!

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), male, taken January 11, 2025, in Georgia, US

The lighting in the photo made this bird turn out the bluest I've ever seen a bluebird. The males already get a gorgeous sapphire in the winter, but this takes it a step above! He was also a great model and sat nice and still for me!